British music has continued to make waves around the world over the past twelve months, and the nominations for The BRIT Awards 2016 with MasterCard will undoubtedly reflect the achievements of our greatest homegrown talent when the shortlists are revealed on Thursday 14th January at an exclusive TV show ‘The BRITs Are Coming’.

Filmed at ITV Studios and broadcast the same evening at 10.40pm on ITV, the show will be hosted by popular TV broadcaster Laura Whitmore and will feature exclusive live performances from some of the hottest UK music acts around – Years & Years, Jess Glynne and this year’s Critics’ Choice winner Jack Garratt, as well as revealing the highly anticipated shortlists.

Alongside categories including British Breakthrough Act, British Single and British Group, the contenders for the BRITs’ biggest award, the MasterCard British Album of the Year, will be revealed.

The nominations for the BRITs annually inspire much debate and discussion amongst UK music fans as well as the country’s media, with opinions, tweets, blogs, posts, comments galore creating a huge amount of buzz for the shortlists, with the nation deciding who they think is worthy of winning one of the Pam Hogg designed statuettes.

The BRIT Awards with MasterCard is now entering its 36th year and the evening itself is already shaping up to be yet another stellar night of music, celebrating the best of British and the outstanding success of British music worldwide. Already confirmed to perform at the awards are Adele, Coldplay and Justin Bieber, who have each enjoyed incredible and chart-busting success in the last few months.

More exciting news and developments will be unveiled over the next few weeks including details for BRITs Week which will see a host of one-off gigs and events taking place in the lead up to The BRIT Awards.

MasterCard is celebrating its 18th year of sponsoring the BRITs with its Priceless Surprises campaign, which sees some of the biggest artists in the world helping fans to share their love of music. To find out more visit www.pricelesssurprises.co.uk.

The BRIT Awards 2016 with MasterCard take place Wednesday 24th February at The O2 and will be exclusively broadcast on ITV.

Google Play Music is the official streaming and download partner for the BRITs 2016. Live performances from the night will be available to stream and download from Google Play just after the awards, with all proceeds being donated to this year’s official charity partners, Nordoff Robbins and The BRIT Trust.