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Sep 20, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Nadine Shah

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Wolf Alice have won this year’s Mercury Prize, for the best British album of the year, for 2017’s Visions of a Life. The London-based quartet beat out the latest albums by King Krule, Arctic Monkeys, Everything Everything, Noel Gallagher, Florence + the Machine, Lily Allen, Nadine Shah, Everything Is Recorded, and more (the full list of nominees is below). Below you can watch them accept the award at the ceremony in London and perform one of the album’s stand out singles, “Don’t Delete the Kisses.” Also below the performances from the awards show by King Krule, Florence + the Machine, Everything Everything, Lily Allen, Everything Is Recorded, Novelist, Nadine Shah, Jorja Smith, and Sons of Kemet.

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 UK, especially if it wins.

Wolf Alice charted well in our Top 100 Albums of 2017 list, so we offer a big congratulations to them on the win.

Last year Sampha won, the year before it was Skepta, and the year before that it was Benjamin Clementine. 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, and others. Although they don’t always get it right and there have been some forgettable winners as well.

Mercury Prize 2018 Nominees:

Lily Allen: No Shame
Arctic Monkeys: Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino
Everything Everything: A Fever Dream
Everything Is Recorded: Everything Is Recorded
Florence + the Machine: High as Hope
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Who Built the Moon?
King Krule: The Ooz
Novelist: Novelist Guy
Nadine Shah: Holiday Destination
Jorja Smith: Lost and Found
Sons of Kemet: Your Queen Is a Reptile
Wolf Alice: Visions of a Life

Read our 2017 interview with Wolf Alice on Visions of a Life.

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