2025 Key Dates
Irish Album of the Year 2024 Shortlist – 6th January
Irish Song of the Year 2024 Shortlist – 10th January
Live in Vicar St, Dublin with Exclusive RTÉ 2FM Broadcast – 6th March
(Tickets on sale Friday 15th Nov at 9am, priced €29.50 plus booking fees)
Details on…
Irish Artist of the Year / Irish Breakthrough Artist / Classic Irish Album
20 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 2025’s 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 6th March and celebrated in an exclusive live broadcast on RTÉ 2FM, along with a TV-special on RTÉ2 later that month.
Three additional prizes will be awarded once again 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 6th -10th January, with All Irish All Day kicking things off on the station on Monday 6thJanuary.
The RTÉ Choice Music Prize turns 20 next year – that’s 200 shortlisted albums, numerous performances and 20 winning albums from artists including – SOAK, Jape, The Divine Comedy, CMAT, Lankum, Adrian Crowley, Villagers, The Gloaming, Denise Chaila and many more.
“The RTÉ Choice Music Prize continues to highlight, promote & support Irish music across annually. We are delighted to be hosting the 20th edition of the project in 2025 and right now music across all genres in Ireland is in its healthiest state ever. We would like to thank all our partners and supporters down through the years as we strive to continue to shine a light on quality Irish music both domestically and internationally into the future”.
Dave Reid, Choice Music Prize founder
RTÉ Choice Music Prize Key 2025 Dates include:
Irish Album of the Year 2024 -shortlist Mon 6th January
Irish Artist of the Year – shortlist Tues 7th January
Irish Breakthrough Artist – shortlist Wed 8th January
Classic Irish Album – further details Thurs 9th January (the winning album will be announced ahead of the live gig next year)
Irish Song of the Year 2024 – shortlist Fri 10th January
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Conversations – Thursday 6th March, BIMM, Francis St
Live Event with an Exclusive RTÉ2FM Broadcast – Thursday 6th March, Vicar St
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A list of Irish albums released to date in 2024. This list can be viewed and updated here.
2023 winners announced earlier this year:
Lankum – False Lankum (Rough Trade) (AOTY)
Cian Ducrot – “Heaven” (SOTY)
Jazzy – Irish Artist of the Year
Jazzy – Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Achtung Baby byU2 – Classic Irish Album
“Once again, 2FM is delighted to continue our partnership with the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for the 9th year running. With this year holding particular significance as the 20th Anniversary of this very important prize. Through our partnership, we’re delighted to be able to continue to celebrate all that is great about Irish music and Irish artists. Through the ‘Irish Artist of the Year’, ‘Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year’ and ‘Classic Irish Album’ categories, and the longstanding ‘Irish Song of the Year’ and the preeminent ‘Irish Album of the Year’ prizes we are able to more broadly represent the incredible past, present and exciting future of Irish music. 2FM will continue its support as the flagship partner station, with content and promos across our platforms over the coming months, and this will be reflected more widely across the entire organisation as we get closer to the awards night.”
RTÉ 2FM’s Head of Music, Adam Fogarty
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 20 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.