2016 in British music

See also: Timeline of musical events

List of years in British music
… 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

This is a summary of the year 2016 in British music.

Events

• 10 January – Rock icon David Bowie passes away of liver cancer, two days after the release of his final album; Bowie's illness had not been disclosed to the public until his death. Having stipulated that he did not want a funeral ceremony, Bowie is cremated two days later in New Jersey, USA, with arrangements for his ashes to be scattered in accordance with Buddhist rituals on the island of Bali.
• 13 January – Chetham's School of Music announces the appointment of Alun Jones as its new Head, effective September 2016.
• 28 January – Wigmore Hall live-streams performances for the first time.
• 4 February – The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla as its next music director, effective September 2016, with an initial contract of 3 years. She is the first female conductor to be named music director of the CBSO.
• 19 February – The Royal Philharmonic Society announces Sir Peter Maxwell Davies as the recipient of its 102nd Gold Medal.
• 24 February – The 2016 Brit Awards ceremony takes place at The O2, presented by Ant & Dec. David Bowie is awarded the "Brits Icon" award, a few weeks after his death. Actor Gary Oldman accepts the award on Bowie's behalf.
• 2 March – The Bridgewater Hall announces the appointment of Andrew Bolt as its new chief executive.
• 21 March – The Gloucester Cathedral Choir announces that it is to recruit girl choristers for the first time in its history, in April 2016.
• 22 March – Mark Wigglesworth announces his resignation as music director of English National Opera, effective at the end of the 2015–2016 season.
• 18 April – The Royal Northern College of Music announces the appointment of Sir John Tomlinson as its next president, for a term of 5 years, effective January 2017.
• 23 April – The London Woodwind Orchestra, the first professional woodwind orchestra in the UK, gives its debut performance at St John's Smith Square.
• 29 April – English National Opera announces the appointment of Daniel Kramer as its next artistic director, effective 1 August 2016.
• 12 May – The Stone Roses release their first new single in 21 years, "All For One", their first new material since their 2011 reformation.
• 14 May – The United Kingdom will compete in the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden. This year's Joe and Jake will represent the United Kingdom with their song, You're Not Alone
• 15 May – Sheku Kanneh-Mason wins the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year award.
• 10–12 June – Download Festival 2016 takes place at Donington Park in Leicestershire. The Lemmy stage (named in honour of late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister) was headlined by Rammstein, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, the Zippo encore stage by All Time Low, NOFX and Jane's Addiction, the Maverick stage by the Gutterdämmerung project by Bjorn Tagemose, Pennywise and Saxon, and the Dogtooth stage by Raging Speedhorn, Municipal Waste and Napalm Death.
• 12 June – Queen's Birthday Honours
  • Rod Stewart is made a Knight Bachelor.
  • Alison Balsom is awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE).
  • Brian Lang, Colin Lawson, Paul Lewis, John McLeod are each made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
• 13 June – The Royal Albert Hall announces that Chris Cotton, its current chief executive, is to retire.
• 24 June – Never heard during the composer's lifetime, Still Point by Daphne Oram receives its world premiere at St John's Smith Square, London, 67 years after Oram composed the work.
• 11 July – Release of Stand As One – Live at Glastonbury 2016, an album of live performances from the 2016 Glastonbury Festival in memory of Jo Cox, the MP recently killed in a violent attack; proceeds from the album will go towards helping Oxfam's work with refugees, Cox having worked for the charity for some years.
• 13 July – The Guildhall School of Music and Drama announces the appointment of Lynne Williams as its next principal, effective in 2017.
• 2 August – The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Dominic Parker as its new Director, in succession to Gavin Reid.
• 12 September – The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden announces the appointment of Oliver Mears as its next Director of Opera, effective March 2017.
• 8 October – The Wind in the Willows, a musical by Julian Fellowes with music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, receives its world première at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth.
• 16 October – Singer-songwriter Peter Skellern, suffering from an inoperable brain tumour, is ordained as an Anglican priest by the Bishop of Truro.
• 21 October – English National Opera announces the appointment of Martyn Brabbins as its new music director, with immediate effect, with an initial contract through October 2020.
• 24 October – The Royal Albert Hall announces the appointment of Craig Hassall as its next chief executive, effective 2017.
• 4 November – The UK government announced withdrawal of funding support for the proposed new London Concert Hall.
• 7 December – Northern Ireland Opera announces the appointment of Walter Sutcliffe as its next artistic director, effective February 2017.
• 13 December – The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh announces that its chief executive, Adrian Harris, is to retire at the end of December 2016.
• 30 December – New Year's Honours 2017
  • Dame Evelyn Glennie is made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
  • Ray Davies, Jeffrey Tate and Bryn Terfel are each made a Knight Bachelor.
  • Lennox Mackenzie and Stephen Maddock are each made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
  • Iestyn Davies and Anthony Forbes are each made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Television series

• 8 January – Launch of the first series of Lip Sync Battle: UK on Channel 5, a British version of the American musical comedy television show where celebrities lip sync battle each other to various popular songs.
• 9 January – Launch of the fifth series of The Voice UK, the last to be broadcast by the BBC.

