2018 Mercury Prize Nominees Announced

This year’s Hyundai Mercury Prize shortlist has just been released leading up to the award ceremony this autumn.

The event will take place on Thursday, September 20. That night, numerous performances from the nominated artists will make way for the final announcement of the award winner.

The first Mercury Prize took place in 1992 as a way to celebrate the best of UK and Irish music (think: the musical equivalent of the Booker Prize). Judges choose the top 12 albums of the year from a broad range of musical genres and judge them solely on the quality of the record. In addition to the massive publicity gained from the nomination, the winner receives the much coveted trophy and £25,000.

Some of the albums nominated this year include the Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Jorja Smith’s Lost & Found and King Krule’s The Ooz.

Surprisingly, debut records such as Shame’s Songs Of Praise, Goat Girl’s self-titled EP and Hookworm’s Microshift did not make the list.

This year’s judging panel consists of a number of broadcasters, DJs, writers and editors including Clara Amfo, Mike Walsh and Will Hodgkinson. The panel is chaired by music executive Tony Wadsworth.

The full shortlist of Mercury Prize nominees are posted below:

Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
Everything Everything – A Fever Dream
Everything Is Recorded – Everything Is Recorded
Florence And The Machine – High As Hope
Jorja Smith – Lost & Found
King Krule – The Ooz
Lily Allen – No Shame
Nadine Shah – Holiday Destination
Noel Gallagher – Who Built The Moon?
Novelist – Novelist Guy
Sons Of Kemet – Your Queen Is A Reptile
Wolf Alice – Visions Of A Life