Celebrating 21 Years of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize

RTÉ Choice Music Prize

In association with IMRO and IRMA

2 0 2 6   K E Y  D A T E S

 Irish Album of the Year 2025 Shortlist – 19^th January

 Irish Song of the Year 2025 Shortlist – 23^rd January

Live in Vicar St, Dublin with Exclusive RTÉ 2FM Broadcast – 5th March

(Tickets on sale Friday 14^th Nov at 9am, priced €29.50 plus booking fees)

https://www.ticketmaster.ie/

Irish Artist of the Year / Irish Breakthrough Artist / Classic Irish Album

21 years after the prize first made its debut in 2005, the RTÉ Choice Music Prize returns next year, and will continue its principal role in championing homegrown music. The key dates for the 2026 event were announced today on RTÉ 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show.

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event, one of the music industry’s biggest nights, will be back in Vicar St on Thursday 5^th March and celebrated in an exclusive live broadcast on RTÉ 2FM.

Three additional prizes will be awarded on the night – Irish Artist of the Year, Irish Breakthrough Artist and Classic Irish Album. RTÉ 2FM will broadcast a week of Choice Music Prize announcements from 19^th – 23^rd January, with All Irish All Day kicking things off on the station on Monday 19^th January.

The Choice Music Prize website has published a list of Irish albums released to date in 2025. This list can be viewed and updated via https://www.choicemusicprize.ie/

RTÉ Choice Music Prize Key 2026 Dates include:

Irish Album of the Year 2025 – shortlist, Mon 19^th January 

Irish Artist of the Year – shortlist, Tues 20^th January

Irish Breakthrough Artist – shortlist, Wed 21^st January

Classic Irish Album – further details Thurs 22^nd January (the winning album will be announced ahead of the live gig next year)

Irish Song of the Year 2025 – shortlist, Fri 23^rd January

(public voting for SOTY opens)

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Conversations – Thursday 5^th March, BIMM, Francis St

Live Event with an Exclusive RTÉ2FM Broadcast – Thursday 5^th March, Vicar St

Dave Reid, Choice Music Prize co-founder commented – “The breadth and diversity of Irish music right now is astounding typified by recent Choice Music Prize winners Fontaines D.C., CMAT and more doing so well on the world stage. We look forward to honouring and celebrating the best in Irish music in partnership with RTE through our week of shortlist announcements on the Tracy Clifford show beginning on January 19^th and ending with the 21^st edition of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Live event on Thursday March 5^th at Vicar St”.

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RAAP, Culture Ireland, FMC, Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet & Minding Creative Minds are also official project partners of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize.

2024 winners announced last March:

Fontaines D.C. – Romance (AOTY)

Kabin and Lisdoonvarna Crew – “The Spark” (SOTY)

Jordan Adetunji – Irish Artist of the Year

Kneecap – Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year

Watermark by Enya – Classic Irish Album

Previous Winners

https://www.choicemusicprize.ie/previous-winners/

“I’m really looking forward to once again celebrating the very best in Irish music through this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize in what has been another great year packed with quality. There really is so much to look forward to right across the categories given the amount Irish talent out there making a name for themselves and entertaining audiences. The week of announcements in January on 2FM is always a great one, and not without its surprises, and the live event in Vicar Street is one of my favourite nights of the year. Bring it on!”.” – RTÉ 2FM’s Tracy Clifford

RTÉ Choice Music Prize will once again celebrate the best in Irish recorded music.   The Prize has become one of the music-industry highlights of the year since its inception nearly 21 years ago in 2005. The Irish Album of the Year prize only is chosen from a shortlist of ten albums by a panel of eleven Irish music media professionals and industry experts. The winning AOTY act will receive €10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA).  All shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award on the night.

ENDS