Mercury Awards 2025: A deep dive into the 12 albums nominated

With the Mercury Awards 2025 taking place this week, let's take a closer look at all 12 albums nominated

As the Mercury Awards 2025 take place tonight (16 October), Official Charts takes a deep dive into each nominated album.

So sit back and discover some of the greatest albums to grace the UK this year.

FKA twigs - EUSEXUA

Kicking things off, we have Tahliah Barnett aka FKA twigs.

EUSEXUA was the Brit's third studio album and second Mercury-nominated project following the success of her debut album LP1 which was shortlisted for the 2014 Mercury Music Prize. With expectations high, Tahliah did not disappoint.

As soon as you press play, there is an instant connection to the album's vibe. Intense, fast paced and neurotic but with soothing, transcending vocals which isolate and distort to become something otherworldly.

Complex, existential, spanning genres from synth to techno and more, the tracks switch from soft, undulating sounds, to the manically erratic. It feels futuristic but injected with a timeless energy.

Tahliah's musical prowess has been honed working on tracks with some of music's biggest names A$AP Rocky and Central Cee.

The album peaked at Number 3 on the Official Albums Chart; Tahliah's highest-charting record to date.

Three recommended tracks from EUSEXUA:

Perfect Stranger
Sticky
Keep it, Hold it

Fontaines D.C. - Romance

Romance is the critically-acclaimed fourth studio album from Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. Singer Grian Chatten told MOJO Magazine how they decided to step away from their Irish-centric themes for the album as it would have been too difficult to "sound like Ireland" while crafting a futuristic and dystopian vision called Romance.

Influenced by Dylan Thomas and the book Land Sickness by Nikolaj Schultz, it's sonically adventurous, journeying through grunge, luscious melodies and orchestral moments. The album peaked at Number 2 and topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, ending the year as the fifth best-selling vinyl album of 2024.

Three recommended tracks from Romance:

Starburster
In The Modern World
Sundowner

Jacob Alon - In Limerence

Next up is Jacob Alon's beautiful and haunting In Limerence. The debut release from the Scottish singer-songwriter, Jacob's folky arrangements together with his eerie, raw and purposeful lyrics create a piece of work that is emotionally devastating.

The melancholic In Limerence sees Jacob welcoming hurt with open arms, embracing the fragility of life and what it throws at you.

Peaking at Number 3 on the Official Scottish Albums Chart, and carrying shades of Thom Yorke and Cameron Winter, it's a reflective record exploring love, loss, and identity with unflinching tenderness.

The standout guitar work is reminiscent of Nick Drake; but Jacob takes it into a different dimension. A clearly emotionally intelligent human being, with In Limerence Jacob has produced a piece of art and is very much one to watch for the future.

Three recommended tracks from In Limerence:

August moon
Confession
Elijah

PinkPantheress - Fancy That

Moving on, we come to PinkPantheress and Fancy That.

Spanning just 20 minutes, PinkPantheress makes sure it's the absolute ride of your life. Opening with viral hit Illegal, you are instantly transported to her futuristic pop party.

What the 24-year-old doesn't do is settle into one genre. Gleefully jumping from electronica to Noughties bops, but always with her own identity and sound, she confidently samples tracks like Just Jack's Starz In Their Eyes or The Streets It's Too Late, deftly translating them to new levels of catchiness.

Peaking at Number 3 in the Official Albums Chart back in March, a new remix album Fancy Some More? landed last week if you're looking to delve in even further.

Three recommended tracks from Fancy That:

Girl Like Me
Tonight
Nice To Know You

Joe Webb - Hamstrings and Hurricanes

The first of two jazz albums on this list, Hamstrings and Hurricanes transports you back to a 1920s speakeasy, sipping martinis in your finest pinstripe suit.

This is jazz as it was intended to be performed. Experimental, exciting, radiant. It’s innately different to any other album nominated. Each track has its own story but pulls together into one cohesive body of work.

Webb states the closing track Hiraeth and its drums were inspired by '90s Britpop, specifically Oasis' Supersonic. With Will Sach on bass and Sam Jesson on drums, Hamstrings and Hurricanes carries tradition in its clutches, but with a modern energy, confirming Joe Webb as a trailblazing force in jazz right now.

Three recommended tracks from Hamstrings and Hurricanes:

100 years of Bil & Lil
Breuddwyd Cariad
Hiraeth

Wolf Alice - The Clearing

Previous Mercury winners in 2018, Wolf Alice are back in the fold looking to become only the second ever act to win the award more than once after PJ Harvey with the incredible The Clearing. Their fourth LP shot straight to Number 1 in late August of this year, marking their second chart topper on the Official Charts.

