Key takeaways and who should win

The shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize – the coveted music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the United Kingdom or Ireland – has been revealed.

The 12 ‘Albums Of The Year’ feature CMAT’s acclaimed third album ‘Euro-Country’, Pulp’s comeback record ‘More’, FKA twigs’ ‘Eusexua’ and Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Romance’.

This year’s edition of the Mercury Prize will see the award show move from its traditional home in London to Newcastle. It will take place at the Utilita Arena on Thursday 16 October and the show will feature live performances from many of the 12 shortlisted acts.

Here is the shortlist for the Mercury Prize 2025:

• CMAT – ‘Euro-Country’

• Emma-Jean Thackray – ‘Weirdo’

• FKA twigs – ‘Eusexua’

• Fontaines D.C. – ‘Romance’

• Jacob Alon – ‘In Limerence’

• Joe Webb – ‘Hamstrings & Hurricanes’

• Martin Carthy – ‘Transform Me Then Into A Fish’

• Pa Salieu – ‘Afrikan Alien’

• PinkPantheress – ‘Fancy That’

• Sam Fender – ‘People Watching’

• Wolf Alice – ‘The Clearing’

Key Takeaways from this year’s shortlist

The list sees CMAT nominated for the second time – she was previously recognised for her 2023 album ‘Crazymad, For Me’ – and same goes for FKA twigs, previously nominated for her 2014 debut ‘LP1’.

FKA twigs’ ‘Eusexua’ featured in our Best Albums of 2025… So Far list, in which we wrote: “Echoes of Björk, Kate Bush, and Aphex Twin swirl into something unmistakably hers: sensual, cerebral, and otherworldly. At an easily digestible 42 minutes, ‘Eusexua’ reasserts FKA twigs’ status as one of contemporary music’s most innovative and exciting talents.”

Both Pulp and Wolf Alice have previously won the Mercury Prize and are both nominated for the fourth time.

Pulp were first nominated for their fourth album ‘His’n’Hers’ in 1994 and won with ‘Different Class’, one of the best albums of the Britpop era, in 1996. A nomination for underrated ‘This Is Hardcore’ followed in 1998 – and now ‘More’, their first album in more than 20 years, has earned them a fourth nod.

Pulp’s ‘More’ also featured in our Best Albums of 2025… So Far list, in which we said: “While ‘More’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel and won’t necessarily convert those who aren’t already fans of Jarvis Cocker and his merry lot, this terrific comeback is one worth treasuring. Groovy, anthemic, boasting stunning strings and delving into themes of aging and self-delusion, Pulp deliver an LP that is everything you’d want a Pulp album to be.”

As for Wolf Alice, the British band break a Mercury Prize record thsi year by becoming the only act in the award’s 34-year history to be nominated for all of their first four albums. The quartet won the prize in 2018 for their second album ‘Visions Of A Life’.

In case you were wondering, Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys tie for the most nominations, with five each. Arctic Monkeys have one win, for their debut ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’, while Radiohead have yet to pick up the prize. For shame.

Another noteworthy inclusion this year is Martin Carthy, who at the age of 84 becomes the oldest ever Mercury nominee.

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Who should win?

Considering a very strong shortlist, time to pre-emptively call it. For our money, this year’s Mercury Prize should go to Irish post-punkers Fontaines D.C.’s Romance.

They are up for the prestigious award for the second time, the first being for their debut album, 2019’s ‘Dogrel’, and ‘Romance’ was one of our favourite albums of last year – making the Top 3 in our countdown to 2024’s Best Album.

We wrote: “It may have one of the year’s ugliest cover artworks, but never judge a stellar record by its last-minute Photoshop job that distressingly captures what it must be like watching The Lawnmower Man just as the shrooms hit. (…) Every one of the band’s releases has marked leaps and bounds in terms of songwriting and sound evolution, and ‘Romance’ feels like a consecration. Its sonic shift retains what made them so addictive in the first place (scruffy poetic stylings, skittering garage leanings) but adds an anthemic and significantly poppier sound to the mix. From the ominous titular opener to the stunning melodrama of the James Joyce-inspired ‘Horseness Is The Whatness’, via the string-swept ‘In The Modern World’, ‘Romance’ is their most arresting and expansive album to date. As for the closing track ‘Favourite’, it’s an addictive 90s-indie final bow that sends the listener off on an almighty high.”

It’s quite simply one of the best albums to be released in this still young(ish) decade, a no-skips treasure that shows there’s no modern band with a 4-album streak quite like theirs. Not even Wolf Alice. Plus, ‘Romance’ is a surefire sign that the future continues to look very bright for Grian Chatten & Co. They deserve this year’s Mercury, no doubt about it.

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The Mercury Prize was launched in 1992, when Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ took the inaugural award.

PJ Harvey is the only artist to date with two Mercury Prize wins, for ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ in 2001 – one of our favourite European Albums of the 21st Century – and ‘Let England Shake’ in 2011.

Last year’s award was won by English Teacher for their album ‘This Could Be Texas’, and other recent winners include Michael Kiwanuka in 2020 for his stunning album ‘Kiwanuka’; Arlo Parks in 2021 for ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’; Little Simz in 2022 for the unmissable ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’; and Ezra Collective in 2023 for ‘Where I’m Meant To Be’ – the first jazz act to win the Mercury.

The Mercury Prize award ceremony takes place on Thursday 16 October 2025.