The Billboard Awards took place on October 14th in the US after being delayed by the pandemic and while it was mostly a night for American artists, there were some successes for British artists as well. According to BBC, ‘British winners included Harry Styles, who received the Billboard Chart Achievement award; Ellie Goulding, whose single Close To Me was named best electronic song; and Sir Elton John, who won best rock tour.’
While Styles was unable to attend the event himself, his award was collected on his behalf by Addison Rae who also presented the award which was for Billboard Chart Achievement. Styles reached number 1 on the Billboard Charts with his recent album ‘Fine Line,’ which is now at number 19, it has been on the chart for 43 weeks. Despite reaching number 3 in the UK charts and charting for a total of 44 weeks so far, ‘Fine Line,’ has not matched the success of his debut ‘Harry Styles,’ which was a UK number 1 and charted for 60 weeks.
‘Watermelon Sugar,’ has, in UK terms, been Style’s most successful single from the new album. The song has reached number 4 in the UK charts and the official video has 130,211,896 views on Youtube. ‘Fine Line,’ has generally gone down well since its release on 13th December 2019 and NME described it as combining the ‘nostalgic sound,’ of his debut combined with ‘soaring pop sensibilities.‘ His debut album ‘Harry Styles,’ was released following the announcement of a hiatus by his X Factor group One Direction and the leading single ‘Sign of the Times,’ was a UK number one.
Like many artists who have released albums this year or in the winter months of 2019, Harry Styles has found the coronavirus outbreak having a big impact on his ability to tour in support of the album. The List reported that Styles was forced to postpone the whole tour which was planned for 2020, cancelling dates where he was due to perform in ‘South America, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand,’ due to ‘the ongoing threat of Covid-19.’ However, fans have some reason for optimism as the tour has been rescheduled and he is due to perform at the O2 in London on the 23rd of March 2012.
Fans from other parts of the country will be pleased to hear that the rescheduled tour dates also include other major cities in the UK, as well as the extensive European and American legs. This may of course be dependant on the ongoing pandemic which continues to restrict life in the United Kingdom as well as in other countries around the world and there is currently no sign of the South and Central American or Australian and New Zealand dates being returned next year. Nonetheless, fans across the globe can remain hopeful that they will see the album live in 2021.
Full tour dates for the UK leg of the Harry Styles world tour 2021 are as follows:
11/03/2021 – Arena Birmingham – Birmingham
13/03 – Manchester Arena – Manchester
16/03 – The SSE Hydro – Glasgow
17/03 – Flydsa Arena – Sheffield
23/03 – The O2 Arena – London
24/03 – The O2 Arena – London
