Sam Fender Wins Mercury Prize 2025

• 17 Oct 2025

On 16th October 2025, British rocker Sam Fender won the Mercury Prize for his third album, People Watching, beating fellow nominees including band Pulp and singer FKA Twigs.

• The 31-year-old artist thanked his fellow nominees and paying tribute to his late friend Annie Orwin, who inspired the album’s title track.
• This is Fender’s first Mercury Prize win, having previously been nominated in 2022 for his second album, Seventeen Going Under.
• The Mercury Prize, first awarded to Primal Scream in 1992, honours the best album released by British and Irish acts, offering a £25,000 ($33,600) prize and shortlisting 12 albums annually.