Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music
The Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music was 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. 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 retired following the 2019 Brit Awards.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon are the artists with the most wins with three awards. Pink is the first female solo artist and the first international artist to receive the BRIT award while Cecilia Bartoli and Andrea Bocelli are the first female soloist and international artist respectively to receive the Classic BRIT Award.Contemporary winners
Classic winners
| Year | Recipient |
| 2000 | Nigel Kennedy |
| 2001 | Simon Rattle |
| 2002 | Andrea Bocelli |
| 2003 | Cecilia Bartoli |
| 2004 | Renée Fleming |
| 2005 | James Galway |
| 2006 | Placido Domingo |
| 2007 | Vernon Handley |
| 2008 | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| 2009 | José Carreras |
| 2010 | Kiri Te Kanawa |
| 2011 | John Barry |
| 2012 | John Williams |
| 2013 | Hans Zimmer |
| 2014 | Luciano Pavarotti |
| 2018 | Vera Lynn |
Artists with multiple wins
- The Beatles have received the award twice
- John Lennon has received the award three times
- Elton John has received the award three times
- Freddie Mercury has received the award twice
- Paul McCartney has received the award three times
- David Bowie has received the award twice
- Robbie Williams has received the award twice
