The 2010 Meteor Music Awards ceremony took place on Friday 19 February 2010 in Dublin. They were presented by Amanda Byram. The launch took place in La Stampa on 7 January 2010, and was attended by The Coronas and Danny O'Donoghue from The Script. Bell X1, Christy Moore, Florence and the Machine and U2 each received three nominations. U2 received no awards to the surprise of The Coronas and The Script who beat them in two of the three categories. Westlife won Best Irish Pop Act for the tenth consecutive year. The list of performing artists on the night included international acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Pixie Lott, Paolo Nutini, The Script, The Temper Trap and Westlife. Snow Patrol were also announced but later cancelled their scheduled performance. The event had sold out by early February. It was broadcast on RTÉ Two on 21 February 2010, at 21:00.

Performances

The first announcements were: Later announcements included:

Cancelled performance

Snow Patrol announced an inability to perform at the 2010 Meteor Awards after frontman Gary Lightbody broke his jaw.

Winners and nominees

The nominations were announced on January 7, 2010.

Public voting categories

Best Radio DJ – National

Best Radio DJ – Regional

Best Irish Band

Best Irish Male

Best Irish Female

Best Irish Pop Act

Best Irish Album

Best Irish Live Performance

Non-Public voting categories

Best Folk/Traditional

Best International Band

Best International Male

Best International Female

Best International Album

Best International Live Performance

Special awards

Lifetime achievement award

Humanitarian Award

Industry Award

Most Promising New Artist of the Year

As part of the 2010 Meteor Ireland Music Awards organisers developed a new award called Most Promising New Artist of 2010. This new award was designed for any up-and-coming artist or band who were unsigned. The award itself is differentiated from the Hope of 2010 award in that the Hope award is given to an artist or band already signed to a mainstream or independent record label. An artist or band who would like to be part of the Most Promising New Artist of 2010 nominations had to submit relevant particulars before January 11, 2010. The winner of the award is expected to perform at the event, appear at Oxegen 2010 and have 150 copies of their debut single released, including artwork. Nominations announced on February 5, 2010:

Multiple nominations

Bell X1, Christy Moore, Florence and the Machine (from the UK), Snow Patrol and U2 received three nominations each.