Artists and groups reformed

• Arab Strap
• Bentley Rhythm Ace
• Meet Me in St. Louis
• Spice Girls – GEM
• Super Furry Animals
• The Vapors
• The Zutons

Groups on hiatus

• Bombay Bicycle Club
• One Direction

Groups disbanded

• Allo Darlin'
• The Bad Shepherds
• Bolt Thrower
• The Business
• Cherry Ghost
• Dead or Alive
• Funeral for a Friend
• FVK
• The Enemy
• Kosheen
• Lush
• Maybeshewill
• Palma Violets
• Viola Beach (all lost their lives in a road accident)
• Vondelpark
• Wodensthrone

Classical works

• Julian Anderson – Incantesimi
• Sally Beamish
  • Chaconne (for organ)
  • A Shakespeare Masque (text by Carol Ann Duffy)
• Luke Bedford
  • Three Caves
  • In Black Bright Ink
• Judith Bingham – The Orchid and Its Hunters
• Harrison Birtwistle – Five Lessons in a Frame
• Mark David Boden – Ghyll
• Charlotte Bray
  • Agnus Dei
  • Stone Dancer
  • Falling in the Fire (for cello and orchestra)
• Diana Burrell – Concerto for Brass and Orchestra
• Paul Carr – Violin Concerto
• Chiu-yu Chou – Tongue
• Desmond Clarke
  • Viola Concerto
  • Xyla
• Anna Clyne – This Lunar Beauty
• Ronald Corp – "Behold, the sea"
• Tom Coult
  • Sonnet Machine
  • Spirit of the Staircase
• Laurence Crane – Cobbled Section After Cobbled Section
• Stephen Deazley (music) and Martin Riley (text) – The Rattler
• James Dillon – The Gates for string quartet and orchestra
• Richard Emsley – Strange Attractor
• Edmund Finnis – Parallel Colour
• Alissa Firsova
  • Paradisi Gloria
  • Bride of the Wind
• Cheryl Frances-Hoad – Game On (for piano and Commodore 64)
• Michael Zev Gordon – In the Middle of Things
• Tom Harrold
  • Nightfires
  • Raze
• Malcolm Hayes – Violin Concerto
• Morgan Hayes – Overture: The Kiss
• Piers Hellawell – Wild Flow
• Thomas Hyde – Piano Trio: after Picasso
• Patrick John Jones – Locks of the approaching storm
• Mica Levi – Signal Before War
• Zoë Martlew – Broad St. Burlesque
• Christian Mason – Isolarion III
• Benedict Mason – Horns Strings and Harmony
• David Matthews – Norfolk March
• Bayan Northcott – Concerto for Orchestra
• Ben Palmer – Flying in the Fire
• Roxanna Panufnik – Kyrie after Byrd
• Owain Park – Upheld by stillness
• Aaron Parker – After sunset fades
• Anthony Payne – Of Land, Sea and Sky
• Joseph Phibbs – Partita
• John Pickard – Symphony No 5
• Michael Pisaro – fields have ears (10)
• Sophya Polevaya – Carousel
• Francis Pott – Laudate Dominum
• John Powell – A Prussian Requiem
• Alwynne Pritchard – Rockaby
• Ryan Probert – Mattei
• Derek Rodgers – Clarinet Concerto
• Matt Rogers – We Happened to Travel
• David Sawer – April\March
• Frederick Scott – Toccata seconda
• Percy Sherwood – Concerto for violin and cello
• Howard Skempton – Piano Concerto
• Mark-Anthony Turnage – Strapless (ballet in one act, choreography by Christopher Wheeldon)
• Roderick Williams – Ave verum corpus re-imagined
• Scott Wilson – head-neck-chest-four-five-six-thing
• John Woolrich – Swan Song

