A formidable array of chart-topping A-listers feature in a competitive shortlist for the 2026 Mercury prize, the prestigious award that honours the best album of the year by a British or Irish artist.
Despite the prize’s history stretching back to 1992, Paul McCartney gets his first ever nomination this year, for his album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, a hugely affecting look back at his Liverpool childhood and his burgeoning friendships with his Beatles bandmates.
Speaking to the Guardian as the album was released in May, McCartney said he felt the presence of John Lennon when writing it. “My collaborator was probably one of the best writers of the century, so, yeah, you’re going to miss him. But when I write [about a specific place], I kind of know he would’ve known it. I can gauge his reaction: that’s good, stick that in.”
He may have the greatest pedigree of anyone on the shortlist, but McCartney is up against one of the most sensational British success stories of recent years: Olivia Dean, whose album The Art of Loving swept the board at the Brit awards this year and could do the same at next year’s Grammys. It has spent all but one of its 43 weeks since release in the UK Top 5, eight of them at No 1.
Her British pop peer Raye is alongside her, for the ambitious, symphonic-scale This Music May Contain Hope, her second album in a row to be nominated after her debut, My 21st Century Blues.
Another big hitter is rapper Dave, nominated for The Boy Who Played the Harp, containing the global smash Raindance. The album was awarded five stars in the Guardian, with Dave described as “a fantastically smart, sharp lyricist”. Dave won the Mercury prize with his debut album Psychodrama in 2019, though didn’t make the shortlist for its follow-up We’re All in This Together.
Florence + the Machine earns her fourth Mercury nomination, for her sixth album Everybody Scream, which was also strongly acclaimed in the Guardian and described as “rounded musically and emotionally”. If she was to lose, only Radiohead would have been nominated more times without winning.
There is a panoply of other big names on a rare compilation album to be nominated for the Mercury: Help(2), a charity album recorded at Abbey Road to raise money for War Child. It features new recordings by artists including former Mercury winners Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, Sampha, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Young Fathers and Beth Gibbons (who won with Portishead), plus a host of other top UK and US talent. It is the sequel to 1995’s The Help Album, the only other compilation to be nominated in Mercury history.
All of the aforementioned albums reached No 1 in the UK, while another reached No 3: That’s Showbiz Baby! by Jade, whose post-Little Mix career continues to win acclaim. Goth-tinged Britpoppers Suede are nominated for another commercial success, Antidepressants, which reached No 2; the band won the Mercury for their self-titled 1993 debut, but haven’t been nominated since 1997’s Coming Up.
There is space for some less well-known artists, including an album that could be seen as the dark horse: Blizzard, by Irish singer-songwriter Dove Ellis, which received some of 2025’s most rapturous reviews across the music press, including a five-star Guardian rave. He also appears on Help(2).
Jazz outfit Knats are nominated for A Great Day in Newcastle, which features a huge cast of musicians, including spoken word artists, combining for a grand, groove-driven listen. As natives of Newcastle where the award ceremony is now held, they’ll be hoping for a repeat of last year when local boy Sam Fender was given the prize.
Stalwart UK rapper Kojey Radical, celebrated for his cerebral, socially conscious yet commercially minded tracks, earns his second Mercury nomination, while Nia Archives – a producer and DJ who cleverly combines junglist rhythms with indie rock and R&B – also earns her second nomination, for Emotional Junglist, released only last week, on the last day of the eligibility period.
It adds up to a diverse list where eight of the 12 albums feature artists of colour. There are of course some snubs, most notably Lily Allen’s West End Girl, which was a huge part of 2025’s cultural conversation.
Other artists missing out include Harry Styles, Boards of Canada, Gorillaz, Sienna Spiro, Lola Young, Ed Sheeran, Kneecap, James Blake, the Cribs, Celeste, Cat Burns, the Last Dinner Party, Robert Plant, Joy Crookes, Fakemink, Dry Cleaning and My New Band Believe. Charli xcx’s Wuthering Heights soundtrack wasn’t nominated, though her new album Music, Fashion, Film was just outside the eligibility period. Blood Orange’s massively acclaimed Essex Honey was outside the eligibility period by one day.
The prize will be awarded at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena on 22 October, and the winner will be decided by an 11-strong panel of experts from across the music industry.
The 2026 Mercury prize nominees
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)
