Where’s The Bump? Young Fathers Wins Mercury Prize 2014, Nomination Drives Just 561 Sales

Edinburgh hip-hop trio Young Fathers won the 2014 Mercury Prize for best British or Irish record of the last 12 months last night. Hopefully a win for the group means more than the nomination for one of the UK's top music awards did.  According to Official Charts Company, Young Fathers post- nomination sales bump was a mere 561 units.  Several other Mercury Prize nominees did not fair much better.

Polar Bear saw sales surges of 31% but that meant just 569 more albums were sold. Anna Calvi’s One Breath sold 800 copies post-nomination, up just 6% and East India Youth’s Stolen rose 13%, up 765 units.

As the Gaurdian's Sean Michaels, who crunched the numbers pointed out, "These numbers are not a condemnation of the Mercury so much as a reflection of a fractured music industry. Very few albums are sold nowadays, even by the most critically acclaimed artists."

At this rate, the £20,000/$32,000 USD prize awarded to Young Fathers last night may be the biggest payday the band ever sees.