The firstMercury Prize to be staged outside of London in its 33-year history has been won by Sam Fender in Newcastle.
Fender, a local boy from North Shields, was a popular winner – the announcement from Radio 1's Sian Eleri prompted huge cheers from the home crowd. The singer-songwriter then led the audience in a chant of Toon Toon as he accepted the award for third album People Watching (Polydor).
"This region is the best region in the country goddamit," said Fender in his acceptance speech, in which he thanked the other nominees and paid tribute to his friend and mentor Annie Orwin. Fender has previously said that Orwin, who died last year, inspired the title track.
TheBPI moved the 2025 awards to Newcastle’s Utilita Arena, in partnership with Newcastle City Council and The North East Combined Authority. Lauren Laverne returned to host this year’s ceremony, which was broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 6 Music.
The judging panel said: “This year proved that the album remains the format of choice for artists to best present a body of work. That, however, made our job as judges of the 2025 Mercury Prize for Album of the Year more challenging than ever. All 12 records on the shortlist worked so well on their own terms, ranging from ancient ballads to futuristic electronics.
“After much discussion, however, we all decided on one album that stood out for its cohesion, character and ambition. It felt like a classic album, which will take pride of place in record collections for years to come. People Watching by Sam Fender is both melody-rich and expansive, marrying heartland rock with the realities of everyday life and the importance of community. These are thoughtful songs with broad appeal, as cinematic as they are intimate, making People Watching a worthy winner of the 2025 Mercury Prize for Album of the Year.”
It felt like a classic album, which will take pride of place in record collections for years to come
Mercury Prize judges
People Watching peaked at No.1 in February with more than 100,000 sales in its opening week and has the biggest sales to date for a domestic album released in 2025. It has sales so far of 224,260 (Official Charts Company). That’s the second biggest total among this year’s Mercury albums, though Fontaines DC’s larger tally of 239,447 for Romance (XL Recordings) includes sales accumulated in 2024 and 2025.
The majority of nominated artists headed to Newcastle to perform live at the broadcast event: Emma-Jean Thackray,FKA Twigs, Jacob Alon, Joe Webb, Martin Carthy, Pa Salieu, Pulp,Wolf Alice and Sam Fender, who returned to the stage to perform People Watching following his victory.
The Mercury Prize recognises the best new British & Irish music. As an independent arts prize, it champions the album format and often provides a major platform for new artists. Recent winners includeEnglish Teacher, Ezra Collective, Little Simz, Arlo Parks and Michael Kiwanuka.
“We’ve always had the aspiration to look at the format,”BPI CEO Dr Jo Twist told Music Week following the announcement about the move to Newcastle. “The Mercury Prize is a prestigious art prize celebrating the storytelling of artists through the format of the album, recognising artists from across the UK and Ireland. It seems right that [the ceremony] should happen around the country, or at least outside of London.”
People Watching has remained in the Top 100 since release and is likely to return to the Top 40 following the victory.
The winning Mercury album can generally expect a boost from the prize ceremony, though that has been less obvious in recent years as streaming has become dominant.English Teacher’s debut album did return to the Top 40 following their victory last year.
“It’s one of the important stepping stones in an artist’s career,” said Twist earlier this year. “But you do still see uplifts. You do still see that spotlight being shone on those artists and their bodies of work. It is prestigious in the eyes of the artists.”
Each year, the shortlist is curated by an independent judging panel of music industry professionals.
The 2025 Mercury Prize 12 ‘Albums Of The Year’ are:
CMAT – Euro-Country (AWAL)
Emma-Jean Thackray – Weirdo (Parlophone)
FKA Twigs – Eusexua (Young)
Fontaines DC – Romance (XL Recordings)
Jacob Alon – In Limerence (Island)
Joe Webb – Hamstrings & Hurricanes (Edition/The Orchard)
Martin Carthy – Transform Me Then Into A Fish (HemHem Records)
Pa Salieu – Afrikan Alien (Warner Records)
PinkPantheress – Fancy That (Warner Records)
Pulp – More (Rough Trade)
Sam Fender – People Watching (Polydor)
Wolf Alice – The Clearing (Columbia)
The eligibility period for the Mercury Prize was July 13, 2024 to Friday, August 29, 2025.
Alongside the Awards Show, Generator – the North’s leading music development agency – programmed theMercury Prize Newcastle Fringe activity.
PHOTO: JM Enternational/Getty