This is a summary of the year 2025 in British music.
Events January 1 January – BBC One sees in the New Year with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who performs and hosts a "New Year Disco". 2 January – Neil Young announces he will not play the 2025 Glastonbury Festival because it is partnered with the BBC and he believes it to be "under corporate control". 3 January – Neil Young announces he will headline Glastonbury a day after saying he had turned down a slot because of the BBC's involvement in the event. 4 January – A statue of musician Rory Gallagher is unveiled at Belfast's Ulster Hall. 8 January UK music fans spent £2.4bn on streaming and vinyl during 2024, data shows, exceeding the previous record of £2.2bn in 2001. A UK inquest into the death of singer Liam Payne opens, and hears that he died as a result of "polytrauma". 10 January Chappell Roan wins BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2025. The Elton John compilation album Diamonds reaches number one in the UK Albums chart after 374 weeks. Le Pub, a music venue in Newport which was threatened with closure, has been bought by a community enterprise, Music Venue Properties (MVP), which aims to protect live music locations. 16 January – The Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung announces Sir Simon Rattle as the recipient of the 2025 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
February 4 February – The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Vanessa Reed as its next chief executive, effective 2 June 2025. 5 February : It is announced that Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath will reunite for a final fundraising concert in Birmingham on 5 July. 12 February – Oasis and New Order are among 14 acts on the 2025 longlist for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 13 February It is announced that Mariah Carey will headline Brighton Pride on 2 August. English Heritage announces that Marc Bolan is among a number of people to be honoured with blue plaques. 20 February – Charges are dropped against a friend of Liam Payne and two members of staff at the hotel in Argentina where he died. 25 February – Release of Is This What We Want?, a silent album co-written by more than 1,000 musicians, including Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn and Kate Bush, as a protest against planned changes to UK copyright law, which they argue will make it easier for AI companies to train models using copyrighted material without a licence.
March 1 March – The 2025 Brit Awards take place at The O2 in London. The ceremony will feature a performance by Sabrina Carpenter. 4 March – Edwyn Collins announces he is to stop touring live later in 2025 following a farewell tour. 5 March – Coldplay are to pick the acts for a Super Bowl-style half-time show during the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, the first time such a concert has been staged during the World Cup. 6 March Media regulator Ofcom have received 825 complaints about ITV's coverage of the Brit Awards ceremony, the majority of them about Sabrina Carpenter's pre-watershed opening performance and Charli XCX's outfit. The winners of the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards are announced at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. 7 March – All-female country trio Remember Monday are chosen to represent the UK at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest with their song "What the Hell Just Happened?". 8 March – Belfast is announced as the host of the 2026 Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), which will take place in August 2026. 10 March – King Charles III launches a personal playlist, The King's Music Room, through Apple Music with songs that have been important to him. Songs include tracks by Bob Marley, Kylie Minogue and Grace Jones. 13 March – Sugababes release their new single "Jungle". 17 March – Stevie Wonder is announced as the headline act at the 2025 Lytham Festival, and will perform on 3 July. 20 March – Stormzy is nominated for an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge in recognition of his philanthropic work and impact on education, music, sport and literature. 21 March – BBC Radio Wales DJ Aleighcia Scott reaches number one in the iTunes Reggae Chart with her first Welsh-language single, "Dod o'r Galon". 22 March – The Searchers announce they will stop touring after 68 years, ending with their Glastonbury debut at the 2025 Festival. 25 March – The Competition and Markets Authority says that Ticketmaster "may have misled Oasis fans" with unclear pricing over the band's reunion tour. 28 March – Release date of Sweet Illusions, the debut music album of actor Peter Capaldi. 29 March – Launch of the Black Welsh Music Awards, designed to recognise talented black musicians in Wales.
April 2 April – Muse have cancelled a forthcoming concert in Istanbul after the promoter insulted anti-government protestors in Turkey, leading to pressure from fans and local artists. 3 April – The Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) announces the appointment of Nikki Iles as the next principal conductor of the NDR Big Band, the first woman to be named to the post, effective with the 2025–2026 season, with an initial contract of two years. 8 April – Sugababes release their latest single "Weeds". 10 April – Pulp announce the forthcoming release of a new album, More, as well as the release of "Spike Island", their first single since 2001. 11 April – Elton John's collaborative album with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels?, reaches number one in the UK Albums Chart, giving him the 10th number one album of his career. 18 April – Sault surprise-releases their new studio album 10. 27 April – A final tranche of tickets for the Glastonbury Festival 2025 goes on sale, and sells out within 20 minutes. 28 April – Bad Company and Joe Cocker are among acts inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 29 April – The Eden Project cancels a planned appearance by Irish Republican rappers Kneecap at its 2025 Eden Sessions festival in July following the emergence of video in which one of the band's members appeared to condone the killing of MPs.
