Raye has won the 2026 Mercury Prize, taking home the UK’s most prestigious album award for “This Music May Contain Hope” at a ceremony in Newcastle on Thursday night. Accepting the prize, the singer-songwriter delivered an emotional speech about the power of albums and the message behind her record.

“Hope is just something that we all need,” she said on stage. “Music is that, music is medicine.”

The night in Newcastle

The ceremony took place on Thursday, October 22, at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle and was hosted by BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne, according to NME. It was the second year in a row that the Mercury Prize was held in the city; last year’s edition marked the first time the event moved outside London.

Raye performed “I Hate The Way I Look Today” during the show and then again as a closer after she was announced as the winner. Other performers on the night included Dove Ellis, Florence + The Machine, Jade, Knats, Kojey Radical, Nia Archives, Olivia Dean and Suede, while Pulp took the stage to represent the War Child charity compilation “Help(2).”

The winner receives the Mercury trophy and a £25,000 prize, according to the BBC.

A strong shortlist

“This Music May Contain Hope” beat a shortlist that included albums from Paul McCartney, Jade, Nia Archives, Dave, Suede, Florence + The Machine, Olivia Dean, Knats, Dove Ellis and Kojey Radical, along with the “Help(2)” compilation.

The judging panel included music writer and broadcaster Sophie Williams, The Times rock and pop critic Will Hodgkinson, composer and DJ AFRODEUTSCHE and broadcaster Danielle Perry, alongside Radio 2’s Jamie Cullum, MistaJam, Kerrang’s Phil Alexander, Sian Eleri and Lea Stonhill, with Jeff Smith serving as chair.

Inside the winning album

According to the BBC, the record runs 17 tracks and 73 minutes and tells a cinematic story about a relationship that ends in tears on the rainy streets of Paris. NME called it “show-stopping musical maximalism at its grandest.” Raye herself leaned into its ambition in her speech. “I just wanted to make seven-minute songs,” she said. “I wanted to go to a big band section there and do strings there, and just be really indulgent.”

The album reached Number One in the UK and helped propel her to a headline slot at Reading & Leeds 2026. NME reported that she is set to perform it in full with an orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall the night after the ceremony.

A speech about albums, and about hope

Raye opened her speech by admitting she was overwhelmed. “I’m shaking, I’m jetlagged, I’m tired, I’m grateful, it’s all blurry,” she said.

She then spoke about her belief in the album as an art form, alluding to her well-documented past disputes with a record label. “To come from a place where it’s all about singles and chasing the next thing, I just feel so grateful to be recognised,” she said.

She closed with the line that gave the album its spirit: “‘Hope’ is a very cheesy word, especially for us British. We don’t do that kind of deep stuff like that, but hope is just something that we all need.”

Raye’s remarkable run

This was Raye’s second Mercury nomination. It caps a run that includes setting a BRIT Awards record in 2024, when she took home six awards, the most wins by an artist in a single year.

She now joins a list of Mercury winners that includes Sam Fender, who won last year with “People Watching,” as well as English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Little Simz, Dave, Arlo Parks, Wolf Alice, Arctic Monkeys, Elbow, Pulp, Portishead and PJ Harvey.

Why the Mercury still matters

Unlike many awards, the Mercury Prize judges albums as complete works, regardless of sales or genre, which is why it often spotlights records that sit outside the mainstream. That makes Raye’s win, for a lavish, genre-blending record she described as indulgent, feel especially fitting.

The takeaway

Raye’s victory is the latest chapter in one of British music’s great comeback stories: an artist who fought to make albums her way and has now been rewarded with the prize that celebrates exactly that. If you have not heard “This Music May Contain Hope” yet, this weekend is a good time to press play from the first track and let it run.

Image: Microphone Music by Markus Spiske via StockSnap, CC0 1.0