This is a summary of 2012 in music in the United Kingdom. In 2012, dance music continued to dominate the charts.
Events 1 January – Musicians honoured in the Queen's New Year Honours list include conductor Antonio Pappano (knighthood), record producer Steve Lillywhite (CBE), composer and conductor Rev Ronald Corp (OBE) and Ralph Allwood (MBE), former director of music at Eton College. 4 June – A Diamond Jubilee Concert is held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall, London, organised by Gary Barlow as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Performers include Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Grace Jones, Alfie Boe, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Tom Jones, Dame Shirley Bassey and Stevie Wonder. 8-10 June – Download Festival 2012 takes place at Donington Park in Leicestershire. The Jim Marshall main stage is headlined by The Prodigy, Metallica and Black Sabbath, the Zippo encore stage by Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, You Me at Six and Rise Against, the Pepsi Max Stage by Devin Townsend Project, The Mission and Periphery, the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage by Cancer Bats, Cockney Rejects and William Control, and the Jägermeister Acoustic stage by Yashin, Tyla and Saint Jude. 16 June – Musicians honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours list include Gary Barlow (OBE), violinist Tasmin Little (OBE) and Gareth Malone (OBE). 27 July – On the opening day of the 2012 Summer Olympics, at 8.15, Martin Creed's controversial work "All The Bells", is performed by the bells of London. 12 August – The 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, also known by the title "A Symphony of British music", takes place at London's Olympic Stadium. Performers include Take That, One Direction, The Spice Girls, Madness, George Michael, Julian Lloyd Webber, Pet Shop Boys, Ray Davies, Annie Lennox, Kaiser Chiefs and Emeli Sandé. 9 December – James Arthur wins the ninth series of The X Factor. Jahméne Douglas is named runner-up, while Christopher Maloney and Union J finish in third and fourth place respectively.
Artists/groups reformed Spice Girls 911 Atomic Kitten B*Witched Five Honeyz Kitchens Of Distinction Liberty X Six By Seven The Supernaturals
Groups disbanded Westlife Jet Viva Brother The King Blues SoundGirl Pendulum Chumbawamba Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Classical music
New works Peter Maxwell Davies – Symphony No. 9 Howard Goodall – Every Purpose Under the Heaven (The King James Bible Oratorio) Karl Jenkins – The Peacemakers Philip Ledger – This Holy Child (cantata) Philip Moore – "I will lift up mine eyes"
Opera George Benjamin – Written on Skin Stephen Crowe – The Francis Bacon Opera Neil Hannon – Sevastopol
British music awards
BRIT Awards The 2012 BRIT Awards were held on 21 February 2012 at The O2 Arena, London and hosted by James Corden. The most notable winners were Adele and Ed Sheeran, both winning two awards.
British Male Solo Artist: Ed Sheeran British Female Solo Artist: Adele British Breakthrough Act: Ed Sheeran British Group: Coldplay British Single: "What Makes You Beautiful" – One Direction MasterCard British Album: 21 – Adele International Male Solo Artist: Bruno Mars International Female Solo Artist: Rihanna International Group: Foo Fighters International Breakthrough Act: Lana Del Rey British Producer: Ethan Johns Critics' Choice: Emeli Sandé Outstanding Contribution to Music: Blur
Ivor Novello Awards The 57th Ivor Novello Awards were held on 17 May 2012 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
Best Contemporary Song: "Video Games" – Lana Del Rey (written by Lana Del Rey and Justin Parker) PRS for Music Most Performed Work: "Rolling in the Deep" – Adele (written by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth) Best Television Soundtrack: The Shadow Line (composed by Martin Phipps) The Ivors Jazz Award: Stan Tracey Album Award: Let England Shake – PJ Harvey (written by PJ Harvey) Outstanding Song Collection: Gary Kemp The Ivors Inspiration Award: Siouxsie Sioux Best Original Film Score: The First Grader (composed by Alex Heffes) PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music: Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams (Take That) Best Song Musically and Lyrically: "The A Team" – Ed Sheeran (written by Ed Sheeran) Lifetime Achievement: Mark Knopfler Songwriter of the Year: Adele Adkins PRS for Music Special International Award: Jimmy Webb BASCA Fellowship: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Classical BRIT Awards The 2012 Classic BRIT Awards were held on 2 October 2012 at the Royal Albert Hall, London and were hosted by Myleene Klass. Female Artist: Nicola Benedetti (Italia) MasterCard Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award: Miloš Karadaglić (Latino) Composer: John Williams (War Horse, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn) International Artist of the Year in association with Raymond Weil: Andrea Bocelli Critics' Award: Benjamin Grosvenor (Chopin/Liszt/Ravel) Male Artist: Vasily Petrenko (Shostakovich/Symphony No. 1 & 3, Shostakovich/Symphony No. 6 & 12, Shostakovich/Symphony No. 2 & 15, Rachmaninov/Piano Concertos 1 & 4, Rachmaninov/Symphony No. 3) Classic BRITs Single of the Year in association with iTunes: "Wherever You Are" – Military Wives with Gareth Malone Lifetime Achievement Award: John Williams Classic FM Album of the Year in association with MasterCard: And The Waltz Goes On – André Rieu
Mercury Prize The 2012 Barclaycard Mercury Prize was awarded on 1 November 2012 to Alt-J for their album An Awesome Wave.
Popjustice £20 Music Prize The 2012 Popjustice £20 Music Prize was awarded on 1 November 2012 to Will Young for his single "Jealousy".
British Composer Awards The 10th British Composer Awards were held on 3 December 2012 at Goldsmiths' Hall, London and hosted by Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Andrew McGregor.
