Raye wins the Mercury Prize 2026: “Hope is just something that we all need. Music is medicine”

Raye has been announced as the winner of the Mercury Prize 2026, sharing that she believes “music is medicine”. This year’s edition of the annual awards show took place at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle tonight (Thursday October 22), hosted by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne. Taking home the coveted statue for ‘This Music May Contain Hope’, which NME gave a five-star review and hailed as “show-stopping musical maximalism at its grandest”, beating off competition from other shortlisted records by Paul McCartney, JADE, Nia Archives, Dave, Suede, Florence + The Machine, Olivia Dean, Knats, RAYE, Dove Ellis, and Kojey Radical, along with the War Child ‘Help(2)’ compilation album. “First of all, I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be holding this,” she said from the stage after collecting the prize. “I’m shaking, I’m jetlagged, I’m tired, I’m grateful, it’s all blurry.” “I’ve always banged on about how much I believe in albums,” she continued. “Albums are so important. And not to be bitter, because I feel like I’m mostly at peace with my past, you know?” – she said, referring to her previous record label battles – “but to come from a place where it’s all about singles and chasing ...