Mercury Prize
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- For the similar American prize, see Shortlist Music Prize.
- For the similar Canadian prize, see Polaris Music Prize.
The Mercury Music Prize, now officially known as the Nationwide Mercury Prize, is a music award given annually for the best British or Irish album of the previous 12 months. It was established by the BPI in 1992 as an alternative to the industry-dominated Brit awards. It was originally sponsored by the now-defunct telecoms company Mercury, followed in 1998 by Technics and starting in 2004 the Nationwide Building Society, see: Nationwide Mercury Prize. Bands who win, or make the shortlist often have a large increase in album sales, particularly for the lesser known nominees[citation needed].
[edit] Shortlists
Each year's winner is in bold.
| 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994|1993 | 1992 |
[edit] 2006
- Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
- Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas
- Editors – The Back Room
- Guillemots – Through the Windowpane
- Richard Hawley – Coles Corner
- Hot Chip – The Warning
- Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
- Zoe Rahman – Melting Pot
- Lou Rhodes – Beloved One
- Scritti Politti – White Bread Black Beer
- Sway – This Is My Demo
- Thom Yorke – The Eraser
[edit] 2005
- Antony and the Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now
- Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
- Coldplay – X&Y
- HARD-Fi – Stars of CCTV
- Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
- KT Tunstall – Eye to the Telescope
- M.I.A. – Arular
- Maxïmo Park – A Certain Trigger
- Polar Bear – Held on the Tips of Fingers
- Seth Lakeman – Kitty Jay
- The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
- The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers
[edit] 2004
- Basement Jaxx – Kish Kash
- Belle & Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
- Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
- Jamelia – Thank You
- Keane – Hopes and Fears
- Snow Patrol – Final Straw
- Joss Stone – The Soul Sessions
- The Streets – A Grand Don't Come For Free
- Ty – Upwards
- Amy Winehouse – Frank
- Robert Wyatt – Cuckooland
- The Zutons – Who Killed...... The Zutons?
[edit] 2003
- Athlete – Vehicles and Animals
- Eliza Carthy – Anglicana
- Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
- The Darkness – Permission to Land
- Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner
- Floetry – Floetic
- Soweto Kinch – Conversations with the Unseen
- Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons
- The Thrills – So Much for the City
- Martina Topley-Bird – Quixotic
- Radiohead – Hail to the Thief
- Terri Walker – Untitled
[edit] 2002
- Guy Barker – Soundtrack
- The Bees – Sunshine Hit Me
- David Bowie – Heathen
- The Coral – The Coral
- Doves – The Last Broadcast
- The Electric Soft Parade – Holes in the Wall
- Gemma Hayes – Night on my Side
- Beverley Knight – Who I Am
- Roots Manuva – Run Come Save Me
- Joanna MacGregor – Play
- Ms. Dynamite – A Little Deeper
- The Streets – Original Pirate Material
[edit] 2001
- Basement Jaxx – Rooty
- Elbow – Asleep in the Back
- Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain
- Gorillaz – Gorillaz (nomination withdrawn at the request of the band)
- Ed Harcourt – Here Be Monsters
- PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
- Tom McRae – Tom McRae
- Radiohead – Amnesiac
- Susheela Raman – Salt Rain
- Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World
- Turin Brakes – The Optimist LP
- Zero 7 – Simple Things
[edit] 2000
- Richard Ashcroft – Alone with Everybody
- Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast
- Coldplay – Parachutes
- MJ Cole – Sincere
- Death in Vegas – The Contino Sessions
- The Delgados – The Great Eastern
- Doves – Lost Souls
- Helicopter Girl – How to Steal the World
- Leftfield – Rhythm and Stealth
- Nicholas Maw – Violin Concerto
- Nitin Sawhney – Beyond Skin
- Kathryn Williams – Little Black Numbers
[edit] 1999
- Thomas Adès – Asyla
- Denys Baptiste – Be Where You Are
- Black Star Liner – Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!
