A formidable array of chart-topping A-listers feature in a competitive shortlist for the 2026 Mercury prize, the prestigious award that honours the best album of the year by a British or Irish artist.
Despite the prize’s history stretching back to 1992, Paul McCartney gets his first ever nomination this year, for his album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, a hugely affecting look back at his Liverpool childhood and his burgeoning friendships with his Beatles bandmates.