Opera

• Figaro Gets a Divorce by Elena Langer (libretto by David Pountney) is premièred on 21 February 2016 by Welsh National Opera in Cardiff.
• Found and Lost by Emily Hall is premièred at the Corinthia Hotel London in January 2016.
• Other premieres:
  • Thomas Adès and Tom Cairns – The Exterminating Angel
  • Iain Bell (music), David Antrobus and Emma Jenkins (libretto) – In Parenthesis
  • David Bruce and Glyn Maxwell – Nothing
  • Nicholas Jackson – The Rose and the Ring
  • Hannah Kendall and Tessa McWatt – The Knife of Dawn
  • Stuart MacRae and Louise Welsh – The Devil Inside
  • Sir Peter Maxwell Davies – The Hogboon
  • Mark Simpson and Melanie Challenger – Pleasure
  • Philip Venables – 4.48 Psychosis

Musical theatre

• Fantastic Mr Fox by Sam Holcroft, with music by Arthur Darvill.
• Half a Sixpence, co-created by Cameron Mackintosh with book by Julian Fellowes and music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (also including several songs by David Heneker from the 1963 musical based on the same story.
• The Wind in the Willows by Julian Fellowes, with music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe

Musical films

• Sing Street

Film scores and incidental music

Film

• Erran Baron Cohen & David Buckley – Grimsby
• Charlie Mole – Dad's Army
• Rachel Portman – Their Finest

Television

• Debbie Wiseman – Dickensian

British music awards

• Brit Awards – see 2016 Brit Awards

Charts and sales

For the first time in the history of the singles chart, the top three positions were occupied by the same artist. In the chart ending 14 January 2016, Justin Bieber was at number one with "Love Yourself", number two with "Sorry" and number three with "What Do You Mean?".

In the chart ending 4 February, David Bowie matched an album chart record of having 12 albums simultaneously in the top 40, a record set by Elvis Presley following his death in 1977. His album Best of Bowie also became the first ever album to reach number one due to streaming.

In the chart ending 3 November, Elvis Presley broke a record for most number-one albums for a solo artist when his album The Wonder Of You reached number one.

Number-one singles

The singles chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Key

†	Best performing single of the year

Chart date (week ending)	Song	Artist(s)	Chart sales	References
7 January	"Love Yourself"	Justin Bieber	122,997
14 January			78,658
21 January			74,565
28 January	"Stitches"	Shawn Mendes	68,125
4 February			71,503
11 February	"Pillowtalk"	Zayn Malik	112,497
18 February	"7 Years"	Lukas Graham	104,881
25 February			133,758
3 March			131,488
10 March			106,494
17 March			91,299
24 March	"I Took a Pill in Ibiza"	Mike Posner	77,838
31 March			81,548
7 April			83,907
14 April			75,710
21 April	"One Dance" †	Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla	72,615
28 April			115,078
5 May			128,535
12 May			140,731
19 May			123,519
26 May			104,998
2 June			92,593
9 June			84,742
16 June			72,934
23 June			60,866
30 June			60,493
7 July			59,256
14 July			58,851
21 July			54,726
28 July			59,563
4 August	"Cold Water"	Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber & MØ	102,489
11 August			104,446
18 August			93,807
25 August			82,925
1 September			71,507
8 September	"Closer"	The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey	79,970
15 September			91,666
22 September			88,597
29 September			82,593
6 October	"Say You Won't Let Go"	James Arthur	84,842
13 October			92,360
20 October			105,603
27 October	"Shout Out to My Ex"	Little Mix	95,273
3 November			111,816
10 November			79,039
17 November	"Rockabye"	Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie	72,071
24 November			76,189
1 December			74,545
8 December			82,445
15 December			70,467
22 December			63,335
29 December			57,631

Number-one albums

The albums chart includes a proportion for streaming.

