Mercury Prize 2022 winner: who won prestigious music award - and full list of past winners from 1992 to 2021

The winner of long-awaited Mercury Prize 2022 has been announced.

Artists such as Harry Styles, Sam Fender and Little Simz faced a long delay in finding out if they had scooped the top award. The Mercury Prize 2022 ceremony was postponed from September due to the death of the Queen.

Most of the nominees performed live at the Eventim Apollo in London as part of the show. The only exception was Harry Styles, who is currently touring the US.

Who won the Mercury Prize 2022?

The award for Mercury Prize 2022 went to 28-year-old Little Simz for her album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. The album was released in September 2021 and reflects on the themes of race, gender and introversion.

This was the second nomination for the artist, whose real name is Simbiatu Ajikawo, after her third album – 2019’s Grey Area – was also shortlisted.

Accepting her prize on stage, the British rapper and singer said she was “very overwhelmed and grateful” to receive the accolade.

“To my family over here, my loved ones right here. I want to say a huge thank you to the Mercury for this incredible prize,” she said.

“I want to say thank you to my brother and close collaborator Inflo… he’s known me since I was so young, he’s stuck by me, we created this album together.

“There was times in the studio when I didn’t know if I was going to finish this record, I was feeling all the emotions and really going through it. He stuck by me and pushed me to deliver this album for you guys.”

Who was nominated for the Mercury Prize 2022?

The nominees for the 2022 Mercury Prize were announced in July. Originally the ceremony was due to take place on 8 September, but was rescheduled following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on the same day.

The other nominees who faced a nervous wait to find out if they had won the prize were:

• Harry Styles - Harry’s House
• Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under
• Joy Crookes - Skin
• Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler - For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
• Yard Act - The Overload
• Nova Twins - Supernova
• Gwenno - Tresor
• Kojey Radical - Reason to Smile
• Wet Leg - Wet Leg
• Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure
• Fergus McCreadie - Forest Floor

What does the Mercury Prize winner receive?

The winner of the Mercury Prize not only win an award statue to celebrate their triumph, but they will also walk away with a money prize. The winner will take home £25,000.

The shortlisted nominees also don’t go home empty handed. Each nominated artist will take home a special “Albums of the Years” award.

Although not a direct prize from the organisers, generally all of those nominated see a lift in sales and streams after the ceremony. While the winner of the award enevitably see their sales and streams go up, smaller artists on the nomination shortlist tend to recieve a massive boost.

Who has previously won the Mercury Prize?

The prize has been awarded to the best album from the UK and Ireland since 1992. Only one artist has won the prize more than once - PJ Harvey, who took home the top award in 2001 and 2011.

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is the most nominated artist in the prize’s history. He has been nominated a total of six times - five times with Radiohead and one nomination for his solo effort The Eraser. He has never won the prize.

The previous winners in full:

• 1992: Primal Scream - Screamadelica
• 1993: Suede - Suede
• 1994: M People – Elegant Slumming
• 1995: Portishead – Dummy
• 1996: Pulp – Different Class
• 1997: Roni Size & Reprazent – New Forms
• 1998: Gomez – Bring It On
• 1999: Talvin Singh – Ok
• 2000: Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast
• 2001: PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
• 2002: Ms. Dynamite – A Little Deeper
• 2003: Dizzee Rascal – Boy in da Corner
• 2004: Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
• 2005: Antony and the Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now
• 2006: Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
• 2007: Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future
• 2008: Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
• 2009: Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy
• 2010: The xx - xx
• 2011: PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
• 2012: alt-J - An Awesome Wave
• 2013: James Blake - Overgrown
• 2014: Young Fathers - Dead
• 2015: Benjamin Clementine – At Least for Now
• 2016: Skepta - Konnichiwa
• 2017: Sampha - Process
• 2018: Wolf Alice - Visions of a Life
• 2019: Dave - Psychodrama
• 2020: Michael Kiwanuka – Kiwanuka
• 2021: Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams