2013 in British music

• 7 February – Warner Music Group agrees to acquire Parlophone from Universal Music Group for £487 million, as part of Universal's required divestments after acquiring EMI.^[1]
• 1 March – Karl Jenkins signs to Deutsche Grammophon and announces a new album, to be called Adiemus Colores.^[2]
• 3 March – Aled Jones returns to Classic FM as a regular presenter.
• 8 March – David Bowie releases his first studio album in over ten years, The Next Day, which peaks at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
• 9 March – George Benjamin conducts the UK première of his opera Written on Skin at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.^[3]
• 29 March – Bryan Ferry is listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by The Guardian.^[4]
• 10 April – Kate Bush receives the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) insignia from Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.^[5]
• 18 May – Bonnie Tyler represents the United Kingdom in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, singing "Believe in Me", amassing a total of 28 points to finish in 19th place.
• 14–16 June – Download Festival 2013 takes places at Donington Park in Leicestershire. The main stage is headlined by Slipknot, Iron Maiden and Rammstein, the Zippo encore stage by Black Stone Cherry, Enter Shikari and Limp Bizkit, the Pepsi Max stage by HIM, The Hives and Satyricon, the Red Bull Studios stage by Fearless Vampire Killers, Last Witness and Sonic Boom Six, and the Jägermeister acoustic stage by We Are the Ocean, Devin Townsend and Heaven's Basement.
• 16–23 June – BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 30th anniversary competition takes place in St David's Hall, Cardiff.^[6]
• 7 September
  • Marin Alsop becomes the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms. Nigel Kennedy performs Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, and Joyce DiDonato is the soloist for the traditional performance of "Rule, Britannia!".^[7]
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor is among the 15 celebrities competing in the opening round of the 11th series of Strictly Come Dancing.
• 14 October – Paul McCartney releases New, his first album of totally new material since 2007's Memory Almost Full; it enters the UK Albums Chart at number three on 20 October 2013.
• 24 November – Robbie Williams' album Swings Both Ways becomes the 1000th album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart.
• 14–15 December – The X Factor series final is won by Sam Bailey. Nicholas McDonald is named runner-up, while Luke Friend and Rough Copy finish in third and fourth place respectively.
• 18 December – Former Lostprophets lead singer Ian Watkins is sentenced to 29 years in prison with a further six on licence after pleading guilty to thirteen child sexual offences.
• 30 December – Musicians included in the New Year Honours list for 2014 include conductor Sir Simon Rattle (OM), pianist Stephen Hough (CBE), singer Katherine Jenkins (OBE) and DJ Pete Tong (MBE).^[8]

• Francis Jackson – Music for a Long While^[9]

• 26 January – Howard Goodall's Story of Music, a six-part series made for BBC Two, begins its run.^[10]
• 20 July – David Starkey's Music and Monarchy begins its run on BBC Two.^[11]
• 12 September – Sound of Cinema: the Music that Made the Movies, introduced by Neil Brand, begins its run on BBC Four.^[12]
• 13 November – The Sound of Musicals begins its run on Channel 4.^[13]
• 14 November – Requiem: documentary on the history of the requiem on BBC Four, featuring Elin Manahan Thomas, Tenebrae, Bryn Terfel and Jane Glover.^[14]

• The Boomtown Rats
• Northside
• S Club Juniors (4 of the 8 original members)

• Parade^[15]
• Girls Aloud
• JLS
• Sugababes
• District3^[16]
• Lostprophets
• Chapel Club
• Bingo Players
• Babybird

For a record to be certified platinum, it must sell a minimum of 600,000 copies. However, not every song that sells 600,000 copies is given platinum certification and so this is not a complete list of songs that have sold 600,000 copies in 2012. Also note that a song certified platinum could have sold its 600,000th copy long before it is given certification.

• Mica Levi – Under the Skin
• Rachel Portman – Belle

• 25 June – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical by David Greig, with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, receives its première at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[21]
• 23 October – From Here to Eternity the Musical by Stuart Brayson, Tim Rice and Bill Oakes, opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London.
• 19 December – Stephen Ward by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black officially opens at the Aldwych Theatre, London.^[22]

• Sunshine on Leith, directed by Dexter Fletcher, starring George MacKay, Kevin Guthrie, Freya Mavor and Jane Horrocks.

