Ivor Novello award nominees reflect gender disparity in British and Irish songwriters, with twice as many men as women

Olivia Dean, Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice, Jacob Alon, Self Esteem and Kae Tempest lead this year’s Ivor Novello awards for excellence in British and Irish songwriting, with two nominations apiece. Self Esteem’s cowriter Johan Hugo, and Tempest’s Fraser T Smith, are also credited among the leading acts.

Tempest will go up against himself in the best contemporary song category, with two nominations: one for I Stand on the Line, written with Smith, and one for Know Yourself, written with Smith and Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers. Both songs come from Tempest’s fifth album, Self Titled.

The nominations reveal the gender disparity in British and Irish music: there are more than twice as many male nominees (40) than female (19), with two non-binary artists making up the 61 songwriters and composers recognised.

Research by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California found that the number of female songwriters across the 1,400 most popular songs of the year had starkly decreased from 18.9% in 2024 to 14.5% in 2025.

Elsewhere among those names, stalwart artists such as Lily Allen, Florence + the Machine and Gorillaz stand alongside those at the breakthrough end of their career, among them CMAT, Jerskin Fendrix and Lola Young, last year’s most-nominated artist.

Billing the awards as recognising “exceptional craft, originality and cultural impact in songwriting and screen composing”, the Ivors have also this year positioned themselves as “a powerful affirmation of human creativity and the cultural value of songwriters” as many are asking fearful questions about how AI will affect musicians’ livelihoods.

Little Simz receives her fifth Ivors nomination for her song Free, from last year’s album Lotus. Young’s nomination is her fourth in total, as is Florence Welch’s; Allen’s is her third, a reflection of the era-defining songwriting of her fifth album – and first in seven years – West End Girl, a partly fictionalised account of the breakdown of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour.

Coldplay’s 2008 song Viva la Vida receives its third nomination in and of itself, this year for most performed work, following the band’s vast global tour. It is its second time being nominated in the category; it previously won best-selling British single in 2010.

Allen, Wolf Alice, Dean and CMAT make up the best album category alongside rapper Jim Legxacy for his 2025 record Black British Music. Wolf Alice, Sugababes (best song musically and lyrically) and Divorce (rising star) are the only bands nominated among a wealth of solo artists.

In the best original film score soundtrack, Daniel Blumberg, formerly of indie band Yuck, could augment his 2025 Oscar for his score to The Brutalist. The category is entirely comprised of male composers, indicating the challenges for female musicians within the space.

And Adolescence could continue its awards domination in the best television soundtrack category if Aaron May and David Ridley’s work on its soundtrack beats the music for Lazarus (Sarah Warne), Summerwater (Gazelle Twin), This City Is Ours (Rael Jones) and Trespasses (David Holmes and Brian Irvine).

Last year, Charli xcx was named songwriter of the year in recognition of her blockbuster sixth album Brat. This year’s winners will be announced on 21 May in London. Additional outstanding achievement awards including songwriter of the year will be given at the ceremony.

The 2026 Ivor Novello nominations

Best album
Jim Legxacy – Black British Music (written by Legxacy and Joe Stanley)
CMAT – Euro Country (written and performed by CMAT)
Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving (written by Dean, Bastian Langebaek and Max Wolfgang)
Wolf Alice – The Clearing (written by Joff Oddie and Ellie Rowsell)
Lily Allen – West End Girl (written by Allen, Chloe Angelides, Kito and Blue May)

Best contemporary song
Gorillaz – Damascus (ft Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey) (written by Damon Albarn, Bey and Souleyman)
Little Simz – Fire (written by Simz, Alex Bonfanti and Miles Clinton James)
Self Esteem – I Do and I Don’t Care (written by Self Esteem and Johan Hugo)
Kae Tempest – I Stand on the Line (written by Tempest and Fraser T Smith)
Kae Tempest – Know Yourself (written by Tempest, Fraser T Smith and Tom Rowlands)

Best song musically and lyrically
Jacob Alon – Don’t Fall Asleep (written by Alon)
Florence + the Machine – Everybody Scream (written by Florence Welch, Mark Bowen and Mitski)
Self Esteem – Focus Is Power (written by Self Esteem, Johan Hugo and Jacob Vetter)
Wolf Alice – The Sofa (written by Ellie Rowsell)
Sugababes – Weeds (written by Tove Burman, Anya Jones and Jon Shave)

PRS for music most-performed work
Olivia Dean – Man I Need (written by Dean, Tobias Jesso Jr and Zach Nahome)
Lola Young – Messy (written by Young)
Myles Smith – Stargazing (written by Smith, Peter Fenn and Jesse Fink)
Chrystal – The Days (written by Chrystal)
Coldplay – Viva la Vida (written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin)

Rising star
Chloe Qisha
Divorce
Jacob Alon
Kwn
Skye Newman

Best original film score
Jerskin Fendrix – Bugonia
Raffertie – Dragonfly
Robin Carolan – Nosferatu
Tom Hodge – Testimony
Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist

Best television soundtrack
Aaron May and David Ridley – Adolescence
Sarah Warne – Lazarus
Gazelle Twin – Summerwater
Rael Jones – This City Is Ours
David Holmes and Brian Irvine – Trespasses