Mercury Prize: Harry Styles, Sam Fender, Little Simz and Wet Leg in the running

Watch: Harry Styles and Sam Fender nominated for 2022 Mercury Prize

Harry Styles is among the nominees for this year's Mercury Prize.

The award, which recognises the best British album of the preceding 12 months, is one of the most prestigious in music, with previous winners include the Arctic Monkeys, the xx and Skepta.

Also up for the Mercury — the winner of which will be announced on 8 September on BBC Four and iPlayer — is chart-topping rockstar Sam Fender as well as rapper Little Simz.

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Ten of this year's nominees are being put up for the award for the first time including indie pop sensation Self-Esteem, rock duo Wet Leg and folk singer Gwenno.

Singer-songwriter Sam Fender has said he is 'chuffed' and 'absolutely freaking out' after securing his first Mercury Prize nomination.

Fender, who won a Brit award for best rock alternative act and played on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this year, features on the shortlist for his number one album Seventeen Going Under.

He told BBC Radio 6: “Seventeen Going Under is a very personal and important record for me and the boys, and for it to be recognised is insane."

The 2022 Mercury Prize shortlist

• Harry Styles - Harry's House

• Yard Act - The Overload

• Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

• Little Simz - Sometimes I Might be Introvert

• Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler - For All Our Days That Tear The Heart

• Wet Leg - Wet Leg

• Fergus McCreadie - Forest Floor

• Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure

• Joy Crookes - Skin

• Nova Twin - Supernova

• Kojey Radical - Reason To Smile

• Gwenno - Tresor

Other nominees include hard rock duo Nova Twins, soul singer Joy Crookes and rapper Kojey Radical as well as jazz musician Fergus McCreadie, indie band Yard Act and duo Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler.

Some of the notable omissions include Adele's 30, previous winner Dave and his second album We're All In This Together and Florence and the Machine with her recent release Dance Fever.

Of the albums nominated, Styles' has been by far the most commercially successful with it being number one in the UK charts for six of the last nine weeks.

Styles however is a long shot to win with no pop album taking home the Mercury Prize since Boney M in 1994.

The judging panel which includes the likes of rapper Loyle Carner, jazz star Jamie Cullum and broadcaster Annie Mac said in a statement: “Getting down to 12 albums this year was not easy, simply because there were so many remarkable ones to choose from.

"That serves as proof that British and Irish music thrives during unsettled periods in history, with the albums chosen covering everything from imaginative pop to pioneering rap to Cornish language folk-rock. We feel that these 12 amazing albums each have something to say artistically and socially, all in their own unique, enriching ways.”

The winner will be chosen on 8 September, the night of the Mercury Prize ceremony which will air on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer from 9pm.

Watch below: Arlo Parks wins 2021 Hyundai Mercury Prize