So the shortlist for the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize has been announced.

The usual debate about whether the 12 lucky albums deserve to be on the list is already igniting across record company offices, while a whole host of artists and managers will be licking their wounds at being passed over.

So let’s boil this down to hard, empirical fact, shall we? Music Week has crunched the numbers for this year’s list to see how many copies they’ve sold so far. As the list dropped on a Thursday, the current chart week in progress has not yet been counted – although there is minimal potential for a sales surge with just a few hours left of the chart week.

But, this is how things stood, according to the Official Charts Company, as of the end of Chart Week 29 on Friday, from biggest selling to lowest-selling.

There are no platinum albums on the list this year, just two gold records and no silver ones. Particular kudos goes to Novelist, who has found favour with the 12 Mercury judges, despite being bought by fewer than 1,000 people so far and not even being available as a physical album… 

1. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Who Built The Moon (Sour Mash/Ignition): 258,106
2. Arctic Monkeys, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (Domino): 136,323
3. Florence + The Machine, High As Hope (Virgin EMI): 56,163
4. Wolf Alice, Visions Of A Life (Dirty Hit): 54,776
5. Jorja Smith, Lost & Found (FAMM): 30,359
6. Everything Everything, A Fever Dream (RCA): 20,164
7. Lily Allen, No Shame (Parlophone): 14,439
8. King Krule, The Ooz (XL): 12,599
9. Nadine Shah, Holiday Destination (1965): 6,250
10. Everything Is Recorded, Everything Is Recorded (XL): 3,059
11. Sons Of Kemet (Impulse/Decca), Your Queen Is A Reptile: 2,267
12. Novelist, Novelist Guy (Mmmyeh): 886

Spotify have been announced as this year's digital partner, so will be interesting to see how that impacts on 'sales'. Could this be the first truly streaming-led Mercury Prize?

To read the full Mercury Prize shortlist, click here. Stay tuned to musicweek.com and our social media channels for more Mercury news.

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