THE only Scots artist in the running for the prestigious Mercury Prize has massively outscored Florence + the Machine to experience the second biggest increase in streaming of all those shortlisted for the 2015 award.
C Duncan, the classically trained composer turned dream pop artist has seen a 1,040 per cent rise in streaming plays of his debut album Architect when compared across the 24 hours before Friday’s announcement.
Topping the list was another outsider for the big prize, London-raised Eska, who saw a 2,965 per cent rise in plays of her self-titled album which draws on everything from psychedelic soul to folk.
At the bottom of the list is Florence and the Machine, whose How Big How Blue How Beautiful album only experienced a 10 per cent uplift.
After being nominated the Scot, whose actual name is Christopher Duncan said: told fans: "Very excited to announce that I have been nominated for Mercury Prize!!!
"Thank you so much for all your support! And a huge thank you to everyone who worked with me on the album x."
But his home-produced album is a the 20-1 rank outsider as far as the bookies are concerned.
The finalists were chosen from more than 220 albums by an independent judging panel which this year included former nominees Anna Calvi and Nick Mulvey plus broadcasters like Mistajam, journalists and DJs.
The album is submitted to the panel by their record labels and has to have been released between 9 September 2014 and 25 September 2015.
The Mercury Prize is the only award ceremony dedicated solely to albums and artists have to be from the UK or Ireland to be eligible.
The award ceremony will take place on November 20.
The full list of UK stream increases are Eska – 'Eska' (2,965 per cent) C Duncan – 'Architect' (1,040 per cent) Benjamin Clementine – 'At Least For Now' (455 per cent) Gaz Coombes – 'Matador' (267 per cent) Roisin Murphy – 'Hairless Toys' (246 per cent) Aphex Twin – 'Syro' (158 per cent) Ghostpoet – 'Shedding Skin' (76 per cent) Slaves – 'Are You Satisfied?' (55 per cent) Wolf Alice – 'My Love Is Cool' (49 per cent) Soak – 'Before We Forgot How To Dream' (40 per cent) Jamie xx – 'In Colour' (24 per cent) Florence + The Machine – 'How Big How Blue How Beautiful' (10 per cent)
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