Zayn and James Bay’s self penned tracks ‘Pillowtalk’ and ‘Let It Go’ are both in the running for Song Of The Year at this year’s BMI London Awards, due to be held at The Dorchester on October 9th. DJ Paleface & Kyla are also in contention for their contributions to ‘One Dance’ by Drake, alongside last year’s winner Ed Sheeranfor ‘Love Yourself’ performed by Justin Bieber. Alexander Palmer is also a contender for ‘Somewhere On A Beach’ performed by Dierks Bentley.

The Song Of The Year award is given to the most performed song of the year to UK or European writers in the BMI catalog on U.S. radio which will be presented in London by BMI, the global leader in music rights management.

For the last two years the award has been taken home by British songwriters. In 2015 Sam Smith claimed the title for ‘Stay With Me’ and last year Ed Sheeran further cemented British songwriters among the best in the world, winning the award for ‘Thinking Out Loud’

Breaking the US market is a huge goal for many European artists and songwriters, so recognition at the BMI London Awards is a true mark of triumph in this field. Only the most popular songs played on US TV and radio by European songwriters are shortlisted for Song Of The Year, underlining their achievements and each of the five will receive a BMI London Pop Award on the night.

‘Pillowtalk’ was the chart smashing debut solo single written and performed by Zayn, which went straight to at Number 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and UK Official Chart. In the US, ‘Pillowtalk’ sold 267,000 copies in its first week along with 22.3 million streams. ‘Pillowtalk’ made Zayn the first one-time member of a Hot 100-charting boy band to score a Number 1 with a debut single since George Harrison in 1970.

Last year’s winner Ed Sheeran is up for Song Of The Year after writing GRAMMY nominated track ‘Love Yourself’, performed by Justin Bieber. Produced and co-written by Benny Blanco and Bieber, the track reached Number 1 in eight countries including the UK and the US, achieving an incredible 17.4 million streams in the first week alone and went on to spend an incredible 24 non-consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.

‘Let It Go’ is the self-penned lead single from GRAMMY nominated British singer/songwriter James Bay, from his EP of the same title. The track debuted in the top 10 of the UK Official Charts, top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was performed at the GRAMMY Awards with Tori Kelly, where he was nominated for ‘Best New Artist’.

British songwriters Kyla and DJ Paleface are in contention for the award with songwriting credits for ‘One Dance’ by Drake which samples their 90’s dancehall track ‘Do You Mind’. In 2016 the track spent a total of ten non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and accumulated over one billion individual streams, making the track one of the best selling singles of all time.

‘Somewhere On A Beach’, performed by by Dierks Bentley, was written by German songwriter and producer Alexander Palmer. The song peaked at the top of the Hot Country Songs and Billboard Country Airplay chart in the US, granting Alexander his first Number 1 country song. It has now been certified platinum in the US, denoting over one million sales.