RAYE wins the 2026 Mercury Prize with ‘This Music May Contain Hope’
The singer has won the coveted award for her second album.
By Nick Reilly
RAYE has won the 2026 Mercury Prize for her second album, This Music May Contain Hope.
The singer won the coveted prize in front of a huge crowd at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena, marking the ceremony’s second year in the North East after leaving London in 2025 for the first time in the prize’s history.
“I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be holding this. I’m shaking,” RAYE said as she accepted the prize. “I’m jetlagged. I’m grateful. It’s all blurry. I’ve always banged on about how much I believe in albums. And not to be bitter because I’m mostly at peace with my past, but coming from a place where it’s all about singles and chasing the next thing, I feel so grateful to be recognised.”
She later told the BBC that she had “not many words right now. Just gratitude”. She added: “I really pushed myself and poured everything I had into this body of work.”
In awarding the album its win, scooping RAYE a £25,000 prize, the prize’s judging panel said: “While the twelve albums shortlisted for the 2026 Mercury Prize were wildly different, each one demonstrated how the album continues to be the ideal format for an artist or group wishing to get their artistic statement out into the world. We believe the album continues to have an important role to play in music in the age of streaming, which is why the judges felt the scale, structure, ambition and sheer charm of this year’s winner was the right choice for the 2026 Mercury Prize ‘Album of the Year’.”
It is the latest step in a journey which has seen RAYE overcome an number of hurdles to become one of the UK’s most popular stars. She parted ways with her label after accusing them of refusing to let her release her debut record, before releasing 2023’s My 21st Century Blues, which swept the BRIT Awards with a record-breaking six wins.
Tonight’s Mercury Prize saw RAYE delivering a show-stopping performance to the Newcastle crowd. She was among ten nominated artist to perform, along with Dove Ellis, Florence + The Machine, JADE, Knats, Kojey Radical, Nia Archives, Olivia Dean, Suede and Pulp (performing on behalf of the HELP(2) album) who all took to the stage to perform one track from their nominated album.
This year’s judging panel included musicians, journalists and broadcasters including Mistajam, Jamie Cullum, Lea Stonhill, Sian Eleri, Phil Alexander, Will Hodgkinson, Afrodeutsche, Sophie Williams and Daniella Perry, with Jeff Smith as chair.
The ceremony’s return to Newcastle was once again backed by Generator – the North’s leading music development agency which coordinated a dynamic, week-long regional fringe programme in the lead up to the awards, to celebrate the city’s dynamic music scene.