FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

The BBC Sound of 2016 Shortlist Has Begun, and Fifth Place Is a Tie Between Two Acts

Mura Masa and WSTRN and have shared the spoils after amassing the exact same amount of votes.

Back in November, the BBC released their longlist for this year's 'Sound of 2016' award, as polled by 144 music writers, industry fatcats, radio presenters, Twitter personalities, East London pub owners, me, you, your da, and assorted interested parties, to determine which acts will become the music success stories of 2016. The shortlist—typically comprised of five artists—is being gradually revealed this week, but something mildly exciting has kicked things off in the form of a two-way tie.

Advertisement

Receiving the exact same number of votes, R&B trio WSTRN and dance producer Mura Masa have taken joint fifth place which, if basic maths serves us correctly, means six artists will be battling it out on this year's shortlist.

WSTRN arguably produced the underground smash hit of 2015 with "In2" while Mura Masa's "Lovesick Fuck" perfectly captures—as Noisey editor Ryan Bassil put it in our mid-year summary of good shit last summer—the "horrible and enthralling part of the human experience" that is being in bowel-disturbing love. Last year's list also kicked off in relatively encouraging style, with Raury and George The Poet in fourth and fifth, only to then give future X Factor guest judges James Bay and Years and Years the top two, so don't hold your breath too hard just yet.

The other four artists on the shortlist will be revealed on BBC Radio 1 throughout the week. Find the longlist here, which we kindly ranked in order from worst to best so you don't have to.