Its Tight at the Top of the 2022 Mercury Prize Betting
The 2022 Mercury Awards show will take place on Thursday, September 8th at the Apollo in Hammersmith. The Mercury Prize promotes the best of UK and Irish music and the artists who have produced it. It is described as music’s equivalent to the Booker Prize for literature and the Turner Prize for art.
Rebecca Lucy Taylor – better known as Self Esteem – is favorite to collect the Mercury Prize on Thursday. ©GettyImages
There is only one prize, it is awarded for the ‘Album of the Year’. Previous winners include the Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, Dizzee Rascal, Skepta and Portishead. As usual, twelve acts are on the shortlist for the 2022 award. Three are vying for favoritism in the contest that has a £25,000 prize.
Punters Have Faith in Self Esteem
Self Esteem – also known as solo artist Rebecca Lucy Taylor – is the current market leader. Her nominated record is her second album, ‘Prioritise Pleasure’. It is an unapologetic pop album, featuring the single ‘I Do This All The Time’.
The Guardian named this track as the best song of 2021. That publication, The Sunday Times and Gigwise also ranked ‘Prioritise Pleasure’ as the best album of 2021. Nevertheless, Self Esteem can be backed at 3/1 with the best novelty betting sites.
British rapper Little Simz follows in the betting. The 28-year-old is 7/2 – exclusively at the William Hill sportsbook – to win the prize with her fourth album ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’. The record has already earned her the 2022 Brit Award for Best New Artist and the Libera Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record.
Wet Leg – a British indie rock duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers from the Isle of Wight – is 4/1 at the Coral sportsbook. Their debut single, ‘Chaise Longue’, quickly racked up three million streams last year. In June the Libera Awards gave the act its awards for Video of the Year and Best Breakthrough Artist.
Mercury Prize Underdogs on the Rise
Following in the betting, at 10/1, is Welsh singer Gwenno with her third studio album, Tresor. Released at the start of July, the record’s lyrics are almost entirely in Cornish. Very few listeners can understand her, yet she has a strong fanbase and plenty of supporters in the Mercury Prize betting.
Yard Act and their debut album, ‘The Overlaod’, is also 10/1 with the best odds betting sites. The rock band from Leeds released this debut album in January, and it immediately went to number 2 on the UK Album Chart.
This leaves: Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’ (12/1); Nova Twins’ ‘Supernova’ (16/1); Kojey Radical’s ‘Reason to Smile’ (20/1); Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler’s ‘For All Our Days That Tear the Heart’ (16/1); Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’ (28/1); Joy Crookes’ ‘Skin’ (28/1) and Fergus McCreadie’s ‘Forest Floor’ (40/1).
A Tough Punt
From a punting perspective, this is a difficult event to call. A consensus of public opinion – a wide-scale vote – is not used to decide the Mercury Prize winner. Instead, an independent panel of just 12 judges and a chairman will discuss the merits of each album. They will decide on the winner on the day of the award ceremony.
From a punting viewpoint, unless you are a fly-on-the-wall, the Mercury Prize is not a competition to become heavily involved in. Just consider Adele failed to collect this prize despite two nominations. Oasis, Blur and Amy Winehouse also left the show empty-handed twice.
So, maybe opposing the favorites is the way to approach the contest. At bet365’s tasty 28/1, our pin speculatively lands on Harry Styles ‘Harry’s House’. The UK’s fastest-selling album of 2022, it debuted at number one domestically and in the United States. Featuring a single that also topped the charts in both countries, the album cannot be that bad! Certainly not a 28/1 shot.
How to Watch the Mercury Prize Award Show
BBC Four will broadcast the Mercury Prize show between 9 pm to 10.15 pm. BBC Radio 6 Music will also provide coverage of the awards show for listeners from 7 pm to 12 am on the big night.
