Verve head for record at Brits

The Verve are on course to win a record number of Brit awards. The band won nominations in five categories for the music industry's most prestigious awards ceremeony, announced yesterday.

In three of these categories, Radiohead, who also enjoyed massive success last year, have been nominated; and insiders are predicting that the two bands will dominate the awards, elbowing aside Oasis, who also receive a clutch of nominations.

The Verve and Radiohead are nominated for best British group. They are also both nominated for best British single (Radiohead for "Paranoid Android" and The Verve for "Bittersweet Symphony". The same two bands appear in the best British album category (Radiohead for OK Computer and The Verve for Urban Hymns). And The Verve are nominated too for the best video and best producer.

The Wigan band left behind the Prodigy with three nominations plus best producer, Radiohead with three, and Oasis with three.

The Spice Girls, who won two awards last year, gained just one nomination this time, and not for their music, but for their video "Spice Up Your Life".