Adele wins Brit Award for Bond hit

As one of the biggest names — and voices — on the planet, Adele was a natural choice to sing the theme to the latest Bond movie Skyfall, which was last night named best single at the Brits.

The track, which missed out on a No 1, marked Adele’s return to recording since the major surgery she underwent as a result of a vocal cord haemorrhage in late 2011. She is also tipped to win an Oscar for the song at the weekend, after already collecting a Golden Globe.

Adele, 24, has now accumulated sales of more than 10m for her second album 21 in the US alone.

Meanwhile, Coldplay were named best live act, while Lana Del Rey won the best international female solo artist. One Direction won the inaugural global success award (for international sales in 2012).

Mumford & Sons picked up the award for best British group, two years after missing out on the prize when they were previously shortlisted. It was the band’s second Brit win, having collected the best album prize in 2011.

Chart-topping Emeli Sande took honours as she collected the best female solo artist prize, beating stars such as Jessie Ware and the late Amy Winehouse to land the award.

Picking up the Damien Hirst-designed trophy from US star Taylor Swift, she said: “This is incredible and I’m so happy to win this award.”

The beaming star went on to collect the biggest prize of the night: Best album.