Adele dominates the Brits with most wins in 21 years

Adele dominated last night’s Brit Awards at The O2 in London, taking home four prizes, including the awards for best British female artist and British album of the year – the most wins for an individual act since Blur’s four in 1995.

The north London-born singer also scooped the Brits Global Success award – presented via video message by British astronaut Tim Peake from the International Space Station – and the award for best British single.

She later closed the awards with a rendition ‘When We Were Young’ from her quintuple-platinum-selling third album, 25.

Coldplay kicked off the show, taking to a neon-lit stage for a performance of ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ which ended with them and the audience being showered in tropical flowers. They returned to the stage later to collect the award for best British group from actor Simon Pegg, making them the most successful group in this category in Brit history, having won in 2001, 2003 and 2012.

Other performers included Rihanna, who was joined by Drake to play live for the first time her new single, ‘Work’; Justin Bieber, who performed №1 singles ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘Sorry’ (the former with James Bay); Jess Glynne, who was joined on stage for a medley of ‘Ain’t Got Far to Go’, ‘Hold My Hand’ and ‘Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself’ by a troupe of street dancers; and Brits debutante The Weeknd, who played top-ten hit ‘The Hills’.

David Bowie was posthumously honoured with the Brits Icon Award (joining Elton John as one of only two recipients). Following the presentation of the prize, by Annie Lennox and friend Gary Oldman, Bowie’s final touring band performed a tribute which incoporated some of his biggest hits, including ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘Fame’ and ‘Under Pressure’, with a guest appearance by Lorde for ‘Life on Mars’.

Unlike Lady Gaga’s tribute at the Grammys, Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, approved:

Finally found the links to tonight's Brits. Just… beautiful. Thank you.

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) February 25, 2016

Bieber and Bay both won awards: Bieber best international male, which was presented by Major Lazer, and Bay best British male solo artist, presented by Kylie Minogue. Bay was later joined on stage by a quartet of gospel singers for a well-received performance of ‘Hold Back the River’.

Supermodel Jourdan Dunn and Superman himself, Henry Cavill, presented Tame Impala with the award for best international group, while Catfish and the Bottlemen won British breakthrough act, which was this year determined by a social vote on Twitter and a public vote on BBC Radio 1 and www.brits.co.uk.

The Brits show was for the third time streamed on YouTube across the world (excluding the UK and Republic of Ireland), with performances available exclusively on Google Play Music free of charge shortly after the show. Google Play Music will make a donation to charities Nordoff Robbins and The Brit Trust for every song downloaded or streamed.

A full list of winners is below.

British male solo artist
James Bay (presented by Kylie Minogue)

British group
Coldplay (presented by Simon Pegg)

International female solo artist
Björk (presented by Craig David and Fleur East)

British female artist
Adele (presented by Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson)

BRITs Global Success
Adele (Presented by Tim Peake)

International male solo artist
Justin Bieber (presented by Major Lazer)

British single
‘Hello’ by Adele (presented by Simon Le Bon and Suki Waterhouse)

International group
Tame Impala (presented by Henry Cavill and Jourdan Dunn)

British breakthrough act
Catfish and the Bottlemen (presented by Nick Grimshaw and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini)

British artist video of the year
‘Drag Me Down’ by One Direction (presented by Alan Carr and Lianne La Havas)

MasterCard British album of the year
25 by Adele (presented by Mark Ronson)

Critics’ choice
Jack Garratt (presented at Brits launch)

British producer of the year
Charlie Andrew (presented at the MPG Awards)