21st-century English singer-songwriters

Sir James Paul McCartney is an English musician and songwriter. He gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he was the bassist and keyboardist, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile tenor vocal range and musical eclecticism, exploring genres ranging from pre-rock and roll pop to classical, ballads and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon is the most successful in music history.

David Robert Jones, known as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as among the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie received particular acclaim for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft have had a significant impact on popular music.

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a British cultural icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. Her accolades include 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards (including three for British Album of the Year), an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

George Harrison was an English musician who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Known as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison played a significant role in shaping the band's musical direction and established a successful solo career, particularly through his interest in non-Western musical influences.

Dua Lipa is an English singer and songwriter. Her accolades include seven Brit Awards and three Grammy Awards.

George Michael was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. Michael was known as a creative force in songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. The Radio Academy named him the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004.

British singer and songwriter; vocalist of The Rolling Stones

British musician (born 1951)

Edward Christopher Sheeran is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play No. 5 Collaborations Project. He signed with Asylum Records the same year.

Philip David Charles Collins is an English singer, drummer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis and had a successful solo career, achieving three UK number-one singles and seven US number-one singles as a solo artist. In total, his work with Genesis, other artists and solo resulted in more US top-40 singles than any other artist throughout the 1980s. His most successful singles from the period include "In the Air Tonight", "You Can't Hurry Love", "Against All Odds ", "One More Night", "Sussudio", "Another Day in Paradise", "Two Hearts" and "I Wish It Would Rain Down".

British musician (born 1947)

British musician, guitarist of the Rolling Stones

English-Albanian singer and actress

English musician, co-founder of Pink Floyd (born 1943)

British singer (born 1986)

English singer

English musician, member of Pink Floyd (born 1946)

English musician and lead vocalist of Led Zeppelin

Lily Rose Beatrice Allen is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her accolades include a Brit Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.

English singer, pianist and songwriter (born 1958)

British singer and musician

English musician, drummer of Queen (born 1949)

Charlotte Emma Aitchison, known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Records in 2010, Charli XCX released a series of singles and mixtapes in the early 2010s. In 2012, she was featured on "I Love It" by Swedish duo Icona Pop, which became her first number-one song in the UK and received global success, but her debut studio album, True Romance (2013), failed to meet commercial expectations.

English singer (born 1988)

British singer

British singer and guitarist

British-born Irish-American singer and songwriter

English singer and songwriter

British comedian, actor and writer (born 1943)

British singer

English singer

English singer

British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer

English singer-songwriter (born 1954)

British singer and rapper (born 1975)

British musician (born 1986)

English singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter

English singer-songwriter

British singer (born 1979)

British heavy metal singer

British singer, songwriter, actress

English singer and songwriter

British blues rock guitarist (1946–2020)

English singer

English musician (born 1947)

Rachel Agatha Keen (born 24 October 1997), known professionally as Raye ( ), is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Lyrically focusing on her own struggles and contemporary issues, Raye's genre-blending music is influenced by jazz and incorporates pop, dance, R&B, and soul.

British-Canadian musician

British singer and songwriter

British singer-songwriter

British singer-songwriter

British musician

English singer-songwriter

British singer; lead vocalist of Duran Duran

British actor (born 1994)

British singer

English singer-songwriter (born 1994)

Alice Suki Waterhouse is an English actress, singer, and model. Waterhouse began a career in modelling at the age of 16, and she went on to model for several major fashion labels such as Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Laura Mercier, and Ferragamo. Her first feature film as an actress was a minor role in Pusher (2012), and she has since appeared in films such as Love, Rosie (2014), The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015), The Bad Batch (2016), Assassination Nation (2018), and Detective Pikachu (2019). Waterhouse portrayed Karen Sirko in the musical drama miniseries Daisy Jones & the Six (2023).

Victoria Beverley Walker (born 19 April 2001), known professionally as PinkPantheress, is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Her music blends styles such as drum and bass, UK garage, house, and alternative pop, often sampling music from the 1990s and 2000s and featuring affable stream-of-consciousness lyrics. She was named Producer of the Year by Billboard Women in Music in 2024 and was later named British Producer of the Year at the 2026 Brit Awards, becoming the youngest person and first woman in history to be awarded the honor.

English singer, songwriter, and guitarist (1944–2013)

British actress