Singer-songwriter Charli XCX, rapper Ghetts and indie rock band The Last Dinner Party are among the nominees for the Mercury Prize, with debut albums making up more than half the shortlist for the British music award.
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First handed out to rockers Primal Scream in 1992, the annual Stg25,000 ($A49,000) prize shortlists 12 albums released by British and Irish acts in the United Kingdom in the past year.
Considered less mainstream than Britain's pop music honours the BRIT Awards, the Mercury Prize is open to all music genres.
Charli XCX is nominated for Brat, her sixth studio album whose lime-green cover look was adopted by US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris's campaign for her Kamala HQ social media account this week after the pop star referenced her in a post.
Ghetts is in the running for his fourth studio album On Purpose, with Purpose, while The Last Dinner Party are nominated for their debut Prelude to Ecstasy.
Other debut studio albums making the shortlist are Silence Is Loud by producer, DJ and singer Nia Archives, Early Twenties by British-Liberian singer Cat Burns, When Will We Land? by Scottish electronic producer and DJ Barry Can't Swim and Who Am I by Trinidad-born rapper Berwyn, who was previously nominated for his debut mixtape Demotape/Vega.
Portishead singer and lyricist Beth Gibbons is nominated for her first solo album Lives Outgrown, nearly 30 years since she won the Mercury Prize with the trip-hop band.
Musician and producer corto.alto is in the running for debut Bad With Names, and completing the list are group English Teacher's debut This Could Be Texas, singer Corinne Bailey Rae's Black Rainbows and Irish musician CMAT for Crazymad, for Me.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony in September.
In 2023, Ezra Collective won for Where I'm Meant to Be, the first jazz album to take home the award.
Australian Associated Press
