BRITs Rising Star nominees accumulated more than 13 billion streams in 2021

According to research by the BPI, British BRITs Rising Star nominees' music accumulated over 13 billion streams in 2021; with the likes of Sam Fender, Griff and Dua Lipa contributing huge numbers.

The figure, compiled from data by Official Charts Company and MRC, brings together all the on-demand audio streams in 2021 from the 15 artists shortlisted for BRITs Rising Star between 2017 and 2021.

Between them, these 15 acts racked up 13.5 billion streams globally in 2021; with over 1.9 billion of those being from the UK.

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MORE: Check out Dua Lipa's complete Official Charts history

This data comes ahead of this year's BRIT Awards ceremony, which takes place next Tuesday February 8 and London's O2 Arena. And while 2022 winner Holly Humberstone and nominees Bree Runway and Lola Young's streams aren't included in the 13 billion figure, they've amassed more than 180 million global streams between them last year.

Since its launch in 2008 the BRITs Rising Star award - formerly known as Critics' Choice - has identified some major talent on the British music scene.

Winners include Adele, Florence + The Machine and Sam Smith; with Griff taking home the award in 2021.

Rising Star 2017 shortlisted artist Dua Lipa was the most-streamed nominee of the past five years in 2021, with around 7 billion audio streams; over 500 million of those coming from the UK.

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Other big players include 2019 winner Sam Fender with 270 million global audio streams in 2021, 2017 nominee Anne-Marie with 1 billion worldwide and 2019 nominee Lewis Capaldi with 2.3 million billion audio streams globally.

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI & BRIT Awards, said: "Ever since Adele claimed the first award in 2008, The BRITs Rising Star has unwaveringly signalled the next new wave of British talent that will go on to thrive at home and around the world.

"The many billions of streams achieved by the BRITs Rising Stars in 2021 not only testifies to their talent and the hard work of their label teams; it highlights that for a streaming artist to be successful it means, among other things, achieving tens of millions of streams or more every year. Despite the unprecedented competition to make a mark, there are thousands of UK artists delivering just these kinds of impressive numbers.”

This year's BRIT Awards - hosted by Mo Gilligan - air on ITV at 8pm, Tuesday February 8.