Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music
The Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music is the Lifetime Achievement award given by the British Phonographic Industry, an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade is presented at the Brit Awards, an annual celebration of British and international music. The honourees are determined by the Brit Awards voting academy with over one-thousand members, which comprise record labels, publishers, managers, agents, media, and previous winners and nominees.
History
The award was first presented in 1977 and was subsequently awarded annually from 1982 to 2010. The award has since been presented intermittently as the BRIT's Icon Award, with the original name being re-instated at the 2019 Brit Awards ceremony. Since 2000, the Classic BRIT Awards have also annually presented their own Outstanding Contribution to Music Award. The award was last presented under its original name at 2019 Brit Awards. However, the Global Icon Award, which was described as the BRIT's "highest accolade", and an international version of the BRIT's Icon Award, was presented in 2021 to Taylor Swift.Elton John, Paul McCartney and John Lennon are the artists with the most wins with three awards. U2 were the first international band to receive the BRIT award while Pink and Bob Geldof were the first female solo artist and the first international artist to receive it respectively. Cecilia Bartoli and Andrea Bocelli were the first female soloist and international artist respectively to receive the Classic BRIT Award. Freddie Mercury's last public appearance before his death from HIV/AIDS would be when he accepted the award in 1990 as a member of Queen.
Contemporary winners
| Year | Recipient | ||||
| 1977 | LG Wood and The Beatles | ||||
| 1982 | John Lennon | ||||
| 1983 | The Beatles | ||||
| 1984 | George Martin | ||||
| 1985 | The Police | ||||
| 1986 | Elton John and Wham! | ||||
| 1987 | Eric Clapton | ||||
| 1988 | The Who | ||||
| 1989 | Cliff Richard | ||||
| 1990 | Queen | ||||
| 1991 | Status Quo | ||||
| 1992 | Freddie Mercury | ||||
| 1993 | Rod Stewart | ||||
| 1994 | Van Morrison | ||||
| 1995 | Elton John | ||||
| 1996 | David Bowie | ||||
| 1997 | Bee Gees | ||||
| 1998 | Fleetwood Mac | ||||
| 1999 | Eurythmics | ||||
| 2000 | Spice Girls | ||||
| 2001 |  Classic winners
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