Artists outside London ‘underrepresented on Mercury Prize shortlist’ | Mercury Prize

Previous Mercury Prize nominees have said acts outside London are underrepresented in the awards, with 130 more nominees coming from the capital than the next region on the shortlist over the award’s 34-year history.

The awards ceremony will be held in Newcastle on Thursday evening, which is the first time it has been held outside London.

However, data collected by The Guardian shows stark disparities in regional representation. While the 2025 nominations are the most diverse ever, with six regions of England represented as well as representatives from Scotland, Wales and Ireland, the 2024 shortlist saw just six regions or countries represented, and there were only four in 2023, when nine of the 12 nominations went to acts from London.

Since 2010, only three winners have not come from London, and between 2014 and 2023, every winner has come from the city, with English club Leeds’ victory in 2024 halting that trend. In the competition’s history, more winners have come from London than all the others combined – 17 winners from the capital.

In 2020, of the 12 acts shortlisted for the award, only one came from outside the south of England, Newcastle-based rock band Lanterns on the Lake. Vocalist Hazel Wilde said that while the group were delighted with the nomination and excited that the ceremony would be held in their home city, they found it “surprising” that they were the only act from outside London five years ago, and hoped the awards would grow.

“The Mercury Prize has always been the alternative to the usual big brand-backed or London-focused awards such as the British Awards,” said Wilde. “It’s all about the album. But I think people see it slipping into that world a little bit — maybe because those are the artists who are able to survive in this climate.”

There is also a lack of diversity in the countries represented. Only the inaugural winners Primal Scream, 2004 winners Franz Ferdinand and 2014 winners Young Fathers, have come from outside England, and yet to come from Wales or Ireland at all.

Gwenno, the Cardiff-born singer nominated in 2022 who has recorded albums in both the Welsh and Cornish languages, said: “The UK is the most centralized political system in Europe and everything we do is affected by that, unfortunately, including our music industry.

“I’m really confident in the ability of all countries to produce amazing music, and in our ability as music fans and people who want to celebrate great music to work together in a more progressive way in what I consider to be the last dust of the empire.”

Gwenno said she believes dividing the award into separate competitions for each country or region will not only be effective in highlighting talent from outside England, but will help England itself, which she says is “going through a huge identity turmoil in determining what it needs to be next in every way imaginable.”

Dr Joe Twist, chief executive of the BPI, which organizes the Mercury Prize, said the awards were designed to provide “a wide range of opportunities for artists from diverse backgrounds to shine and connect with a wider audience”, and that the move to Newcastle was “recognition that talent is thriving across the UK and Ireland”.

Ian Murray, Minister for Creative Industries, Media and the Arts, said: “We very much welcome the organizers taking the important symbolic step of hosting the ceremony outside of London for the first time,” adding: “For too long, other regions have had to play second fiddle to London, despite having world-class creative production in their own right.”

Murray said the government had pledged to address the “imbalance between London and the rest of the country in the creative industries”, starting by encouraging events such as the Mercury and Brit Awards to change locations, and by “investing hundreds of millions in creative businesses from Exeter to Inverness”.