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Aug 04, 2016 David Bowie By Christopher Roberts

Since 1992 the Mercury Prize has been awarded to the best British album of the year, meaning an album created by a citizen of the U.K. and Ireland. It’s become one of the biggest honors a British musician can receive and can also boost an album’s sales in the U.K., especially if it wins. Now this year’s nominees have been announced. They include David Bowie, Radiohead, Bat For Lashes, Savages, ANOHNI, Laura Mvula, The 1975, and Jamie Woon, among others. The full list of nominees is below.

This year they are opening up part of the voting to the fans. The judging panel will narrow the long list down to six final nominees, with five chosen by the judges and one picked by the fans. You have to be a resident of the U.K. and can vote here now. This year’s judging panel, incidentally, includes Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Jessie Ware, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, Jamie Cullum, and BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, among others.

Last year Benjamin Clementine won, beating out bigger nominees such as Wolf Alice, Florence and the Machine, Jamie xx, Aphex Twin, and Gaz Coombes, as well as Under the Radar favorites C Duncan and SOAK.

The Mercury Prize started out strong with Primal Scream’s Screamadelica winning in 1992 and Suede’s self-titled debut winning in 1993. There have been lots of great artists who have also won since, including PJ Harvey (the only artist to win it twice), Pulp, Elbow, Portishead, Franz Ferdinand, alt-J, The xx, and others. Although they don’t always get it right and there have been some forgettable winners as well. This year it seems like smart money would be on Bowie winning posthumously for his amazing and acclaimed final album.

We’ll have to wait until the September 15th ceremony to see who the winner is.

Mercury Prize 2016 Nominees:

Anohni: Hopelessness
Bat For Lashes: The Bride
David Bowie: Blackstar
The Comet Is Coming: Channel the Spirits
Kano: Made in the Manor
Michael Kiwanuka: Love & Hate
Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room
The 1975: I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool
Savages: Adore Life
Skepta: Konnichiwa
Jamie Woon: Making Time