Key

†	Best performing album of the year

Chart date (week ending)	Album	Artist	Chart sales	References
7 January	25 †	Adele	75,783
14 January			43,446
21 January	Blackstar	David Bowie	146,168
28 January			81,403
4 February			34,456
11 February	Best of Bowie		28,997
18 February	A Head Full of Dreams	Coldplay	30,146
25 February	25 †	Adele	27,780
3 March			28,168
10 March	I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It	The 1975	58,378
17 March	25 †	Adele	53,936
24 March			22,795
31 March			20,915
7 April	Mind of Mine	Zayn Malik	22,250
14 April	Everything You've Come to Expect	The Last Shadow Puppets	30,797
21 April	Cleopatra	The Lumineers	10,892
28 April	The Hope Six Demolition Project	PJ Harvey	11,436
5 May	Lemonade	Beyoncé	73,392
12 May	Views	Drake	78,397
19 May	A Moon Shaped Pool	Radiohead	50,543
26 May	Views	Drake	23,846
2 June	Dangerous Woman	Ariana Grande	19,582
9 June	The Ride	Catfish and the Bottlemen	38,103
16 June	Stranger to Stranger	Paul Simon	19,218
23 June	50	Rick Astley	23,691
30 June	A Moon Shaped Pool	Radiohead	44,272
7 July	25 †	Adele	24,837
14 July	California	Blink-182	23,529
21 July	Ellipsis	Biffy Clyro	37,308
28 July	Love & Hate	Michael Kiwanuka	11,639
4 August	All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra	Electric Light Orchestra	15,302
11 August	Viola Beach	Viola Beach	17,379
18 August	Blossoms	Blossoms	20,987
25 August			7,948
1 September	Blond	Frank Ocean	31,866
8 September	Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway	Barbra Streisand	19,778
15 September	Cartwheels	Ward Thomas	12,127
22 September	Wild World	Bastille	36,039
29 September			12,025
6 October	Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea	Passenger	18,885
13 October	Following My Intuition	Craig David	24,500
20 October	Revolution Radio	Green Day	30,880
27 October	Walls	Kings of Leon	49,964
3 November	The Wonder of You	Elvis Presley	63,500
10 November	Back from the Edge	James Arthur	40,906
17 November	The Heavy Entertainment Show	Robbie Williams	66,825
24 November	24 Hrs	Olly Murs	57,981
1 December	Glory Days	Little Mix	96,205
8 December			57,151
15 December	Blue & Lonesome	The Rolling Stones	105,830
22 December	Together	Michael Ball & Alfie Boe	96,643
29 December			109,708

Number-one compilation albums

Key

†	Best-selling compilation of the year

Chart date (week ending)	Album	Sales	References
7 January	Now 92	54,811
14 January		22,215
21 January	Go Hard or Go Home	16,413
28 January	Acoustic Cafe	14,093
4 February		14,164
11 February	Throwback Slow Jamz	25,152
18 February		21,800
25 February		17,731
3 March	Brit Awards 2016	11,751
10 March	Sing Your Heart Out 2016	20,532
17 March		21,036
24 March		20,820
31 March	Now 93	246,889
7 April		149,467
14 April		81,598
21 April		50,936
28 April		36,873
5 May		29,106
12 May		27,431
19 May	100% Clubland
26 May	Now 93	18,694
2 June	100% Clubland	19,467
9 June	Now 93	18,252
16 June	100% Clubland	14,629
23 June	Throwback Summer Jamz	30,228
30 June
7 July		23,569
14 July	Now Summer Hits	22,339
21 July		16,958
28 July		16,462
4 August	Now 94	216,560
11 August		117,412
18 August		69,408
25 August		48,029
1 September		33,991
8 September		29,744
15 September		22,130
22 September		20,084
29 September		16,430
6 October		15,447
13 October		14,690
20 October		12,256
27 October		11,527
3 November	Now 20th Century	12,681
10 November	Funk the Disco	13,579
17 November	The Annual 2017	18,730
24 November	Dreamboats & Petticoats: 10th Anniversary Collection	17,949
1 December	Now 95 †	222,765
8 December		159,404
15 December		132,020
22 December		124,948
29 December		138,880

