Mercury Music Prize 2022 Shortlist: All the acts up for this year's prestigious £25,000 Mercury Prize - including Harry Styles

A total of 12 acts are in the running to win the award open to British and Irish artists.

The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, was created in 1992 as an alternative to the Brit Awards and is known for its eclectic mix of musical genres.

The first prize was won by Scottish band Primal Scream for their seminal album ‘Screamadelica’, with other Franz Ferdinand and Young Fathers the only other two acts from north of the border to have won since.

Other acts to have won include Arctic Monkeys, Skepta, Dave, Wolf Alice, Ms. Dynamite, Dizzee Rascal, Klaxons, James Blake, Pulp, Elbow, The xx, Suede, and alt-J.

And last year’s winner was singer-songwriter and poet Arlo Parks for her album Collapsed Into Sunbeams.

PJ Harvey is the only artist to have won the prize twice – for Let England Shake and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.

To be eligible for the prize over 50 per cent of a band’s members must be British or Irish, and submissions are made by record labels.

The shortlist is chosen “based solely on their musical merit and irrespective of how popular or successful an album or act that has been submitted may have been in the previous calendar year”.

Arlo Parks was a popular winner of last year's Mercury Prize for her album Collapsed in Sunbeams.

This year’s judges are: Anna Calvi (Musician & Songwriter), Annie MacManus (Broadcaster & DJ), Danielle Perry (Broadcaster & Writer), Hazel Wilde (Musician & Songwriter), Jamie Cullum (Musician & Broadcaster), Jamz Supernova (Broadcaster & DJ), panel chair Jeff Smith (Head of Music, 6 Music & Radio 2), Lea Stonhill (Music Programmer, Radio X), Loyle Carner (Musician & Songwriter), Phil Alexander (Creative Director, Kerrang!/Contributing Editor, Mojo) Tshepo Mokoena (Music Writer & Author), Will Hodgkinson (Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The Times).

The 2022 Awards Show will take place on Thursday 8 September at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, and the shortlist was revealed today on BBC Radio 6 by DJ Nemone.

Here’s who is in the running (updated as announcements are made):

Fergus McCreadie – ‘Forest Floor’

Gwenno – ‘Tresor’

Harry Styles – ‘Harry’s House’

Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler – ‘For All Our Days That Tear The Heart’

Joy Crookes – ‘Skin’

Kojey Radical – ‘Reason To Smile’

Little Simz – ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’

Nova Twins – ‘Supernova’

Sam Fender – ‘Seventeen Going Under’

Self Esteem – ‘Prioritise Pleasure’

Wet Leg – ‘Wet Leg’

Yard Act – ‘The Overload’

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