2024 in British music

January

• 1 January – BBC One sees in the New Year with the concert Rick Astley Rocks New Year's Eve. Rick Astley is joined by various guests, including Rylan Clark with whom he performs a rendition of the Dead of Alive track "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)".^[1]
• 3 January – Data from the British Phonographic Industry shows that female artists enjoyed a record year in the UK Singles Chart, with female artists or groups topping the charts for 31 of 52 weeks, the most since the charts began in 1952.^[2]
• 5 January – Indie rock band The Last Dinner Party are named the BBC Sound of 2024.^[3]
• 6 January – Music researcher Colin Jagger launches an appeal to find the whereabouts of the original score of Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia Limited, which was sold in 1915 and is believed to be lost.^[4]
• 7 January – At the 75th Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, Foy Vance and Ed Sheeran win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for "A Beautiful Game", written for the final episode of the TV series Ted Lasso.^[5]
• 8 January – Roger Daltrey announces he will step down as curator of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust gigs held at the Royal Albert Hall following the 2024 events.^[6]
• 10 January – Stevie Spring is appointed Chair of the PRS for Music Board, succeeding Stephen Davidson, who will relinquish the role officially at the organisations' AGM.^[7]
• 11 January – Royal Mail issues a set of 15 stamps featuring the Spice Girls to celebrate their 30th anniversary, the first time a set of UK stamps have been dedicated to a female pop group.^[8]
• 22 January – Birmingham Royal Ballet announces simultaneously the departure of Koen Kessels as its music director on 30 June 2024, and the appointment of Paul Murphy as its next music director, effective 1 July 2024.^[9]
• 24 January
  • Research published by the Music Venues Trust highlights the number of live music venues closing due to financial pressure, with 125 abandoning live music in 2023, half of those closing completely.^[10]
  • Raye is nominated for seven Brit Awards, setting a new record for the most nominations received by a single artist.^[11]
• 29 January
  • Nicki Minaj, 21 Savage, J Hus and Doja Cat are confirmed as headline acts for the 2024 Wireless Festival, scheduled to take place from 12–14 July.^[12]
  • Equity announces an interim agreement with English National Opera that forestalls previously declared intentions of industrial action.^[13]
• 30 January – A report published by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee highlights misogyny in the music industry.^[14]
• 31 January
  • The rock band Nothing but Thieves play an exclusive gig for Radio X listeners at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town.^[15]
  • Adele announces plans to hold four concerts at a specially built stadium in Munich in August, something she describes as "a bit random, but still fabulous!".^[16]

February

• 3 February – Seventeen grassroots music venues across Wales experiencing financial difficulties are offered £718,000 in Welsh Government funding to help keep them open.^[17]
• 8 February – Kings Place announces the appointment of Sam McShane as its next artistic director, effective 20 May 2024.^[18]
• 11 February – Oasis are nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside other artists including Sinéad O'Connor, Cher and Mariah Carey.^[19]
• 15 February – The BBC reverses its plan to axe its in-house BBC Singers choir,^[20] with a new partnership between the ensemble and the Voces8 Foundation for future sustainability of the ensemble.^[21]
• 16 February – Orchestra members, chorus members, and music staff of English National Opera (ENO) call off their previously intended industrial action for February, after agreement in principle by ENO management to revise their original plans for redunancy and re-engagement of the musicians.^[22]
• 22 February – The London Philharmonic Choir announces that Neville Creed is to retire as its artistic director at the close of the 2024–2025 season, and subsequently to take the title of chorus director emeritus.^[23]
• 23 February – Rapper Wiley, whose real name is Richard Cowie, is stripped of his MBE after sharing abusive and antisemitic social media posts.^[24]
• 26 February – The Royal Mint unveils a collectable coin featuring George Michael.^[25]
• 29 February – Manchester's Co-op Live arena, due to open in April, is chosen as the venue for the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards on 10 November.^[26]

