Mercury Prize: The best-selling winning albums

Over the last 28 years, the Mercury Prize has thrust plenty of gems of albums into the spotlight that may otherwise have gone unnoticed.

For acts such as The xx, Dizzee Rascal and Alt-J, the prize was a springboard to further success, often on a global scale, while others never quite managed to escape its shadow.

With this year's recipient announced tonight (Sept. 19), Official Charts has crunched the numbers to reveal which Mercury Prize-winning records have sold the most, based on a combined figure of physical, digital, and streaming equivalent sales.

MORE: See the shortlist for the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Music Prize

Finishing top of the pile are Arctic Monkeys, winners in 2006 with their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. The record was hugely popular before its Mercury nod - shifting 360,000 copies in its opening week alone - but its win no doubt spurred on sales, which currently stand at 1.86 million. Look at Arctic Monkey's Official UK Chart history in full here.

Artic Monkeys performing at the 2006 Mercury Prize (Shutterstock)

Three more prize winning albums have passed the million sales mark; Pulp's Different Class, which won in 1996, has sold 1.32m, and Franz Ferdinand's self-titled debut - released in 2004 at the height of the early '00s indie-pop wave - has shifted 1.3m. Meanwhile, Mercury shortlist regulars Elbow have sold 1.1m of The Seldom Seen Kid, which won the gong in 2008.

M People, winners of the Mercury Prize in 1994, have the sixth best-selling winners album with their second album Elegant Slumming (758,000), while Londoners The xx - an act who shot to worldwide fame thanks to their win - place eighth with healthy sales of 612,000 for their self-titled debut. Originally entering the Official Albums Chart at 36 in 2009, the record shot to Number 3 after their win the following year. 

First winners Primal Scream, who are still together, come in seventh with Screamadelica, on 707,000.

Wolf Alice at the 2018 Mercury Prize (Shutterstock)

PJ Harvey – the only artist to claim the Mercury twice – sees her 2001 winner Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (298,000) place three spots higher than 2011's Let England Shake (177,000), while last year's winner, Vision Of A Life by Wolf Alice, places 23rd (80,000).

This year's Mercury Prize winner will be announced at an awards show held at London's Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Thursday, September 19. The event will feature live performances from the majority of the twelve shortlisted artists, broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 6 Music.

The Official biggest Mercury Prize-winning albums

Copyright Official Charts Company 2019. 
*This chart is compiled taking in physical sales, downloads and streaming equivalent sales.

Look back over every Mercury Prize winner ever below: 

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