The Neptune Music Prize 2025 🏆 Vote Now 🏆

Music
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With this year’s Mercury Prize list announced, Drowned in Sound’s annual alternative, The Neptune Music Prize is here.

We’ve listened to suggestions from our community and selected 20 exceptional albums for you to choose from… but most importantly, for you to spend some time listening to each of the nominees and hopefully discovering a new favourite album.

Sign up to our newsletter at http://drownedinsound.org to get a guide to all of these albums with links to listen to the albums in full. Or if you can’t wait find your local record shop to pick up a copy.

We’ll also be sharing a playlist on our Youtube channel, and mini guides to each album on our Instagram and new TikTok.

Voting will close on 15th October 2025. You can vote for up to 3 albums.

The Neptune Prize 2025
  • Benefits - Constant Noise
  • The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
  • Cwfen - Sorrows
  • Richard Dawson - End of the Middle
  • Djrum - Under Tangled Silence
  • Gwenno - Utopia
  • Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment
  • Honesty - U R HERE
  • Jessica Winter - My First Album
  • Julia-Sophie - forgive too slow
  • ⁠KATHRYN JOSEPH - WE WERE MADE PREY.
  • ⁠Kelly Lee Owens - Dreamstate
  • ⁠Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out
  • ⁠Los Campesinos! - All Hell
  • ⁠Lowen - Do Not Go To War With The Demons Of Mazandara
  • ⁠Little Simz - Lotus
  • ⁠Nubya Garcia - Odyssey
  • ⁠Overhead, The Albatross - I Leave You This
  • Rose Gray - Louder Please
  • Whatever The Weather - Whatever The Weather II
0 voters

How Was This List Chosen?
The DiS community helped to create this amazing longlist and that means, unlike the Mercury Prize, there was no entry fee. Thank you for all of your suggestions of albums released between July 13th 2024 and July 13th 2025 by artists from UK and Ireland, which have been compiled into this shortlist by the Drowned in Sound editorial team. It’s now over to you to pick the winner.

How To Vote
Sign in to your DiS account (it’s free to join our community if you haven’t already done so). This year, you can vote for up to 3 albums and voting closes on 15th October at 11am BST.

Previous Shortlists

Last year’s winner was…

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How any of the list have you heard?

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  • 20 - yes, all of them
0 voters
1 Like
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Already heard: 7
Love: The Cure, Richard Dawson, Kelly Lee Owens, Los Camp
Good: Little Simz, Jessica Winter
Disappointing: Gwenno

look forward to trying the rest

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Rose Gray

3 Likes
5

Martha

2 Likes
6

Decided not to show the ongoing voting this year, partly to stop people gaming it

But feel free to comment with who you’ve voted for and why people should listen to those records (or an intriguing description)

2 Likes
8

listen to Kathryn Joseph

7 Likes
9

It’s an extraordinary album isn’t it? So different to her previous records but I adore it and it was one of my 3 votes

2 Likes
10

Gone for Julia-Sophie, Djrum and Honesty. Honesty would get my 1, because I’ve absolutely rinsed that album this year.

2 Likes
11

Overhead, the Albatross is the only one I’ve not heard so I’ll make sure that’s sorted!

6 Likes
12

Voted for Djrum as it’s just so dynamic, lush and hypnotic.

5 Likes
13

Actually can I vote for the murder of Charlie Kirk?

14

4 Likes
15

Lambrini Girls for the win. Will give others a go I haven’t heard but damn, if they’re better I ain’t be doin this right

1 Like
16

The world is sleeping in that Overhead the Albatross album. It’s the best thing I’ve heard this decade so far. Post rock that morphs into a full on dance banger.
Nothing else sounds like it.

This is the album closer. The most eurphoic tribute I’ve ever heard.

7 Likes
17

these new puritans robbed again

4 Likes
18

Playing the Saturday of ATG next year if rumours are to be believed

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19

Keep forgetting to check out the new album, it’s been so long since the last one

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20

It’s so much better it’s not funny.
And I like the last one.