Olivia Dean has been nominated for this year's Mercury Prize, while Lily Allen was left off the shortlist despite widespread expectation that both would feature. The prize recognises outstanding albums and carries a £25,000 award, with Dean among the favourites after her second record, The Art of Loving, won album of the year at both the Brits and the Mobo Awards.
Sir Paul McCartney has also received his first-ever Mercury Prize nomination at the age of 84 for The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Suede, Jade, Raye and Nia Archives are among the other artists in contention, while the shortlist also includes former winner Dave and former winner Suede, as well as Florence + The Machine. The winner will be announced at the prize ceremony at Newcastle's Utilita Arena on 22 October.
The omission of Lily Allen was one of the biggest talking points in the shortlist announcement, especially because her album West End Girl was one of the most acclaimed and commercially successful releases of the last 12 months. The record examines the collapse of her marriage to actor David Harbour in unvarnished detail, and reviews praised its candour and musical invention, calling Allen's work "breathtaking and heartbreaking", external and "a brutal, tell-all masterpiece", external.
Artists submit themselves for the prize, so it is impossible to say whether Allen was snubbed or simply was not in contention. She was previously nominated for her 2018 album No Shame. Other notable omissions from the shortlist include Harry Styles’ Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally and Gorillaz’ The Mountain, a sweeping meditation on grief.
Sir Paul McCartney has released 11 albums since the inception of the Mercury Prize in 1992, but this is his first nomination.
Dean is also a former nominee, having been shortlisted for her 2023 debut album Messy, and returns on the strength of the sumptuously singable soul songs on The Art of Loving.
Two former winners, Suede and Dave, are on the list again, while Florence + The Machine receives a fourth citation for Everybody Scream.
The presence of so many established names largely squeezes out fresh talent, but the mysterious Irish newcomer Dove Ellis stands out as a possible winner for the otherworldly beauty of his debut album, Blizzard.
The shortlisted albums were selected by a panel of 12 jurors, including 6 Music broadcaster Afrodeutsche, musician Jamie Cullum, and The Times' music critic Will Hodgkinson. They will choose the overall winner during the ceremony in Newcastle.
Last year's prize went to hometown hero Sam Fender. Other previous winners include Pulp's Different Class (1996), Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner (2003), Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid (2008), Wolf Alice's Visions of a Life (2018) and Ezra Collective's Where I'm Meant To Be (2023).
Here's all you need to know about the 12 albums selected for the 2026 prize.
Dave - The Boy Who Played The Harp
Introspective and thoughtful, Dave's fourth album drops the bravado of his youth to confront his loss of faith, alcoholism and infidelity. He describes it as a record that "demands focus" and deliberately avoids hit singles - aside from the sensual, Afrobeats-inspired Raindance.
Highest chart position: Number one
Listen to Raindance: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving
Olivia Dean's second album was born in a rented house in East London, with the singer and her collaborators mixing writing sessions with late night conversations over good food and "lots of red wine". That easy-going approach inspired a soulful collection of love songs whose easy familiarity feels like a best friend spilling their secrets.
Listen to Man I Need: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Dove Ellis – Blizzard
Galway indie-folk musician Thomas O'Donogue only started releasing music under the name Dove Ellis last year, but his soaring vocals immediately sparked a record label bidding war. His debut album has drawn comparisons to Radiohead and Jeff Buckley for its moments of abstract beauty and devastating emotional release.
Highest chart position: Number 47
Listen to Pale Song: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Florence + The Machine – Everybody Scream
Florence Welch began working on Everybody Scream after experiencing a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy – and the experience casts a dark shadow over her sixth album. She questions her devotion to her career, worrying about the physical toll it takes, but ultimately finds catharsis in the primal power of her own voice.
Listen to Everybody Scream: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Jade – That's Showbiz, Baby
Freed from the shackles of girl group conformity, Jade Thirlwall threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at her solo debut. But she romps through the stylistic twists of Angel of my Dreams (electro-dance-opera), Fantasy (sci-fi sex disco) and Midnight Cowboy (catwalk camp) with aplomb, never loosening her grip on a golden vein of pop melody.
Highest chart position: Number three
Listen to Angel of my Dreams: Spotify, external | Youtube, external | Apple Music, external
Kojey Radical - Don't Look Down
Kojey Radical's third album was inspired by two separate incidents: a fashion week afterparty where he felt like an outsider, and a birthday bash for a close friend that highlighted a rift in their friendship. Don't Look Down is an album-length interrogation of his motives, insecurities and role as a father, set to a sparkling fusion of hip-hop, gospel and R&B.
Listen to Conversation: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Knats – A Great Day in Newcastle
Like last year's Mercury Prize winner (Sam Fender's People Watching), Knats' latest album is an unflinching portrait of working class life in Northeast England.
Their distinctive and gutsy take on jazz is augmented by Geordie poet Cooper Robson, who paints vivid pictures of steel workers whose "sinews punch as pistons" and fist-first troublemakers who are "the type of Billy Elliot to wear a ballet-clava".
Highest chart postion: Did not chart
Listen to Wor Jackie: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Paul McCartney – The Boys of Dungeon Lane
Sir Paul McCartney's first album in six years is a collection of rock-n-pop glimpses into his childhood. It's named after a road where the pre-Beatles musician would spend afternoons bird-watching; and he paints typically melodic pictures of his family life and teenage crushes, as well as the hitch-hiking trips he took with John Lennon and George Harrison.
Highest chart postion: Number one
Listen to As You Lie There: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Nia Archives - Emotional Junglist
The only dance record on the shortlist, Nia Archives' second album traces the arc of a relationship from the first flush of love to a breakup so ugly that her partner calls the police. Despite the title, she says "it's not a jungle album [but] an alternative record", that pulls on everything from Bjork's Debut to Pulp's Different Class, while a full live band breathes life into her breakbeats and heartaches.
Listen to Danger: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Raye - This Music May Contain Hope
A peak of pop excess, Raye's second full-length album is a 73-minute melodrama, sprinkled with golden age Hollywood glamour, show-stopping ballads, tongue twisting wordplay and genre smashing handbrake turns. It follows our plucky heroine as she dusts off the debris of a collapsed relationship, and emerges resilient, searching for "a ring, a diamond ring on my wedding finger" - but only on her own terms.
Listen to Where Is My Husband: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Suede - Antidepressants
Suede frontman Brett Anderson describes the band's 10th album as "broken music for broken people", and the music aches for connection in a technological age that feels increasingly disconnected. Defiant and electrifying, it carries a surprising undercurrent of optimism - while songs like Trance State and Dancing with the Europeans rank among the band's best work.
Highest chart position: Number two
Listen to Dancing with the Europeans: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
Various artists for Warchild - Help (2)
Only one other compilation has ever been nominated for the Mercury Prize – and it was this album's predecessor, Help, back in 1995.
The sequel, which raises funds to help children affected by war, contains the Arctic Monkeys' best song in a decade, Opening Night; and Olivia Rodrigo singing a tender cover of The Magnetic Fields' Book Of Love. Pulp, The Last Dinner Party, Fontaines DC and Ezra Collective also contribute.
Highest chart position: Number one (UK compilation chart)
Listen to Opening Night: Spotify, external | YouTube, external | Apple Music, external
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