Mercury Prize 2024: Charli XCX, Beth Gibbons and Last Dinner Party among nominees

Last year, the Mercury Prize was won by a jazz act for the first time, with London group Ezra Collective taking the trophy for their second release, Where I’m Meant To Be.

Other former winners include Pulp’s Different Class, Elbow’s Seldom Seen Kid and Skepta’s Konichiwa.

In recent years, the ceremony has been held at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, with nominees each performing a track from their nominated record.

But this week, organisers confirmed that element had been dropped in favour of “other extensive promotional activity”, after the award lost a lucrative sponsorship deal with Freenow.

The prize-giving will still be broadcast by the BBC, with the date still to be confirmed.

That platform will prove essential for many of this year’s artists.

Only two of the nominated albums have spent more than a week in the UK album charts, while some – including those by Corinne Bailey Rae and Berwyn – have missed the Top 75 altogether.

Meanwhile, only one of the shortlisted records – The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude To Ecstasy – has been popular enough to receive a silver disc, representing 60,000 copies sold in the UK.

So if you’ve found yourself wondering what all these albums sound like, here’s a potted guide to the class of 2024.