The BRITs Billion Award is a special award given by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI) to artist who have achieved over one billion digital streams in the United Kingdom. An extension of the BPI's

music certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

system, the number of streams is verified using data calculated by the

Official Charts Company The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...

and is the first time in the fifty-year history of the system that an artist's combined success over multiple projects has been recognized as a collective total. The one billion career streams include tracks where the artist is the primary performer, as well as tracks where they appear as a featured artist. The award was established in 2023 and first presented on May 4, 2023, to thirteen artists. To date, thirty-two recipients have received the BRIT Billion Award. The most recent recipient is

KSI Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), better known by his online alias KSI, is an English influencer, professional boxer and musician. He is a co-founding member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the CEO of Misfits Boxing a ...

, who was presented with the award in November 2024. At 20 years old,

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She began her career as a child, appearing in commercials and the direct-to-video film '' An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success'' (2015). She rose ...

is the youngest recipient.

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

is the first (and only) artist to be awarded the gold version of the award for reaching ten billion streams. James Bay received his Brit Billion on October 8, 2024 as well.

Creation

The award was created to reflect the growing importance of streaming in the UK. In a statement announcing the initial recipients, Sophie Jones, Chief Executive of the BPI, explained: "for a recording artist, there can be few greater sources of pride than having a Platinum or Gold disc on their wall, but in an era when success in measured in the hundreds of millions and indeed billions of streams, it was clear that we needed a new and additional way to recognise and celebrate outstanding achievement in recorded music, and I feel certain that having a BRIT Billion Award will become equally prized." The trophy itself is manufactured by Gaudio Awards in

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

, Gloucestershire.

Recipients

References

{{BRIT Awards Brit Awards Awards established in 2023