May 2 May – Lewis Capaldi makes a surprise guest appearance to play a set at Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms during a benefit gig for the Campaign Against Living Miserably, a suicide prevention charity. 14 May – English National Opera announces the appointment of André de Ridder as its next music director, effective with the 2027–2028 season. 15–24 May – Norwich Jazz Festival returns after a 20 year hiatus. 16 May – South London resident Rebekah Shaman wins a High Court challenge over the use of Brockwell Park for a series of regular music events, arguing that the local council does not have the correct planning permission for the events. The decision means a number of events may have to be cancelled. 22 May – Olly Murs ends a show at Glasgow's Ovo Hydro after walking off stage because he was struggling with his voice. 27 May – News reports indicate a reversal of plans by Cardiff University to axe its music department. 28 May Irish rap group Kneecap say they have been axed from Glasgow's TRNSMT festival because of police concerns about safety. The London Mozart Players announce that Flynn Le Brocq is to stand down as its chief executive officer at the end of August 2025.
June 4–6 June – The 2025 Stendhal Festival takes place in Limavady, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Headline acts include the Lightning Seeds and Kate Nash. 7 June – Sir Paul McCartney makes a surprise guest appearance at Anfield stadium to duet with Bruce Springsteen during the second night of the Liverpool leg of Springsteen's Land of Hope and Dreams tour. 9 June It is announced that the 2026 Brit Awards will be held at Manchester's Co-op Live arena, the first time the ceremony has been held outside London. Glastonbury Festival organiser Emily Eavis says the festival has sold "a few thousand less tickets" in 2025 to help ease the build up of heavy crowds. 13 June – Pulp reach number one in the UK Albums Chart with their latest release, More, their first number one since 1998. 20 June – Dua Lipa plays her first concert at Wembley Stadium, which includes an appearance by Jamiroquai's Jay Kay for a duet of his 1996 song "Virtual Insanity". 21 June – Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says he does not think a planned performance by Kneecap at the Glastonbury Festival 2025 is "appropriate". 22 June – Liverpool's On the Waterfront Festival is halted after Lionel Duke, drummer with The Christians, suffers a cardiac arrest while playing on stage. 24 June – A report by Arts Council Wales warns that Welsh folk music could be extinct within a generation unless the situation is urgently addressed. 25 June – Stormzy is awarded an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge for his work in helping black students into higher education. 26 June – The BBC confirms that it will not be broadcasting Neil Young's Glastonbury Festival 2025 set at the request of the artist after he previously stated the festival was a "corporate turn-off" because of the BBC's involvement. This decision is later reversed. 27 June Lewis Capaldi returns to Glastonbury two years after taking a break because of his mental health. The 1975 are the Friday night headline act on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. 28 June Glastonbury's mystery act billed as Patchwork is revealed to be Pulp, who play a Saturday evening gig on the Pyramid Stage. Neil Young is the Saturday night headline act on the Pyramid Stage, with the concert broadcast on BBC Two, while Charli XCX headlines on The Other Stage. Her gig, broadcast on BBC One, draws the larger audience. Kneecap play the West Holts stage at Glastonbury, and use the opportunity to criticise the prime minister with expletive-laden chants. Kneecap's appearance is preceded by rap duo Bob Vylan, who lead chants calling for death to the Israeli Defence Force. The BBC says footage of the gig will not be made available on BBC iPlayer, while festival organisers say they are "appalled" by the incident. Avon and Somerset Police say they will retrieve footage of Kneecap's performance, along with that of Bob Vylan to see if an offence has been committed. 29 June Rod Stewart plays the legends slot at Glastonbury. Olivia Rodrigo headlines the Pyramid Stage on the final night of Glastonbury 2025. 30 June Avon and Somerset Police launch a criminal investigation to determine whether comments made by Bob Vylan and Kneecap at their respective Glastonbury concerts constituted a criminal offence. The BBC issues a statement in which it says it should have cut away from the livestream of Bob Vylan's concert following their anti-IDF chant. The statement comes after Ofcom said the BBC "clearly has questions to answer" over its coverage, and the UK government questioned why the comments were aired live.
July 2 July – Rap duo Bob Vylan are dropped from the Radar Festival, where they were due to headline the Manchester event on 5 July. 3 July – The BBC tells a small number of staff to step back from their day-to-day roles on music and live events following the broadcast of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury gig. 4 July Oasis begin their five-month reunion tour in Cardiff, the band's first live concerts in 16 years. The BBC Singers simultaneously announce the scheduled conclusion of the tenure of Sofi Jeannin as its chief conductor at the close of the 2025–2026 season, and the appointment of Owain Park as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2026–2027 season. 5 July – Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath play what they say will be their final gig, titled Back to the Beginning, at Villa Park in Birmingham. The event raises £140m for local charities. 7 July – Irish rap group Kneecap use a concert at the O2 Academy Glasgow to criticise Scotland's First Minister, John Swinney, for being among those who said the band should not appear at the TRNSMT festival. 9 July – Sugababes release "Shook", the next single from their upcoming album.