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Stormzy's rise to the top of Glastonbury's Pyramid

Stormzy’s career has been one big level-up. Time and time again, he has gone one step further and achieved greatness. He's had a No.1 album, single, a best-selling book and now will become grime's first Glastonbury headliner.

To celebrate the star's Friday headline set on the Pyramid Stage, we take a look at the huge moments that have defined his career to date. Next stop? Worthy Farm!

October 2014: Early signs of a star-in-waiting

By the tail end of 2014, Stormzy was already making waves in UK rap circles, creating a buzz with his Wicked Skengman freestyles and winning Best Grime Act at the MOBO Awards. It was perhaps his showstopping performance on Jools Holland, however, that alerted him to many.

A slot on Jools… is a huge deal and an important stamp of approval for emerging artists. Still, it took something special for the show to book an unsigned rapper for the first time. But Stormzy has a habit of being the first to achieve big accolades, and so it proved in 2014 when he performed Not That Deep. Grime had its first Jools moment when Dizzee Rascal played in 2003, but Stormzy’s slot was still a big turning point for the scene and the star himself.

December 2015: Shut Up leads to an unforgettable Christmas chart battle

Stormzy's first breakthrough hit, Shut Up started as a freestyle, filmed in one take in a South London car park. But seven months after the track's initial May 2015 release, Stormzy found himself in a chart battle with that year's X Factor winner Louisa Johnson, who was the bookies' favourite for the Christmas No.1.

After Stormzy performed the track during Anthony Joshua’s boxing ring-walk against Dillian Whyte, fans started a last-minute campaign to get the song to top spot over the festive period. The song eventually occupied No.9 spot, but climbed a massive 99 places in the chart and landed the MC his first Top 10 single.

Stormzy actually ended up finishing ahead of Johnson, but behind that year's eventual Christmas No.1, a charity single from the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir. Given the star's , you know that's the winner he would have wanted to have been bettered by.

March 2017: Gang Signs and Prayer earns Stormzy his first No.1 album

Fast-forward just over a year and, thanks to a string of hits including Big For Your Boots and Cold, Stormzy is a bonafide star - a fact reflected by his album going straight in at No.1 and being certified Silver by BPI in its first week. In fact, all 16 tracks appeared in the Top 100 of the UK Official Singles Chart.

There isn’t much Stormzy could have done to top the success of Gang Signs and Prayer. At the time, it pipped Drake’s Views in getting the record for most streams in its first week (13.9 million), and it narrowly beat Rag’n’Bone Man’s Human to the top spot, making it the first grime album to score a No.1.

February 2018: An iconic BRITs performance makes him a household name

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Stormzy could have simply showed up to the 2018 BRITs to pick up his awards for Best British Male and Best British Album. Instead, he used his closing performance to campaign for more government funding towards the victims of June 2017’s Grenfell disaster. In the process, he became a household name in an instant and a major voice for the youth of today.

“This is bigger than me [and] if I can use my voice to say something that's bigger than me,” he told Newsbeat after his performance. “It’s not about me - it’s about Grenfell.”

May 2019: He pips Taylor Swift to bag his first UK No.1 single

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After a seriously close chart battle, Stormzy earned another career-first by scoring a No.1 single with Vossi Bop in May of this year. His competition? Only one of the biggest popstars on the planet – Taylor Swift and her comeback single ME!

"Words don’t really do it justice," Stormzy said following the announcement that he had reached top spot. "I’m genuinely, for once in my life, speechless!" Someone who was rooting for the rapper, however, was Swift herself, who told Radio 1's Scott Mills during the head-to-head: "I love Stormzy. I'd happily lose to him." When your competition is on your side, you know you're doing something right.

He performed Vossi Bop for the first time live at Big Weekend - giving a taster of what's to come at Glastonbury.

June 2019: Now, Stormzy's set to become Glastonbury鈥檚 first-ever grime headliner

Stormzy

Highlights of Stormzy's set at Glastonbury 2017

Stormzy has put in the miles and worked his way up the Glastonbury bill. In 2016, he conquered the Park Stage. In 2017, he reigned supreme on the Other Stage with an incredible, celebratory set.

And this year, grime will get its scene-defining moment when Stormzy headlines Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. .

What should we expect? Well, he's been plotting the biggest set of his career. “Whoever’s coming on that Friday, just bring your energy,” he told fans while speaking on Radio 1 this month. “That’s all I need, and I’ll give it to you back. We’re gonna have a great night.” We can't wait.

Keep up with all the action from Glastonbury 2019...

You can keep up with all the Glastonbury action via our six streams on 成人快手 iPlayer. We'll be bringing you live sets from five key stages (Pyramid, Other, West Holts, John Peel and Park), plus all the best bits on our Must Watch stream.

成人快手 Sounds has you covered too. We've launched 成人快手 Radio Glastonbury, which will broadcast 24 hours a day from Thursday 27th June at 4pm. 成人快手 Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music and 成人快手 5 Live will all be there too so you can enjoy all this from the comfort of your own front room or bedroom or even at the gym!