Sam Fender has won the 2025 Mercury Prize, a highly prestigious award given by the British Phonographic Industry to the best British or Irish album, with his record People Watching.

Radio 1 presenter Sian Eleri announced the result, which was met with a deafening cheer from the hometown crowd, with the ceremony taking place in Newcastle, less than 10 miles from Fender’s hometown of North Shields.

It’s Fender’s second nomination and first victory for his Springsteen-inspired heartland rock anthems about the lives of the working-class Northerners. Last year’s winners, English Teacher, said they hoped for more Northerners to win the prize, and their wish has certainly come true this year.

Though Fender was certainly the crowd favourite, he was not considered the likeliest by experts, who deemed CMAT’s EURO-COUNTRY and Fontaines D.C.’s Romance as the most likely winners.

The Mercury Prize is well-known for picking winners deemed unlikely, such as in 1997 when Roni Size and Reprazent’s New Forms won over the likes of The Prodigy's The Fat of the Land and Radiohead’s OK Computer.

After winning the prize, Fender took to the stage to play the title track from the album one more time and thanked his fellow nominees, including previous favourites CMAT and Fontaines D.C.