The BPI has revealed a major expansion of its BRIT Certified Awards scheme with BRIT Billion.
The prestigious new award launching in 2023 will celebrate and acknowledge outstanding achievement in recorded music by artists who surpass the landmark of one billion career UK streams.
This new award represents the first significant upgrade to the certifications programme since April 2018, when it was rebranded from the BPI Awards to the BRIT Certified Awards. Like the existing BRIT Certified scheme and its Platinum, Silver and Gold tiers, the Billion Award will be verified using Official Charts data,
Expected to launch officially in spring 2023 – when the first wave of recipient artists will be announced – BRIT Billion will also mark 50 years of the BPI and the 50th anniversary of the certifications programme, which the BPI established in 1973.
This will be the first time in its five-decade history that the certifications scheme officially recognises an artist’s combined success across multiple projects. The One Billion career total will include tracks an artist has appeared on either as the principal performer or as a featured artist, as credited by the Official Charts.
Created for the BPI by Gaudio Awards, who also produce the Official Charts No.1 Awards, the BRIT Billion award design incorporates the iconic BRITs ‘B’ and an encapsulated BRITs statuette, and each award will be personalised with the recipient artist’s name.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive BPI, BRIT Awards & Mercury Prize, said: "With total weekly audio streams in the UK now regularly exceeding the three billion mark, it seems an appropriate moment to recognise exceptional artist achievement through streaming, as the primary currency for recorded music. This new blue-riband award will sit alongside our existing Certified Awards, giving artists and their label and management teams the special opportunity to celebrate outstanding UK career success in streaming, and the valued contribution they have made to British music."
Toby Leveson, senior digital content manager, BPI, said: “Big streaming milestones are increasingly becoming a key marker of success, so this is a really exciting new arm of the iconic BRIT Certified Awards, and we can’t wait to celebrate artists hitting one billion UK streams next year!”
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