Best-selling singles

Combined position	Sales Position	Streaming Position	Title	Artist	Peak position	Sales	Streams	Combined sales
1	2	1	"One Dance"	Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla	1	530,000	142,000,000	1,950,000
2	1	4	"7 Years"	Lukas Graham	1			1,490,000
3	5	2	"Cheap Thrills"	Sia featuring Sean Paul	2			1,460,000
4	6	3	"I Took a Pill in Ibiza"	Mike Posner	1			1,380,000
5	7	5	"This Is What You Came For"	Calvin Harris and Rihanna	2			1,280,000
6		7	"Lush Life"	Zara Larsson	3			1,160,000
7		8	"Closer"	The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey	1			1,150,000
8		9	"Love Yourself"	Justin Bieber	1			1,140,000
9		6	"Work"	Rihanna featuring Drake	2
10	3		"Can't Stop the Feeling!"	Justin Timberlake	2
11	8		"Stitches"	Shawn Mendes	1
12	4		"Dancing on My Own"	Calum Scott	2			1,110,000
13	10		"Fast Car"	Jonas Blue featuring Dakota	2
14		10	"Cold Water"	Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber & MØ	1			1,060,000
15			"Work from Home"	Fifth Harmony featuring Ty Dolla Sign	2
16			"Sorry"	Justin Bieber	2
17			"Don't Let Me Down"	The Chainsmokers featuring Daya	2
18			"Too Good"	Drake featuring Rihanna	3
19	9		"Say You Won't Let Go"	James Arthur	1
20			"Light It Up"	Major Lazer featuring Nyla & Fuse ODG	7
21			"Hymn for the Weekend"	Coldplay	6
22			"This Girl"	Kungs vs Cookin' on 3 Burners	2
23			"Cake by the Ocean"	DNCE	4
24			"Pillowtalk"	Zayn	1
25			"Let Me Love You"	DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber	2
26			"Girls Like"	Tinie Tempah featuring Zara Larsson	5
27			"Treat You Better"	Shawn Mendes	6
28			"Faded"	Alan Walker	7
29			"Perfect Strangers"	Jonas Blue featuring JP Cooper	2
30			"No Money"	Galantis	4
31			"Stressed Out"	Twenty One Pilots	12
32			"I Hate U, I Love U"	Gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien	7
33			"Tears"	Clean Bandit featuring Louisa Johnson	5
34			"Starboy"	The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk	2
35			"What Do You Mean?"	Justin Bieber	3
36			"Panda"	Desiigner	7
37			"Rockabye"	Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie	1
38			"Heathens"	Twenty One Pilots	5
39			"Shout Out to My Ex"	Little Mix	1
40			"All My Friends"	Snakehips featuring Tinashe & Chance the Rapper	5
41			"Secret Love Song"	Little Mix featuring Jason Derulo	6
42			"Adventure of a Lifetime"	Coldplay	8
43			"Controlla"	Drake	18
44			"Me, Myself & I"	G-Eazy & Bebe Rexha	13
45			"History"	One Direction	6
46			"Into You"	Ariana Grande	14
47			"Middle"	DJ Snake featuring Bipolar Sunshine	10
48			"Hello"	Adele	3
49			"Side to Side"	Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj	4
50			"The Greatest"	Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar	5

Best-selling albums

No.	Title	Artist	Peak position	Combined sales
1	25	Adele	1	753,000
2	A Head Full of Dreams	Coldplay	1	512,000
3	Together	Michael Ball & Alfie Boe	1
4	Purpose	Justin Bieber	2	478,500
5	The Wonder of You	Elvis Presley	1	458,000
6	Blackstar	David Bowie	1	410,000
7	Glory Days	Little Mix	1	409,000
8	Views	Drake	1	387,000
9	I Cry When I Laugh	Jess Glynne	2
10	Best of Bowie	David Bowie	1	328,500
11	Lemonade	Beyoncé	1	328,000
12	24 Hrs	Olly Murs	1	304,000
13	Nobody but Me	Michael Bublé	2
14	The Heavy Entertainment Show	Robbie Williams	1
15	Get Weird	Little Mix	6
16	This Is Acting	Sia	3
17	Blue & Lonesome	The Rolling Stones	1
18	50	Rick Astley	1
19	Chaos and the Calm	James Bay	5
20	x	Ed Sheeran	9
21	All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra	Electric Light Orchestra	1
22	If I Can Dream	Elvis Presley	2
23	Christmas	Michael Bublé	6
24	24K Magic	Bruno Mars	3
25	I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It	The 1975	1
26	Long Live the Angels	Emeli Sandé	2
27	Blurryface	Twenty One Pilots	5
28	A Moon Shaped Pool	Radiohead	1
29	The Singles	Phil Collins	2
30	Back from the Edge	James Arthur	1
31	Legend	Bob Marley and the Wailers	5
32	Anti	Rihanna	7
33	Chaleur Humaine	Christine and the Queens	2
34	Communion	Years & Years	11
35	Upon a Different Shore	Alexander Armstrong	8
36	Walls	Kings of Leon	1
37	Beauty Behind the Madness	The Weeknd	13
38	Delirium	Ellie Goulding	11
39	Nine Track Mind	Charlie Puth	6
40	Nothing Has Changed	David Bowie	5
41	The Ride	Catfish and the Bottlemen	1
42	The Very Best of Prince	Prince	2
43	In the Lonely Hour	Sam Smith	11
44	1989	Taylor Swift	8
45	Falling in Love	André Rieu & Johann Strauss Orchestra	7
46	Back to Black	Amy Winehouse	20
47	21	Adele	10
48	Death of a Bachelor	Panic! at the Disco	4
49	Just... Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll	Cliff Richard	4
50	Wild World	Bastille	1

