Choice Music Prize honours Horslips' The Táin for Classic Irish Album

Horslips' The Táin has been announced as the Classic Irish Album pick for the 2026 RTÉ Choice Music Prize.

Released in 1973 as Horslips' second LP, The Táin is a Celtic rock concept album about Irish mythology. Single 'Dearg Doom' rose to popularity after being sampled for use in Ireland's Italia '90 campaign. It also featured in Saipan (2025).

“We can’t believe it, really," Horslips wrote in a statement. "We knew at the time that The Táin was a different kind of album. And we could see that 'Dearg Doom' had a great riff going on. We just didn’t think that it would sustain in the way it has."

"Both Italia '90 and Saipan have served to keep the album and the single surfacing but even without that, there seems to be an inbuilt determination to survive in both. 50 years is a good innings!”

The Choice Music Prize added Classic Irish Album to their award lineup in 2023. Each year, the prize honours an Irish LP that has remained impactful for 25 years or more since its release.

Previous winners of the Classic Irish Album prize include Sinéad O'Connor, U2, and Enya.

“Horslips lasted 10 years – 1970 to 1980," the prize panel wrote. "Their impact was immense. They literally changed the course of music in Ireland in the seventies, not just because they fused traditional Irish music with rock and in so doing inspired many local and international acts or that they released 10 albums in that 10-year period leaving a legacy much bigger than that of the defining band of the so-called Celtic rock genre."

Horslips are made up of Jim Lockhart, Barry Devlin, Eamon Carr, Charles O’ Connor, and Johnny Fean. Band members will attend the Choice Music Prize ceremony on March 5 at Vicar Street to accept the award.

Revisit The Táin below: