For those who don’t know much about the Mercury Prize, they equivocate it to ‘the Booker Prize for literature and the Turner Prize for art’. The aim is to acknowledge artistic achievement over a broad array of music genres. An independent panel of judges have selected the shortlist and will be spending the next few months deciding who will be crowned the Mercury Prize winner of 2026. Albums that were released between the 30^th of August 2025 and 17^th of July 2026 were all in the running to be entered, but only 12 are shortlisted. The following contenders are:

• Dave – ‘The Boy Who Played the Harp’
• Dove Ellis – ‘Blizzard’
• Florence + the Machine – ‘Everybody Scream’
• JADE – ‘That’s Showbiz Baby!’
• Knats – ‘A Great Day In Newcastle’
• Kojey Radical –’ Don’t Look Down’
• Nia Archives – ‘Emotional Junglist’
• Olivia Dean – ‘The Art of Loving’
• Paul McCartney – ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’
• RAYE – ‘THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE.’
• Suede – ‘Antidepressants’
• War Child Records – ‘HELP(2)’

The Judging team consists of professionals within the music industry who unbiasedly choose the winner based on the quality of the music. This year’s panellists are:

• AFRODEUTSCHE – Composer, DJ & Radio 3 Unwind & 6 Music Broadcaster
• Danielle Perry – Broadcaster (Absolute Radio & Jazz FM) & Musician
• Jamie Cullum – Musician & Radio 2 Broadcaster; Jeff Smith – Head of Music, Radio 2 & 6 Music
• Lea Stonhill – Music Programming Consultant; MistaJam – Songwriter, DJ & Broadcaster
• MistaJam - Songwriter, DJ & Broadcaster
• Phil Alexander – Creative Director, Kerrang!/Contributing Editor, MOJO
• Sian Eleri – Radio 1 Broadcaster & DJ
• Sophie Williams – Music Writer & Broadcaster
• Will Hodgkinson – Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The Times
• Jeff Smith – The Chair of the judging team

If your favourite artist has been nominated, you can purchase tickets now to go to the award show in Newcastle which will feature live performances from the artists. Alternatively, you can watch the live broadcast on BBC, and in the meantime you can listen to songs from the shortlisted albums on the Mercury Prize’s curated playlist here.

The ceremony, which takes place on Thursday, 17 September, will honour the best British or Irish album released in the past year and provide the usual musical spectacle with live performances from many of the nominated artists and bands.

The first name on the 2023 shortlist is Arctic Monkeys, who claim a fifth nomination for their latest LP The Car – making them the joint most-nominated act in Mercury history alongside Radiohead. While Alex Turner and co. previously landed the award for their breakout album Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not in 2007, Radiohead have never won.

Listen to “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball” from The Car:

The Sheffield band’s rivals this year include four second-time nominees: Loyle Carner, J Hus, Young Fathers and Jessie Ware – the latter of whom received her first Mercury recognition in 2012. Ware’s fifth studio album That! Feels! Good! was met with universal acclaim, impressing critics and earning her a second top-three entry on the UK Albums Chart.

Listen to “Free Yourself” from That! Feels! Good!:

Meanwhile, Shygirl, Olivia Dean, Raye and experimental pop duo Jockstrap – whose latest studio effort I Love You Jennifer B claimed a top-ten position on both BrooklynVegan and Clash’s end of year lists – make their Mercury debut.

Other nominations include Fred Again.. with Actual Life 3, jazz ensemble Ezra Collective with Where I’m Meant To Be and the Mercury’s infamous “token” folk nomination – False Lankum by Irish group Lankum, whose new album has been hailed as the OK Computer of modern folk.

Listen to “Go Dig My Grave” from False Lankum:

While Raye’s inclusion on the shortlist brings the most vindication after her 2021 departure from Polydor and subsequent self-release of My 21st Century Blues, Fred Again..’s nomination has left bemusement in its wake, with the Independent describing his selection as “part of a long Mercury Prize tradition of championing at least one eye-rollingly bad album each year”.

A whole number of major pop acts didn’t make the final twelve, with Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, The 1975, Gorillaz, Lewis Capaldi and Rina Sawayama all missing out on nominations for their eligible albums. Little Simz, who won the award last year after beating stiff competition from the likes of Harry Styles and Sam Fender, also wasn’t shortlisted for her new album No Thank You.

See the full list of nominations below:

Arctic Monkeys – The Car
Ezra Collective – Where I’m Meant to Be
Fred Again.. – Actual Life 3
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!
Jockstrap – I Love You Jennifer B
Lankum – False Lankum
Loyle Carner – Hugo
Olivia Dean – Messy
Raye – My 21st Century Blues
Shygirl – Nymph
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

Check out the official shortlist here.