Notes:

Deaths

• 4 January – Robert Stigwood, Australian-born band manager (Bee Gees, Cream) and film producer (Grease, Saturday Night Fever), 81 (death announced on this date)
• 10 January – David Bowie, singer-songwriter and actor, 69
• 17 January – Dale Griffin, drummer (Mott the Hoople), 67 (Alzheimer's disease)
• 24 January – Jimmy Bain, Scottish bassist (Rainbow, Dio), 68
• 26 January – Colin Vearncombe (aka Black), singer-songwriter, 53 (head injuries sustained in a traffic collision)
• 9 February – Roy Harris, folk singer, 82
• 13 February – Members of Viola Beach:
  • Kris Leonard, 20, singer and guitarist
  • Jack Dakin, 19, drummer
  • Tomas Lowe, 27, bassist
  • River Reeves, 19, guitarist
  • Craig Tarry, 32, manager (road accident)
• 16 February – Gwyneth George, concert cellist and music academic, 95
• 18 February – Brendan Healy, 59, actor and musician
• 19 February – Vi Subversa, musician (Poison Girls), 80
• 25 February – John Chilton, jazz musician and writer, 83
• 1 March – Louise Plowright, musical theatre actress, 59 (pancreatic cancer)
• 8 March – Sir George Martin, Grammy-winning producer and composer, 90
• 9 March – Jon English, English-born Australian musician and actor, 66 (complications from surgery)
• 10 March – Keith Emerson, keyboardist (Emerson, Lake and Palmer), 71 (self-inflicted gunshot wound)
• 14 March – Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, composer and conductor, Master of the Queen's Music (2004–2014), 81
• 4 April – Royston Nash, conductor, 82
• 12 April – Alan Loveday, violinist, 88
• 15 April – Guy Woolfenden, composer and conductor, 78
• 25 May – Peggy Spencer, dancer and choreographer, 95
• 31 May – Tim Feild, musician (The Springfields), 82
• 3 June – Dave Swarbrick, folk musician and singer-songwriter (Fairport Convention), 75
• 14 June – Henry McCullough, guitarist (Paul McCartney & Wings), 72
• 22 June
  • Mike Hart, singer-songwriter, 72
  • Harry Rabinowitz, composer and conductor, 100
• 2 July – David Patrick Gedge, organist, 77
• 13 July – Steven Young, musician (Colourbox, M/A/R/R/S), 53
• 17 July – Fred Tomlinson, singer (The Two Ronnies, Monty Python's Flying Circus), composer ("The Lumberjack Song") and critic, 88
• 24 July – Keith Gemmell, saxophonist, clarinetist (Audience), 68
• 26 July – Paul Robertson, violinist and leader of the Medici String Quartet, 63
• 29 July – Ken Barrie, voice actor and singer, 83
• 30 July – Nigel Gray, record producer (Outlandos d'Amour), 69
• 14 August – Neil Black, oboist, 84
• 19 August – Derek Smith, jazz pianist, 85 (death announced on this date)
• 22 August – Gilli Smyth, singer (Gong), 83
• 28 August – John Stenhouse, orchestral bass clarinetist, 74
• 12 September – Hidayat Inayat Khan, composer and conductor, 99
• 30 September – Michael Casswell, guitarist, 53
• 2 October
  • Sir Neville Marriner, conductor and violinist, 92
  • Thomas Round, opera singer, 100
• 5 October – Rod Temperton, songwriter, producer and musician (Heatwave), 68
• 7 October – Anne Pashley, Olympic athlete and opera singer, 80
• 23 October – Pete Burns, singer (Dead or Alive), 57 (cardiac arrest)
• 7 November – Sir Jimmy Young, singer and DJ, 95
• 11 November – George Reynolds, orchestral trumpeter, 78
• 22 November – Craig Gill, drummer (Inspiral Carpets), 44
• 1 December – Micky Fitz, punk singer (The Business) (death announced this date)
• 7 December – Greg Lake, singer, musician, producer (King Crimson), (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), 69 (cancer)
• 24 December – Rick Parfitt, singer, musician, (Status Quo), 68 (septicaemia)
• 25 December – George Michael, singer, 53

See also

• 2016 in British radio
• 2016 in British television
• 2016 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 2016