British musicians have been an inseparable part of pop music throughout. Some of the best musicians recognized in the world are from the UK.
The likes of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Freddy Mercury and so many more artists who have enriched music in its totality are British.
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This article is an endeavor to put forward the ten world’s most famous British pop singers 2024. Obviously, it’s impossible to rate some of the world’s most popular musicians by their talent, so don’t take the naming order as any sort of such indication. Also, we had to choose only ten out of so many, it’s likely we have missed some of your favorite musicians.
1. Dua Lipa
If you’re a pop lover, you must have heard of and listened to Dua Lipa’s music. The versatile British artist is famous across the globe for so many of her songs like “Be the One”, “IDGAF”. The three-time Grammy award-winning artist has only released two albums so far.
Dua has the most-listened-to single of 2018 by a female artist in the UK, the most successful single by a female artist in 2024 in the US under her hood. Time magazine’s one of the future’s most influential artists is undoubtedly England’s one of the most popular artists ranking in the same list with the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran.
2. Zayn
Zayn Malik is a young British musician who has global popularity because of his charismatic appearance and singing skills. He started his career in the boy band One Direction but later left it to build his solo career. And it was a great decision as he soon signed with RCA Records and released his debut album Mind of Mine.
The single from this album “Pillowtalk” went on to become the top of both the UK and the US charts. Zayn collabed with Taylor Swift and later with Sia for a couple of singles. He has so far released three albums, the latest being Nobody is Listening — it got released in January of 2024. The twice winner of the Billboard Music Award for New Artist of the Year has won an American Music Award and an MTV Video Music Award as well.
3. Rita Ora
Rita Ora is an extraordinary pop artist from the UK. It was around 2011–12 when people got to know her and her work as she released her solo song “Hot Right Now” and her debut album Ora. Rita received a massive response from the general audience and went on to become a phenomenal emerging artist.
The single in collaboration with DJ Fresh debuted atop the UK Singles Chart and her album debuted number one as well. She toured and opened for a lot of musicians like Coldplay and Usher. Rita also released a single with Iggy Azalea named “Black Widow” that peaked on the Billboard Hot Hundred top 10. She then had a legal problem with Roc Nation that restricted her from releasing anything for almost two years. In 2018, Rita’s second album Phoenix was released.
4. Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran is probably one of the five popular pop artists around the world. His voice, his lyrics, and his melodies are inexplicably beautiful. Ed’s music doesn’t include flaunting sexuality, unnecessary cuss words, or display of wealth — whatever music you’re listening to has a rhythm of reality and pure emotion. To talk numbers, he has sold 150+ million records and is one of the world’s best-selling musicians.
The recipient of four Grammy and six Brit Awards is also honored with an MBE. His songs “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill” were released together and got in the UK singles chart in first and second position respectively. This is an achievement limited to Ed Sheeran only, no singer has ever made it possible. Ed released his last single in Dec 2024 — “Afterglow.”
5. Rag’n’Bone Man
Just as his name, Rag’n’Bone Man is a fantastic artist too. He worked for a few years on his EPs, however, it wasn’t enough to drag people’s attention. But Rag’n’Bone did eventually manage to find the one song that would change people’s perception of him. And that was “Human”. It became a massive hit in European countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and so on.
Various TV shows used the single as background, theme, and trailer score. This was just the beginning for Rag’n’Bone Man. He released the album named Human and got a BBC Music Award and was nominated for the Artist of the Year. In 2019, he worked with Calvin Harris for the song “Giant”. Another popular music that peaked on number two in the UK Singles Chart.
6. Harry Styles
Harry Styles has tasted huge success in the early stages of his career. Starting with the band One Direction, he went solo and released his first album in 2017. The album got the first position on both the UK and US charts. Not only that, the eponymous album garnered a lot of praise from critics and listeners making it one of the most popular albums of that year.
Harry’s second album wasn’t any different, it went on to rank number one in the Billboard 200. Rolling stone placed the album in their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The multi-talented star made his film debut in Christopher Nolan’s film “Dunkirk”. With a Grammy, Brit, and American Music Award, he sure is a prominent rising star.
7. Sam Smith
Sam Smith is another England’s super talented musician. In 2012, Disclosure’s song “Latch” was released where Sam was the singer. As soon as the song became extremely popular, they became a known face in the industry. Also, the next offer didn’t take much longer to come and Sam was once again featuring in a song with Naughty Boy. “La La La”, the single, peaked at number one.
Their first album came in the year 2014 named In the Lonely Hour. The single “Stay With Me” became his first-ever song to rank first and second both the UK and the US Billboard Hot 100. Winning four Grammy Awards in total, Sam’s first album was a gamechanger for them. They won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the theme song of “Spectre.” So far Sam has released three albums and all of them have received international acclaim.
[‘They’ is used due to Sam’s personal preference ]
8. James Arthur
James Arthur’s career has been sort of a rollercoaster for the past few years but as a singer, he is undeniably talented. Often in midst of controversies, the Brit singer has never failed to release quality music at any point. Starting his career by winning the X Factor, he has so far released three studio albums.
Each of them garnering quite a massive audience, his debut album named after himself charted on the second position on the UK Albums Chart. James’s second album was Back from The Edge. Another great piece of musical talent, the album topped the UK Albums Chart, and several of the singles did massively well. His third album You did quite well, too. The way from here should be strictly upward for James and surely he would set some great examples.
9. Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is one of the most popular names in the Electrical music genre. He has so far released eight studio albums each of them amassing huge listeners from all around the world. Not only in the UK, but he also has a massive fanbase in the US. Having spent more than a decade in the industry, Calvin is the undisputed king of UK EDM.
So much so, he even broke the record of Michael Jackson for having the most number of singles in the UK Singles chart top 10 from one album eight entries. He is also the first artist ever to have three entries in the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart. The world’s once highest-paid DJ is an absolute wonder when it comes to making people hit the dance floor.
10. Lewis Capaldi
Some artists just don’t get the point of being struggling artists. Not that Lewis didn’t have to struggle, but not at least in the mainstream. It all started in 2019 when the 22-year-old singer from Scottland had his first chart-topping single “Someone You Loved.” Once it went out, the listeners didn’t stop loving it — first, it was the number one single in the UK Singles Chart, then it went to capture the first position in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it won Lewis Brit Award for Song of the Year as well.
After that, he released his first album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. It too had a superb time-running list from the list. But maybe his biggest achievement so far is the “Someone You Loved” which is now recognized as the longest-running top 10 UK single of all time by a British artist.
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