March

• 1 March
  • Swing Fever, an album of big band standards recorded by Jools Holland and Rod Stewart, reaches number one in the UK album chart, giving Holland his first number one album.^[27]
  • Release of "Dizzy", Olly Alexander's UK entry for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest.^[28]
  • The annual Cân i Gymru (Song for Wales) contest is held in Swansea, and is won by Sara Davies with the song "Ti".^[29]
• 2 March – The 2024 Brit Awards are take place at London's O2 Arena.^[30] Raye is the biggest winner of the night, winning six of the seven awards she was nominated for, and beating previous records set by Blue, Adele and Harry Styles at a single awards ceremony.^[31]
• 4 March
  • The BBC Concert Orchestra announces the appointment of Matthew Swann as its next Director, effective 27 March 2024.^[32]
  • The Home Office grants visas to the Afghan Youth Orchestra, after public protest at the Home Office's prior refusal of their visa applications just before the start of their scheduled UK tour.^[33]
• 5 March
  • The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Sarah Bardwell as its next managing director.^[34]
  • Naxos Music Group and Klaus Heymann announce their acquisition of Chandos Records.^[35]
  • The Royal Philharmonic Society announces the recipients of its 2024 RPS Awards:^[36]
    • Chamber-Scale Composition: Laurence Osborn – TOMB!
    • Conductor: François-Xavier Roth
    • Ensemble: BBC Singers
    • Gamechanger: Sara Lee and the Irene Taylor Trust
    • Impact: Call of the Mountains – Clare Johnston and Drake Music Scotland
    • Inspiration: Derwent Brass
    • Instrumentalist: Jasdeep Singh Degun – sitar
    • Large-Scale Composition: Kaija Saariaho – Innocence
    • Opera and Music Theatre: Chornobyldorf – Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
    • Series and Events: Manchester Classical
    • Singer: Nicky Spence
    • Storytelling: Quartet – Leah Broad
    • Young Artist: Lotte Betts-Dean
• 6 March – The National Opera Studio announces the appointment of Eric Melear as its next artistic director, effective July 2024.^[37]
• 7 March – Blur drummer Dave Rowntree is selected as the Labour Party candidate for Mid Sussex.^[38]
• 10 March – The UK Country Airplay chart, the first ever genre-specific radio chart in the United Kingdom, debuts its inaugural list, with "Creek Will Rise" by Conner Smith claiming the title of first number one single.^[39]
• 14 March – Dua Lipa, Coldplay, SZA and Shania Twain are confirmed as headline acts at Glastonbury 2024.^[40]
• 18 March – The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Mark Wigglesworth as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2024–2025 season, with an initial contract of four years.^[41]
• 19 March
  • Acts are announced for BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, including Raye, Rag'n'Bone Man, Charli XCX and Aitch.^[42]
  • St John's College, Cambridge, announces that it is discontinuing the St John's Voices, a mixed choir created in 2013 to give sopranos an opportunity to sing in the college chapel.^[43]

April

• 12 April –
  • Oasis re-release their debut single "Supersonic" to coincide with its 30th anniversary. The single included a live recording of the song made at Limelight in Belfast in September 1994.^[44]
  • James McCartney and Sean Ono Lennon release their single "Primrose Hill".^[45]
• 16 April – The Welsh National Opera announces it is cutting back on performances because of cuts in funding from the Arts Council of Wales and the Arts Council of England.^[46]
• 18 April – Coach resale tickets for Glastonbury 2024 go on sale, and sell out in 18 minutes.^[47]
• 19 April – The Brixton Academy reopens for the first time since its licence was suspended after a crowd crush in which two people died in December 2022.^[48]
• 20 April –
  • Co-op Live, the UK's largest indoor arena seating 23,500 and costing £365m to build, opens in Manchester.^[49] The venue is forced to apologise, however, after cancelling some tickets to a test gig with Rick Astley and offers ticketholders affected tickets to another concert.^[50]
  • All five members of the Spice Girls reunite to celebrate Victoria Beckham's 50th birthday.^[51]
• 21 April – The final wave of resale tickets for Glastonbury 2024 sell out within 22 minutes of their release.^[52]
• 23 April – The inaugural Northern Music Awards are held in Manchester.^[53]
• 25 April – Details of the 2024 BBC Proms are announced, with concerts including disco and appearances by Florence and the Machine and Sam Smith.^[54]
• 26 April – Taylor Swift's album The Tortured Poets Department tops the UK Album Chart, and achieves the highest first-week sales in seven years, with sales of 270,000 units.^[55]

May

• 24 May – The three-day BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival gets underway in Luton, Bedfordshire, headlined by Chase & Status, Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, and Raye.^[56]

• Magnum

• Fairground Attraction

• Thomas Adès – Aquifer^[57]
• Charlotte Bray – A Dark Doorway ^[58]
• Jonathan Dove
  • Togetherness (for string quartet)^[59]
  • Odyssey (text by Alasdair Middleton)^[60]
• Gavin Higgins – Horn Concerto^[61]
• Sir Stephen Hough – Piano Concerto ('World of Yesterday')^[62]
• Dani Howard – Ascent^[63]
• Daniel Kidane – Aloud (violin concerto)
• Freya Waley-Cohen – Spell Book^[64]
• Errollyn Wallen – String Quintet^[65]

New operas

Number-one singles

The singles chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Number-one albums

The albums chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Number-one compilation albums

The albums chart includes a proportion for streaming.

• 4 January
  • Glynis Johns, 100, South African-born British actress and singer (Mary Poppins, A Little Night Music).^[120]
  • David Soul, 80, American-born actor (Starsky & Hutch) and singer ("Don't Give Up on Us").^[121]
• 5 January – Del Palmer, 71, English singer-songwriter, bass guitarist, and sound engineer.^[122]
• 7 January – Tony Clarkin, 77, English guitarist and songwriter (Magnum).^[123]
• 11 January – Annie Nightingale, 83, English radio DJ and television broadcaster^[124]
• 12 January – David Lumsdaine, Australian composer resident in the UK, 92^[125]
• 16 January – Laurie Johnson, 96, English composer and bandleader.^[126]
• 18 January – Ivan Moody, 59, classical composer and musicologist.^[127]
• 2 February
  • Steve Brown, 66, British composer, lyricist and record producer, pulmonary fibrosis.^[128]
  • Derrick McIntyre, 66, English bassist (Jamiroquai), worked with (Emeli Sande), (Will Young), (Beverley Knight).^[129]
• 4 February – Mallorca Lee, 51, Scottish DJ, producer, (Ultra-Sonic), (Public Domain).^[130]
• 12 February
  • Stewart Robertson, classical conductor, 75^[131]
  • Steve Wright, 69, English radio DJ, television presenter.^[132]
• 14 February – Patrick Ireland, classical violist and founding violist of the Allegri String Quartet, 100^[133]
• 15 February – Ian Amey, 79, English musician and singer (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich).^[134]
• 22 February – John Lowe, 81, English pianist (The Quarrymen).^[135]
• 10 March – Karl Wallinger, 66, Welsh musician (The Waterboys, World Party) and songwriter ("Ship of Fools").^[136]
• 12 March – James Whitbourn, 60, British composer and conductor.^[137]
• 13 March
  • Dick Allix, 78, British drummer (Vanity Fare) and darts official.^[138]
  • John Blunt, British drummer (The Searchers).^[139] (death announced on this date)
• 14 March – Angela McCluskey, 64, Scottish singer (Wild Colonials) and songwriter ("Breathe").^[140]
• 17 March – Steve Harley, 73, English musician (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel), songwriter ("Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)", "Mr. Soft") and producer, cancer.^[141]
• 25 March – Chris Cross, 71, English bassist (Ultravox)
• 29 March – Gerry Conway, 76, English drummer and percussionist (Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Cat Stevens).^[142]
• 7 April – Chryssie Lytton Cobbold, Baroness Cobbold, 83, British aristocrat and organiser of the Knebworth Festival.^[143]
• 20 April – Sir Andrew Davis, 80, English conductor.^[144]
• 21 April – MC Duke, British rapper.^[145]
• 23 April – Fergie MacDonald, 86, Scottish accordionist.^[146]
• 24 April – Mike Pinder, 82, English Hall of Fame musician (The Moody Blues) and songwriter ("The Best Way to Travel", "A Simple Game").^[147]

• 2024 in British radio
• 2024 in British television
• 2024 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 2024