Instrumental Solo or Duo: Learning Self-Modulation – Christian Mason Chamber: The Four Quarters – Thomas Adès Vocal: No Man's Land – Colin Matthews Choral: Airplane Cantata – Gabriel Jackson Wind Band or Brass Band: A Symphony of Colours – Simon Dobson Orchestral: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra – Harrison Birtwistle Stage Works: DESH – Jocelyn Pook Liturgical: Missa Brevis – Francis Grier Sonic Art: The Ethometric Museum – Ray Lee Contemporary Jazz Composition: Sailing to Byzantium – Christine Tobin Community or Educational Project: The Chimpanzees of Happytown – Paul Rissmann Making Music Award: Mesmerism for Piano and Chamber Orchestra – Emily Howard International Award: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra – Thomas Larcher
The Record of the Year The 2012 Record of the Year was awarded to "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra. This was the final year that The Record of the Year was awarded.
Charts and sales
Number-one singles Chart date(week ending) Song Artist(s) Sales References 7 January "Paradise" Coldplay 108,390 UK Singles Chart 7 January 2012 14 January "Good Feeling" Flo Rida 50,907 UK Singles Chart 14 January 2012 21 January "Domino" Jessie J 57,369 UK Singles Chart 21 January 2012 28 January 64,255 UK Singles Chart 22 January 2012 4 February "Twilight" Cover Drive 76,109 UK Singles Chart 29 January 2012 11 February "Titanium" David Guetta featuring Sia 85,985 UK Singles Chart 5 February 2012 18 February "Somebody That I Used to Know" Gotye featuring Kimbra 83,265 UK Singles Chart 12 February 2012 25 February "Hot Right Now" DJ Fresh featuring Rita Ora 127,998 UK Singles Chart 19 February 2012 3 March "Somebody That I Used to Know" Gotye featuring Kimbra 95,338 UK Singles Chart 26 February 2012 10 March 87,057 UK Singles Chart 4 March 2012 17 March 81,437 UK Singles Chart 11 March 2012 24 March 71,521 UK Singles Chart 18 March 2012 31 March "Part of Me" Katy Perry 79,079 UK Singles Chart 25 March 2012 7 April "Turn Up the Music" Chris Brown 83,777 UK Singles Chart 1 April 2012 14 April "Call Me Maybe" Carly Rae Jepsen 106,657 UK Singles Chart 8 April 2012 21 April 110,024 UK Singles Chart 15 April 2012 28 April 114,993 UK Singles Chart 22 April 2012 5 May 99,569 UK Singles Chart 29 April 2012 12 May "Young" Tulisa 121,694 UK Singles Chart 6 May 2012 19 May "R.I.P." Rita Ora featuring Tinie Tempah 104,592 UK Singles Chart 13 May 2012 26 May 57,434 UK Singles Chart 20 May 2012 2 June "We Are Young" Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe 72,977 UK Singles Chart 27 May 2012 9 June "Feel the Love" Rudimental featuring John Newman 93,841 UK Singles Chart 3 June 2012 16 June "Sing" Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band featuring Military Wives 141,670 UK Singles Chart 10 June 2012 23 June "Call My Name" Cheryl 152,001 UK Singles Chart 17 June 2012 30 June "Payphone" Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa 141,410 UK Singles Chart 24 June 2012 7 July "This Is Love" will.i.am featuring Eva Simons 102,320 UK Singles Chart 1 July 2012 14 July "Payphone" Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa 73,998 UK Singles Chart 8 July 2012 21 July "Spectrum (Say My Name)" Florence + The Machine 64,816 UK Singles Chart 15 July 2012 28 July 63,960 UK Singles Chart 22 July 2012 4 August 65,790 UK Singles Chart 29 July 2012 11 August "Heatwave" Wiley featuring Ms D 114,121 UK Singles Chart 5 August 2012 18 August 69,713 UK Singles Chart 12 August 2012 25 August "How We Do (Party)" Rita Ora 100,436 UK Singles Chart 19 August 2012 1 September "Bom Bom" Sam and the Womp 107,461 UK Singles Chart 26 August 2012 8 September "Wings" Little Mix 106,766 UK Singles Chart 2 September 2012 15 September "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)" Ne-Yo 88,784 UK Singles Chart 9 September 2012 22 September "Hall of Fame" The Script featuring will.i.am 70,150 UK Singles Chart 16 September 2012 29 September 63,980 UK Singles Chart 23 September 2012 6 October "Gangnam Style" Psy 84,421 UK Singles Chart 30 September 2012 13 October "Diamonds" Rihanna 105,953 UK Singles Chart 7 October 2012 20 October "Don't You Worry Child" Swedish House Mafia featuring John Martin 135,563 UK Singles Chart 14 October 2012 27 October "Sweet Nothing" Calvin Harris featuring Florence Welch 94,154 UK Singles Chart 21 October 2012 3 November "Beneath Your Beautiful" Labrinth featuring Emeli Sandé 107,775 UK Singles Chart 28 October 2012 10 November "Candy" Robbie Williams 137,581 UK Singles Chart 4 November 2012 17 November 90,812 UK Singles Chart 11 November 2012 24 November "Little Things" One Direction 85,308 UK Singles Chart 18 November 2012 1 December "Troublemaker" Olly Murs featuring Flo Rida 121,497 UK Singles Chart 25 November 2012 8 December 82,696 UK Singles Chart 2 December 2012 15 December "The Power of Love" Gabrielle Aplin 57,515 UK Singles Chart 9 December 2012 22 December "Impossible" James Arthur 489,560 UK Singles Chart 16 December 2012 29 December "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" The Justice Collective 269,248 UK Singles Chart 23 December 2012
Number-one albums