The 2025 Mercury Prize is – or so it would have us believe – is awarded for artistic merit rather than sales and the winners, naturally therefore, are traditionally celebrated and denounced in equal measure. But that’s all part of the fun.
The award is for the best British or Irish album of the year across all genres – pop, rock, hip-hop, electronic, jazz, folk, classical etc – and even those that defy genre. Maybe even particularly those that defy genre.
The other thing that makes the award unique and coveted (despite what the non-nominated might say) is that it is only one award. There’s nothing for singles, artwork, producers or videos. Just the “Album of the Year”. Plain and simple.
This year the awards will be held outside London for the first time because it has just dawned on the music business that there is a world outside the capital – a fact they could have confirmed by checking where most of their acts actually come from.
Trains have been laid on to transport the “VIPs” up to the Utilita Arena in Newcastle in the North East of England and the city has fallen over itself to welcome them. Expect other cities outside London to be similarly patronized in the future.
Read on for those year’s nominees and to find out how to watch the 2025 Mercury Prize online, on TV and from anywhere.
How to watch 2025 Mercury Music Prize for free in the UK
The 2025 Mercury Prize awards show will be broadcast simultaneously by BBC Four and BBC iPlayer from 9.30 pm BST on Thursday, October 16.
You don’t have to miss it if you a Brit exiled abroad because you can unblock BBC iPlayer with a VPN. We’ll show you how to do that below…
How to watch 2025 Mercury Prize from abroad
For those away from home looking to watch 2025 Mercury Prize, you’ll be unable to watch the show like you normally would due to annoying regional restrictions. Luckily, there’s an easy solution.
Downloading a VPN allows you to stream online, no matter where you are. It’s a simple bit of software that changes your IP address, meaning that you can access on-demand content or live TV just as if you were at home.
Can I watch the 2025 Mercury Music Prize anywhere else in the world?
Unfortunately, the 2025 Mercury Music Prize isn’t available to watch outside the UK. This includes the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
So, for British residents abroad wanting to watch the ceremony they will have to use NordVPN to access their free stream.
‘The 2025 Mercury Music Prize’ – FAQ
‘The 2025 Mercury Music Prize’ – Short-listed artists and albums
- CMAT — Euro-Country Sky
- Emma-Jean Thackray — Weirdo
- FKA twigs — Eusexua
- Fontaines D.C. — Romance
- Jacob Alon — In Limerence
- Joe Webb — Hamstrings & Hurricanes
- Martin Carthy — Transform Me Then Into a Fish
- Pa Salieu — Afrikan Alien
- PinkPantheress — Fancy That
- Pulp — More
- Sam Fender — People Watching
- Wolf Alice — The Clearing
Who are the previous winners of the “Mercury Music Prize”/ “Mercury Prize”?
1992 Primal Scream Screamadelica
1993 Suede Suede
1994 M People Elegant Slumming
1995 Portishead Dummy
1996 Pulp Different Class
1997 Roni Size & Reprazent New Forms
1998 Gomez Bring It On
1999 Talvin Singh Ok
2000 Badly Drawn Boy The Hour of Bewilderbeast
2001 PJ Harvey Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
2002 Ms Dynamite A Little Deeper
2003 Dizzee Rascal Boy in da Corner
2004 Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand
2005 Antony and the Johnsons I Am a Bird Now
2006 Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
2007 Klaxons Myths of the Near
2008 Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
2009 Speech Debelle Speech Therapy
2010 The xx xx
2011 PJ Harvey Let England Shake
2012 alt-J An Awesome Wave
2013 James Blake Overgrown
2014 Young Fathers Dead
2015 Benjamin Clementine At Least for Now
2016 Skepta Konnichiwa
2017 Sampha Process
2018 Wolf Alice Visions of a Life
2019 Dave Psychodrama
2020 Michael Kiwanuka Kiwanuka
2021 Arlo Parks Collapsed in Sunbeams
2022 Little Simz Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
2023 Ezra Collective Where I’m Meant to Be
2024 English Teacher This Could Be Texas
Who are the “2025 Mercury Music Prize” judges?
The 2025 Mercury Prize judges are: Danielle Perry (Broadcaster & Writer); Jamie Cullum (Musician & Radio 2 Broadcaster); Jamz Supernova (6 Music Broadcaster and DJ); Jeff Smith (Head of Music, Radio 2 & Radio 6 Music); Lea Stonhill (Music Programming Consultant); Mistajam (Songwriter, DJ & Broadcaster); Phil Alexander (Creative Director, Kerrang!/Contributing Editor, Mojo); Sian Eleri (Radio 1 Broadcaster & DJ); Will Hodgkinson (Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The Times); Sophie Williams (Music Writer & Broadcaster).
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