MUMBAI: British pop singer Sam Smith has been nominated for five BRIT awards, including Best Album, Best British Male Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist. The 22-year old's debut studio album 'In the Lonely Hour' is up against Ed Sheeran's 'X', Alt-J's 'This is All Yours', George Ezra's 'Wanted on Voyage' and Royal Blood's self titled album.

Sheeran and Ezra have each been nominated in four categories, and face each other in three of those categories, including British Single. Meanwhile, Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' has also been nominated for British Video, where he faces competition from Calvin Harris (Summer), Mark Ronson (Uptown Funk feat. Bruno Mars), One Direction (You and I), Sam Smith (Stay With Me), Rita Ora (I Will Never Let You Down), Sigma (Nobody to Love), Charli XCX (Boom Clap), Duke Dumont (I Got U feat. Jax Jones) and Route 94 (My Love feat. Jess Glynne).

Royal Blood, the British rock duo has been nominated in three categories, including Breakthrough Act and British Group, where they will take on Coldplay, One Direction, Clean Bandit and Alt-J.
In the British Female Solo Artist category, FKA Twigs, who has also been nominated for Breakthrough Act, will compete against Lily Allen, Paloma Faith, Ella Henderson and Jessie Ware.

Also nominated for a BRIT award in the International Female Solo category are Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Sia, St. Vincent and Lana Del Ray. In the International Male Solo category, 'Happy' singer Pharrell Williams takes on John Legend, Jack White, Hozier and Beck. Meanwhile, American rockers Foo Fighters have been nominated for International group alongside The Black Keys, 5 Seconds of Summer, First Aid Kit and The War on Drugs.

The BRITs 2015 will be held on 25 February in London and will see performances by a number of big names including Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Royal Blood, George Ezra and Paloma Faith.

See full list here