- Blur – 13
- Chemical Brothers – Surrender
- Faithless – Sunday 8PM
- Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
- Beth Orton – Central Reservation
- Kate Rusby – Sleepless
- Talvin Singh – Ok
- Stereophonics – Performance and Cocktails
- Underworld – Beaucoup Fish
[edit] 1998
- 4hero – Two Pages
- Asian Dub Foundation – Rafi's Revenge
- Eliza Carthy – Red Rice
- Catatonia – International Velvet
- Cornershop – When I Was Born for the 7th Time
- Gomez – Bring It On
- Massive Attack – Mezzanine
- Propellerheads – Decksandrumsandrockandroll
- Pulp – This is Hardcore
- John Surman – Proverbs & Songs
- The Verve – Urban Hymns
- Robbie Williams – Life Thru a Lens
[edit] 1997
- The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
- Beth Orton – Trailer Park
- Primal Scream – Vanishing Point
- The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
- Radiohead – OK Computer
- Roni Size/Reprazent – New Forms
- The Spice Girls – Spice
- Suede – Coming Up
- John Tavener – Syvati
- Mark-Anthony Turnage – Your Rockaby
[edit] 1996
- Artists for War Child – Help
- Black Grape – It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah
- Peter Maxwell Davies/BBC Philharmonic – The Beltane Fire / Caroline Mathilde
- Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go
- Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
- Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory
- Courtney Pine – Modern Day Jazz Stories
- Pulp – Different Class
- Underworld – Second Toughest In The Infants
- Norma Waterson – Norma Waterson
[edit] 1995
- Guy Barker – Into the Blue
- Elastica – Elastica
- PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
- Leftfield – Leftism
- James MacMillan – Seven Last Words from the Cross
- Van Morrison – Days Like These
- Oasis – Definitely Maybe
- Portishead – Dummy
- Supergrass – I Should Coco
- Tricky – Maxinquaye
[edit] 1994
- M People – Elegant Slumming
- Blur – Parklife
- Ian McNabb – Head Like A Rock
- Shara Nelson – What Silence Knows
- Michael Nyman – The Piano Concerto and MGV
- The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation
- Pulp – His'n'Hers
- Take That – Everything Changes
- Therapy? – Troublegum
- Paul Weller – Wild Wood
[edit] 1993
- Apache Indian – No Reservations
- The Auteurs – New Wave
- Gavin Bryars – Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
- Dina Carroll – So Close
- PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
- New Order – Republic
- Stereo MC's – Connected
- Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales
- Suede – Suede
- Stan Tracey – Portraits Plus
[edit] 1992
- Barry Adamson – Soul Murder
- Jah Wobble – Rising Above Bedlam
- The Jesus and Mary Chain – Honey's Dead
- Bheki Mseleku – Celebration
- Primal Scream – Screamadelica
- Saint Etienne – Foxbase Alpha
- Simply Red – Stars
- U2 – Achtung Baby
- John Tavener & Steven Isserlis –The Protecting Veil
- Young Disciples – Road To Freedom
[edit] Controversy
Some journalists reporting on UK music state[citation needed] that the awards are not representative of prevailing trends in popular music, as the winning album is selected from the shortlist by a few individuals in the music industry. One example they cite[citation needed], is the 1994 awards where what would prove to be popular albums from Britpop figureheads Paul Weller, Blur and Pulp and electronica leaders The Prodigy were not awarded and they state that the winners, adult contemporary artists M People, were a "safe choice".
Also, these journalists stated[citation needed] that the awards have ignored independent artists stating low album sales as the reasons. These journalists stated that this claim is contradicted by the fact that some major label winners have had low sales, for example when award winner Helicopter Girl,[1] whose 2000 album How To Steal The World sold fewer than 1,000 copies.[citation needed]
Other music journalists critical of the awards stated[citation needed] that the 2005 award should not have been given to Antony and the Johnsons because they were a British-born and American-based act. According to Planet Sound[citation needed], this may be repeated in 2006 as Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell's Ballad of the Broken Seas is included in the shortlist, despite Lanegan not being British and fellow 2006 nominees Guillemots have band members from Brazil and Canada.
The 2001 awards were criticized in some news articles[citation needed] for not canceling the September 11th show which occurred the same day as the September 11, 2001 attacks. When it was announced that PJ Harvey had won the prize, Harvey herself was staying in a hotel in Washington DC which overlooked The Pentagon, which had been hit by one of the hijacked aeroplanes.