• 9 January – Jim Godbolt, jazz writer, 90^[31]
• 10 January – Trevor Gordon, singer and songwriter (the Marbles), 64
• 16 January – Nic Potter, bassist (Van der Graaf Generator), 61^[32]
• 17 January – Lizbeth Webb, soprano and actress, 86
• 4 February – Reg Presley, singer, songwriter, musician (The Troggs), 71^[33]
• 11 February – Rick Huxley, bassist (The Dave Clark Five), 72^[34]
• 16 February
  • John Ayldon, singer and actor, 69
  • Tony Sheridan, singer-songwriter and guitarist, 72
• 18 February – Kevin Ayers, singer-songwriter and guitarist (Soft Machine and The Wilde Flowers), 68
• 6 March – Alvin Lee, singer and guitarist (Ten Years After), 68
• 7 March
  • Kenny Ball, jazz trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader, 82
  • Peter Banks, guitarist (Yes), 65
  • Jeffrey Skitch, operatic baritone, 85
• 8 March – Ricardo da Force, vocalist, rapper (The KLF, N-Trance), 45
• 12 March – Clive Burr, drummer (Iron Maiden), 56
• 15 March – Terry Lightfoot, jazz musician and bandleader, 77^[35]
• 10 April – Thomas Hemsley, opera singer, 85^[36]
• 13 April – Stephen Dodgson, composer, 89^[37]
• 14 April – Sir Colin Davis, conductor, 85^[38]
• 6 May – Steve Martland, composer, 53^[39]
• 8 May – Ken Whaley, Austrian-English bass player (Help Yourself, Ducks Deluxe, and Man) (b. 1946)
• 21 May – Trevor Bolder, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (Uriah Heep, The Spiders from Mars, and Cybernauts), 62 (cancer)^[40]
• 2 June – Nick Keir, singer-songwriter (The McCalmans), 60
• 16 June – Richard Marlow, organist and choral director, 74^[41]
• 23 June – Darryl Read, English singer-songwriter, drummer (Crushed Butler) and actor, 61 (motorcycle accident)^[42]
• 4 July – Bernie Nolan, singer and member of the Nolans, 52
• 17 July – Peter Appleyard, English-Canadian vibraphone player and composer, 84
• 1 August – John Amis, British broadcaster, classical music critic and opera singer, 91^[43]
• 13 August – Jon Brookes, drummer (The Charlatans), 44
• 12 September – Joan Regan, pop singer, 85
• 13 September – Peter Aston, English composer, 74^[44]
• 15 September – Jackie Lomax, guitarist and singer-songwriter, 69
• 18 September – Lindsay Cooper, rock and jazz musician (Henry Cow, Comus, Feminist Improvising Group), 62
• 8 August – Philip Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter (The Pogues), 56
• 19 October – Noel Harrison, actor, singer and Olympic skier, son of Rex Harrison, 79^[45]
• 30 October – Pete Haycock, musician (Climax Blues Band) and film score composer, 62
• 3 November – Bernard Roberts, pianist, 80^[46]
• 11 November – Billy Adamson, drummer (The Searchers)
• 12 November – Sir John Tavener, English composer of religious music, 69^[47]
• 14 November – Georgina Anderson, singer, 15 (liver cancer)^[48]
• 22 November – Brian Dawson, folk singer and song collector, 74^[49]
• 25 November – Bob Day, pop singer (The Allisons), 72.^[50]
• 26 November – Stan Stennett, Welsh comic entertainer, actor and jazz musician, 88^[51]
• 1 December – Richard Coughlan, English drummer (Caravan), 66 (pneumonia)^[52]
• 6 December – Stan Tracey, jazz pianist, 86^[53]
• 8 December – Edward Williams, English composer (Life on Earth), 92^[54]

• 2013 in British radio
• 2013 in British television
• 2013 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 2013