Mercury Music Prize 2023 Full Shortlist: All the acts up for this year's prestigious £25,000 Mercury Prize - including Young Fathers

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

Little Simz won the 2022 Mercury Music Prize.

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 Little Simz for her fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert..

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”.

This year's judges are musicians Anna Calvi, Hannah Peel and Jamie Cullum, journalists Phil Alexander, Tshepo Mokoena and Will Hodgkinson, broadcasters Jamz Supernova, Danielle Perry, MistaJam and Sian Eleri, plus music programming consultant Lea Stonhill and head of BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music Jeff Smith

The 2023 Mercury Prize with FREENOW Awards Show will be held at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Thursday, September 7.

Here are the contenders:

Arctic Monkeys: The Car

Ezra Collective: Where I'm Meant To Be

Fred Again: Actual Life 3

J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard

Jessie Ware: That! Feels! Good

Jockstrap: I Love You Jennifer B

Lankum: False Lankum

Loyle Carner: Hugo

Olivia Dean: Messy

Raye: My 21st Century Blues

Shy Girl: Nymph

Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy