Pulp and CMAT are favourites to win

Pulp and CMAT are the favorites to win this year’s Mercury Prize for album of the year, which will be awarded in Newcastle on Thursday.

Punters say Irish singer CMAT is ahead of the curve with her third album, Euro-Country, which blends tales of loneliness and national identity with biting humour.

Former winners Pulp are in second place with their unexpected comeback album More; Irish band Fontaines DC are also in the running for Romance, which marks the alternative act’s transition into the mainstream.

Other nominees include pop artist PinkPantheress, singer-songwriter Jacob Alon and folk musician Martin Carthy, 84, who is the award’s oldest nominee ever.

Carthy, who made Bob Dylan tour British folk clubs for the first time in 1962, is nominated for Transform Me Then Into a Fish, which re-evaluates his songbook from the end of his 60-year career.

With a nod to rock band The Clearing, whose last album was released in 2025 Wolf Alice is now shortlisted for all four from their studio albums.

They previously won this award in 2018 with their second album Visions of a Life.

And hometown hero Sam Fender will be hoping to gain a local edge with his third album, People Watching, a sharp-eyed examination of working-class life in the North.

This year the ceremony moves from London to Newcastle, following in the footsteps of the Mobo awards, as part of a new partnership with Newcastle City Council and the North East Combined Authority.

This is the first time the ceremony has been held outside the capital since it started in 1992. Next year the Brit Awards will also leave London and move to Manchester.

“We’ve always had a desire to take the Mercury Prize outside of London in particular because it represents the best music of the year from across Britain and Ireland,” says Jo Twist, chief executive of the BPI, which organizes the Mercurys and Brits.

“Part of the idea was to celebrate this talent from all over the country.”

Noting recent success stories from the north-east, including Brit Award winner Jade and last year’s Mercury Prize winner English Teacher, Twist says the music industry has taken a “huge step” in decentralisation.

“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not,” he says. “So it’s right that we bring these large-scale shows (outside London) to show that there are opportunities in the music industry without having to change cities.”

Coventry-born rapper Pa Salieu, who was also nominated for a Mercury Prize for his latest album Afrikan Alien, says the change is long overdue.

“When I was a child, I always heard that Mercury was growing, but it seemed so far away, unreachable,” he says.

“That’s why I think the Mercury Prize should be in Coventry in Birmingham. It should act like a tour. Make sure young people feel their voices are being heard.”

In Newcastle, preparations for the ceremony included a week of additional events, including concerts by local artists and workshops for newcomers who wanted a break.

The performers include Finn Forster, 29, from Teesside, who moved from playing in pubs to supporting Stereophonics on their latest European tour.

He says he is “extremely grateful that the music industry has stepped outside of London and the big cities.”

“The Northeast has been ignored for too long,” he says. “Everyone is incredibly proud of Mercury coming in and there are so many people performing on the sidelines.”

Thursday’s ceremony will be hosted by Sunderland native Lauren Laverne, with nine of the 12 nominees performing at the Utilita Arena.

The 12 albums nominated are:

• CMAT – European Country
• Emma-Jean Thackray – Weird
• FKA Branches – Eusexua
• Fontaines DC – Romantic
• Jacob Alon – in Limerence
• Joe Webb – Hamstrings and Tornadoes
• Martin Carthy – Then Turn Me Into a Fish
• Pa Salieu – African Alien
• PinkPantheress – Fantasy
• Pulp – More
• Sam Fender – Watching People
• Wolf Alice – Clearance

The full program will be broadcast on BBC television, BBC Sounds, Radio 6 Music and BBC News.