HAPPY BRITS DAY

Today is the biggest date on the U.K. music industry calendar, as the best from the biz descend on The O2 Arena in London to celebrate the year just gone. Alongside all the top British execs, including Universal boss David Joseph, Sony's kingpin Jason Iley and Warner chief Max Lousada, we have word that Republic’s Monte Lipman, Def Jam’s Steve Bartels and Capitol's Steve Barnett will be in attendance, bringing along their key people from NYC and LA. Rhian Jones (pictured below right) is our woman on the ground, who’ll be providing you with live updates from the ceremony. A winners list will be also be updated as the show goes on; see that at the bottom of this page.

10:45pm: Overall, Joseph’s UMG U.K. scooped five awards, Richard Russell's XL took runner-up with four and Lousada's Warner and Iley's Sony tied for third place with one each, alongside indie labels One Little Indian and Modular.

10:30: Gary Oldman is welcomed to the stage to accept the Global Icon Award for Bowie. "We are all coming to terms with the magnitude of David's passing. He was the very definition of that singular word, 'icon,' and I am so deeply touched and honoured to accept the award for David and his family," he says.

"[Before he died, David said to me,] 'music has given me over 40 years of extraordinary experiences, it has allowed me so many moments of companionship when I have ever been lonely and given a means of communication when I wanted to reach people.' His outlook was always positive and I never once heard him complain. David faced his illness with enormous dignity, grace and humour. Even in dire circumstances. David, we love you, and we thank you."

Lorde is here to pay tribute after a Bowie video reel of his greatest hits. She sings "Life on Mars" beautifully, and indeed, more understated than Gaga's Grammy nod to Bowie. It was a tough gig that seems to have gone down exceptionally well.

Time to get back to the party. British Artist Video of the Year, another fan vote, is awarded to SYCO's One Direction for "Drag Me Down." Liam and Lewis accept, saying, "it really is times like these that prove we have the best fans in the world," before thanking Modest! and Simon Cowell and Sonny Takhar at SYCO.

The Weeknd delivers an electric rendition of "The Hills," while Cowell receives a warm welcome from Little Mix after coming over to chat. We have word that Jody Gerson, Chairman/CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group, is in the house too.

Mark Ronson takes the stage to give the Best British Album gong, which goes to Adele for 25. The XL superwoman now has four BRIT awards this evening.

The crowd's getting restless, but there's one more showstopper. Here comes Adele to sing "When We Were Young." The perfect end.

Kudos goes to WMG U.K. chief and BRITs Chairman Max Lousada, the BPI and the BRITs team for a truly excellent show. Can we have a drink now?

9:55: Bjork is honored as International Female Solo Artist. Did she do anything last year? "Is this a joke?" asks someone that shall go unnamed beside us (It wasn't us).

Here we go. It's the Bowie tribute, kicked off by Annie Lennox, who says, "For me, it's almost impossible to mention Bowie's name in the past tense. As a cutting edge artistic genius, he continues to live through his genius. He was truly unique."

9:30: RiRi is here! That was her first performance on British soil since 2012. This song she kicked things off with should be her next single; "Consideration" is the opening track from ANTI, and features SZA, who's here too. She then transitioned into "Work." FYI, she sounds good and she looks good. Drake joins in for a steamy performance; queue much screaming from the crowd.

The award for British Breakthrough, selected for by public vote and listeners of BBC Radio 1, goes to indie/rock act Catfish and the Bottlemen (Island).

And the award for Global Success is, quite rightfully, given to Adele, marking her third win of the night. Everyone's standing. She says: "My kid is going to think I'm so cool! I want to thank my manager, Jonathan Dickins, who is amazing, and my boyfriend for supporting me. Not bad for a girl from Tottenham!" Not bad indeed.

SYCO's Little Mix are here to perform party-starter "Black Magic." A priority for Modest! this year, can they break in the U.S.?

9:15pm: Best International Group goes to Fiction's Tame Impala. Surprising? Against other nominees Alabama Shakes, EODM, Major Lazer and U2, slightly, yes. It's Atlantic breakout star Jess Glynne's turn to take the stage; she performs an upbeat medley of her recent singles.

Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon is here to announce Best Single Award. "Hello" by Adele is the one, her second win of the night.

"I was not expecting this one at all! I love all those songs. This is getting out of hand already... Thanks so much, this absolutely blows my mind," says the XL star.

We can see Modest!'s Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee working the room—a management duo we'll be keeping a keen eye on this year as One Direction move on to pastures new.

British Group is Coldplay. Says Chris Martin: "Thanks for being so nice to us when we played, this means so much to us. We're grateful to be here. We'd like to dedicate this to all the men and women in refugee camps around the world."

Bay plays "Hold Back The River" while Mark Ronson is seen weaving around the tables.

International Male is presented by Major Lazer, all looking pretty dapper. Will it be The Weeknd? Drake? Justin Bieber? Kendrick Lamar? Father John Misty? It's Bieber!

Says the man himself: "This shows life is a journey, everyone has their ups and downs. I want to take this moment to thank my fans, Steve Bartels and the whole team at Universal."

8:40pm: Bieber has arrived. Doing what he does best; a stripped back version of "Love Yourself" with James Bay on guitar. Before he lights The O2 Arena up (both literally and theoretically) with "Sorry."

British Male is presented by Kylie Minogue, James Bay is victor. Will he take his hat off? No.

He says: "Wow. Thank you very very much. Thank you to all of my managers and everyone at Republic and Virgin Records for believing in me."

8:30pm: And we're off, execs we've spotted so far include Sony's Jason Iley, Universal boss David Joseph, Relentless chief Shabs Jobanputra and A&R superstar Nick Huggett. An excitable Little Mix are sat behind us, and Tom Odell isn't too far away. The latter's said to be coming with a new incredible album this year. Will he be in the nominations list next year?

Parlophone's Coldplay kick off proceedings with an arena-worthy colourful (and confetti-fueled) rendition of "Hymn for the Weekend." 12 BRIT Awards will be given out tonight, and British Artist Video of the Year is viewer-voted.

Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne are the only One Direction members here, and appear onstage to announce the winner of Best British Female Artist. Which is, surprise, XL's Adele... queue a standing ovation.

Said the Queen: "Thank you, to come back after such a long time long away and be warmly received... It's a privilege to be amongst the other nominees. I want to thank my management and label for supporting me for being a woman, and I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly support Kesha."

6:00pm: The spotlight is on XL’s Adele this year, who’s up for four awards, as are Virgin EMI’s James Bay and Polydor newcomers Years & Years. UMG boasts 25 nominations in total, Sony follow with 11 and Warner with 10.

Here are the things we know so far: an “understated” David Bowie tribute will take place featuring the late star’s touring band. Despite being up for British Group and Artist Video of the Year, Syco’s One Direction will only be there in part. Harry Styles—thought of as the hottest free agent in recent memory—won’t be there, and neither will Niall Horan.

Performance wise, will there be a James Bay and Justin Bieber mash-up? Will Rihanna, the most anticipated performer following her Grammys no-show, bring Drake on stage? Stay tuned for all this and more.

NOMINEES:

Mastercard British Album of the Year
25 – Adele (WINNER)
A Head Full of Dreams – Coldplay
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence + the Machine
Chaos and the Calm – James Bay
In Colour – Jamie xx

British Male Solo Artist
Aphex Twin
Calvin Harris
James Bay (WINNER)
Jamie xx
Mark Ronson

British Female Solo Artist
Adele (WINNER)
Amy Winehouse
Florence + the Machine
Jess Glynne
Laura Marling

British Group
Blur
Coldplay (WINNER)
Foals
One Direction
Years & Years

British Producer of the Year
Charlie Andrew (WINNER)
Mark Ronson
Mike Crossey
Tom Dalgety

British Single
“Hello” – Adele (WINNER)
“How Deep Is Your Love” – Calvin Harris & Disciples
“Bloodstream” – Ed Sheeran & Rudimental
“Love Me Like You Do” – Ellie Goulding
“Hold Back the River” – James Bay
“Hold My Hand” – Jess Glynne
“Black Magic” – Little Mix
“Up” – Olly Murs f/Demi Lovato
“Wish You Were Mine” – Philip George
“King” – Years & Years

International Male Solo Artist
Drake
Father John Misty
Justin Bieber (WINNER)
Kendrick Lamar
The Weeknd

International Female Solo Artist
Ariana Grande
Björk (WINNER)
Courtney Barnett
Lana Del Rey
Meghan Trainor

International Group
Alabama Shakes
Eagles of Death Metal
Major Lazer
Tame Impala (WINNER)
U2

British Artist Video
“Hello” – Adele
“How Deep Is Your Love” – Calvin Harris & Disciples
“Photograph” – Ed Sheeran
“Love Me Like You Do” – Ellie Goulding
“Flashlight” – Jessie J
“Black Magic” – Little Mix
“Runnin’ (Lose It All)” – Naughty Boy f/Beyonce & Arrow Benjamin
“Drag Me Down” – One Direction (WINNER)
“Writing’s on the Wall” – Sam Smith
“King” – Years & Years

British Breakthrough Act
Catfish and the Bottlemen (WINNER)
James Bay
Jess Glynne
Wolf Alice
Years & Years

Critics' Choice
Frances
Jack Garratt (WINNER)
Izzy Bizu

*Global Success
Adele (WINNER)

*Identified by the global sales success of British Acts of their latest project/album. Sales achieved in the period 1st January 2015 to 31st December2015 will be counted.