Which David Bowie album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2013?

The David Bowie album nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2013 was The Next Day.

The album marked Bowie's unexpected return to recording after a decade without a new studio album. He announced it on his 66th birthday, 8 January 2013, with the surprise single “Where Are We Now?”, which quickly reached number six in the UK.

The Next Day was released in March 2013 and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. Its Mercury Prize nomination placed Bowie among 12 shortlisted artists, including Arctic Monkeys, James Blake, Laura Marling and Disclosure. James Blake ultimately won with Overgrown.

A common mix-up is confusing the Mercury Prize nomination with Bowie's later nomination for Blackstar in 2016. The Next Day was also not his first Mercury recognition: Bowie received a posthumous 2016 nomination for Blackstar, making the two albums easy to conflate in award-history questions.