The Mercury Prize nominees for this year have been announced, with Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs and KT Tunstall making it onto the shortlist.
The nominations include Anthony and the Johnson's 'I Am A Bird Now', Bloc Party's 'Silent Alarm', Coldplay's 'X&Y', The Go! Team's 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike', Hard Fi's 'Stars of CCTV' and KT Tunstall's 'Eye of the Telescope'.
Also shortlisted are Kaiser Chief's 'Employment', The Magic Numbers self-titled album, Maximo Park's 'A Certain Trigger', M.I.A.'s 'Arular', Polar Bear's 'Held on the Tips of Fingers' and Seth Lakeman's 'Kitty Jay'.
Eight of the albums named on this year's shortlist are debut albums. Coldplay's 'X&Y' is the biggest selling album of the year so far.
Kaiser Chiefs are currently the bookmakers' favourite to claim the £20,000 prize, with their album 'Employment'.
The Mercury shortlist was chosen by a panel of music industry experts, with the 12 nominees being chosen from 170 entries.
Simon Frith, chairperson of the judges, said: "The renaissance in British music continues with the emergence of a wealth of new talents, demonstrated by the presence of eight debut albums on this year's Nationwide Mercury Prize shortlist."
Franz Ferdinand took the award last year for their debut album and previous winners include Dizzee Rascal, Ms Dynamite, PJ Harvey and Badly Drawn Boy.