The Clearing highlights the band finding their sound and meaning after a decade of experimenting. Now in their thirties, Wolf Alice dropped their most self-assured album yet, introduced by lead single Bloom Baby Bloom, the record has an air of ELO combined with cascading strings and jumpy guitar riffs.

A must-listen.

Three recommended tracks from The Clearing:

Just Two Girls
Leaning Against The Wall
Passenger Seat

Pulp - More

From one previous winner to another! Pulp took home the Mercury Prize in 1996 with the legendary Different Class, and this album feels like another contender.

This is Pulp's return to brilliance - witty, cheeky poetic, classic. It's perhaps no surprise that the record gave Pulp their first Number 1 album in 27 years back in June.

Three recommended tracks from More:

Partial Eclipse
Slow Jam
Farmers Market

CMAT - EURO-COUNTRY

As whispers louden of CMAT taking home the prize this year, EURO-COUNTRY would be a deserved winner and then some.

Off the back of a breakthrough summer on the festival circuit, Irish singer/songwriter and all-round entertainer CMAT, real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, picked up a second Mercury Prize nomination with her third studio album Eurocountry. The album landed straight in at Number 2 upon its release in August, and was the best seller of the week in independent record shops, reaching Number 1 on the Official Record Store Chart.

Irish culture flows intensely through the pop/country record, as CMAT tells us what growing up in Ireland during a difficult period of her life was really like, always balancing the serious with the light-hearted.

Three recommended tracks from EURO-COUNTRY:

EURO-COUNTRY
Ready
Lord, Let That Tesla Crash

Mercury Prize nominee - CMAT Euro-Country

Sam Fender - People Watching

With the fringe being held in his home city for the first time ever, Sam will be looking to take home the Mercury in a memorable way.

People Watching is not only on course to be the best selling vinyl of 2025 according to the Official Charts, but it is Sam's most rounded and human project to date. Full of stories surrounding home and the experience of being a person, it’s relatable in a way which makes you celebrate who you are.

He draws on raw experiences, but makes you feel like you’re not alone in it. People Watching holds out a caring hand to tell you things will move on. He almost longs for that childhood/teen experience again. You indulge in a carefree but very emotionally open listening experience; like you’re two close friends chatting in the dark corner of a pub.

The Geordie Bruce Springsteen embodies working class culture and teaches the masses about his complicated life.

Three recommended tracks from People Watching:

Nostalgia's Lie
Chin Up
Something Heavy

Emma-Jean Thackray - Weirdo

The second of the two nominated jazz albums and speaking deeply from the heart, Emma-Jean Thackray turns pain and suffering into artistic genius.

Music is Emma’s language and this is modern jazz in its greatest form. The use of detail and production outlines her thoughts and feelings, but Emma keeps it upbeat.

On being nominated, Emma-Jean told Official Charts "I have looked to the Mercury's for a long time to help fuel my own taste and listen to stuff that is worth listening to. Winning a Mercury is literally my dream. It's also quite strange and complicated to be recognized for something that has come from such pain. So it's definitely complex, but I'm super happy about it and really grateful."

You can read our interview with Emma-Jean Thackray here to learn more about Weirdo.

Three recommended tracks:

Tofu
Maybe Nowhere
Remedy

Pa Salieu - Afrikan Alien

As the only hip-hop album nominated this year, Pa Salieu is in a league of his own; but is repping his genre with pride.

With its unique blend of Gambian culture, contemporary rap and a hint of J Hus, the album may only be 27 minutes long, but like PinkPantheress, he covers ground effectively.

Afrikan Alien offers an interesting glimpse into the mind of a rapper who has already experienced nine lives. We sense Pa Salieu has more to give and this record is just the beginning.

Three recommended tracks from Afrikan Alien:

Afrikan Di Alien
Dece (Heavy)
YGF

Martin Carthy - Transform Me Then Into A Fish

And finally, with a career spanning over 60 years, Martin Carthy is often referred to as the Bob Dylan of English folk and his nomination this year for Transform Me Then Into A Fish marks the oldest ever musician to earn a nomination at 84-years-old.

The record revisits his iconic 1965 debut album, and features newly-recorded arrangements of its classic tracks, reimagined with the wisdom and experience of six decades in folk music, along with some very special guests.

This album not only honours his roots but also reaffirms his enduring influence on the folk genre, offering both longtime listeners and new audiences a chance to rediscover the timeless magic of his music.