2009 Mercury Prize shortlist announced

Kasabian: currently 5/1 joint favourites
Kasabian: currently 5/1 joint favourites

This morning saw the announcement of the shortlist for the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Prize for best album.

Florence And The Machine and Kasabian have emerged as early favourites for the £20,000 prize, which is voted for by a panel of music industry figures and critics and will be announced on 8 September 2009.

Nominations for the Mercury prize 2009
(with odds from bookmaker William Hill)

Florence And The Machine - Lungs 5/1
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum 5/1
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns 6/1
La Roux - La Roux 6/1
Glasvegas - Glasvegas 6/1
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy 8/1
Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires 8/11
The Horrors - Primary Colours 8/1
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew 8/1
The Invisible - The Invisible 10/1
Led Bib - Sensible Shoes 10/1
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men 10/1

Visit the official Barclaycard Mercury Prize website for more.

Chris Vinnicombe worked with us here on the MusicRadar team from the site's initial launch way back in 2007, and also contributed to Guitarist magazine as Features Editor until 2014, as well as Total Guitar magazine, amongst others. These days he can be found at Gibson Guitars, where he is editor-in-chief.