The 2025 Mercury Prize ceremony is happening tonight October 16th in Newcastle, marking a first for the event as it takes place outside London for the first time in its 33-year history.
The Mercury Prize winner will be crowned from a shortlist of twelve albums aims to represent the best of British and Irish music. All shortlisted albums were submitted for consideration.
The 2025 Mercury Prize Shortlist
| Artist | Nominated Album |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Pulp | More |
| Sam Fender | People Watching |
| Wolf Alice | The Clearing |
Tonight’s cereemony
- New Venue: The ceremony is at the Utilita Arena in NewcastleThis follows the MOBO Awards, which took place in Newcastle also signalling a broader push to decentralise the UK music industry from London in terms of awards.
- Live Performances: Nine of the shortlisted artists will perform: Emma-Jean Thackray, FKA twigs, Jacob Alon, Joe Webb, Martin Carthy, Pa Salieu, Pulp, Sam Fender and Wolf Alice will perform once song each.
- CMAT, Fontaines D.C. and PinkPantheress will not perform on the night.
- The Host and Broadcast: The show will be hosted by Sunderland-native Lauren Laverne . BBC Four and BBC iPlayer will broadcast the Awards Show from 9:30 PM . BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Sounds will also provide live coverage.
Who will win?
While the winner is decided on artistic merit, bookies point to several front-runners:
- Irish acts are on top: CMAT is the clear favourite with her album Euro-Country at 2/1, followed by Fontaines D.C.‘s Romance at 3/1.
- Pulp, previous 1996 winners, are in the running for their celebrated comeback album More, their first new record in 24 years (5/1).
- They are followed by Emma-Jean Thackray, Jacob Alon, FKA Twigs (6/1) and hometown hero Sam Fender (9/1) from North Shields.
The overall winner will be announced towards the end of the ceremony, receiving a specially commissioned trophy and a £25,000 cash prize.
Last year’s winner was English Teacher for their album This Could Be Texas.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
