Mercury Prize 2018: Which nominees have seen the biggest sales uplift?

Who's benefitted most from a Mercury nomination? We crunch the numbers.

The Hyundai Mercury Prize 2018 is coming! This Thursday 20 September, the great, the good, and the glamorous of the UK music industry come together to celebrate the achievements of 12 British artists, before picking the lucky winner.

Whoever lifts the 2018 Mercury Prize will join acts like Skepta, The xx, Arctic Monkeys, Suede, and double-winner PJ Harvey in the prize's 26-year history of recognising British talent.

The 2018 jury mulling over the 12 potential winners is made up of a clutch of industry experts and includes Clara Amfo, Ella Eyre, Marcus Mumford, and Jamie Cullum. While they're making their final deliberations, we delved into the stats to see who's benefitted most from their nomination. Will it have any bearing on the final result? We'll have to wait and see on Thursday…

In terms of increase in sales, London jazz outfit Sons of Kemet come off the best. When talking of percentage increases, it's usual that those with, shall we say, more modest sales have the farthest to leap. The band's third album, Your Queen is a Reptile, sees a surge of 38.3% since nominations were announced in July.

MORE: Mercury Prize – The best selling winning albums

Also seeing a leap in sales is Florence + the Machine, who scores a third Mercury nomination with fourth album High as Hope, which added over 20,000 sales in the last six weeks to see an uplift of 32.8%. Florence has also sold the most albums in the period between nomination and the ceremony than any other nominee.

BRITs Critics' Choice winner Jorja Smith has seen a surge too: debut Lost and Found's sales increased 30.8% since she was nominated, to give her 42,000 sales, and Lily Allen has scored her first ever Mercury Prize nomination with fourth set No Shame, seeing sales jump 19.7%

MORE: Look back over every Mercury Prize winner ever

Lower down the table, while some bigger names' sales surges might seem less impressive, it's worth remembering some had sold quite a lot before the nominations were revealed. Arctic Monkeys' Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino sold 13,200 copies in the last six weeks, but when you consider total sales currently stand at 151,000, the 9.6% uplift is more understandable. Bottom of the uplift table is Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds, whose 2% uplift is explained by 5,200 sales in the weeks since nominated contributing to a latest overall sales figure of 264,300.

Here are the nominees ranked by sales uplift:

	TITLE	ARTIST	% UPLIFT
1	YOUR QUEEN IS A REPTILE	SONS OF KEMET	38.3
2	HIGH AS HOPE	FLORENCE + THE MACHINE	32.8
3	LOST AND FOUND	JORJA SMITH	30.8
4	NO SHAME	LILY ALLEN	19.7
5	EVERYTHING IS RECORDED	EVERYTHING IS RECORDED	16.6
6	NOVELIST GUY	NOVELIST	13.9
7	TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL + CASINO	ARCTIC MONKEYS	9.6
8	HOLIDAY DESTINATION	NADINE SHAH	9.5
9	THE OOZ	KING KRULE	5.1
10	A FEVER DREAM	EVERYTHING EVERYTHING	3.9
11	VISIONS OF A LIFE	WOLF ALICE	3.9
12	WHO BUILT THE MOON?	NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYGING BIRDS	2

And just to put those stats into perspective, here's how the nominees rank in terms of sales since nominations were announced:

	TITLE	ARTIST	SALES SINCE NOMINATION	TOTAL SALES	UPLIFT
1	HIGH AS HOPE	FLORENCE + THE MACHINE	20,200	80,700	32.8
2	TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL + CASINO	ARCTIC MONKEYS	13,200	151,100	9.6
3	LOST AND FOUND	JORJA SMITH	9,900	42,000	30.8
4	WHO BUILT THE MOON?	NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYGING BIRDS	5,200	264,300	2
5	NO SHAME	LILY ALLEN	3,000	17,900	19.7
6	VISIONS OF A LIFE	WOLF ALICE	2,200	57,200	3.9
7	YOUR QUEEN IS A REPLTIL	SONS OF KEMET	920	3,300	38.3
8	A FEVER DREAM	EVERYTHING EVERYTHING	800	21,000	3.9
9	THE OOZ	KING KRULE	750	13,400	5.1
10	HOLIDAY DESTINATION	NADINE SHAH	600	7,000	9.5
11	EVERYTHING IS RECORDED	EVERYTHING IS RECORDED	515	3,600	16.6
12	NOVELIST GUY	NOVELIST	130	<3,000	13.9

Look back over all the Mercury prize winners so far…