CMAT wins Choice Music Prize Album of the Year for Euro-Country

MEATH ARTIST CMAT has won the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Album of the Year for her 2025 album Euro-Country, as well as the award for Irish Artist of the Year at last night’s Choice Music Awards at Vicar Street in Dublin.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was name checked in the song Euro-Country, which discusses the social and economic impact of the 2008 recession, as well as the experience of the children who grew up during it.

Lyrics on the popular track include: “All the big boys/All the Berties/All the envelopes, yeah they hurt me/I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me/And it was normal/Building houses that stay empty even now.”

This is the second time CMAT, also known as Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, won the award for Album of the Year – which comes with a cheque for €10,000 provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation and The Irish Recorded Music Association.

Last night’s award show, which was hosted by Tracy Clifford and broadcast by Beta Da Silva, on RTÉ’s 2fm, marked the 21st year of the awards celebrating the best in Irish music. 

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The other major winner last night was trio Amble, who were awarded Irish song of the Year for their track Schoolyard Days from the album Reverie. The song was selected from a shortlist of ten songs.

The group also took the award for Breakthrough Irish Artist of the Year, which was presented by DJ Próvai of Belfast rap trio Kneecap.

Meanwhile rock band Horslips were awarded the prize for Classic Album of the Year for their 1973 LP The Táin.

Louise Duffy from RTÉ Radio 1, welcomed Barry Devlin, Eamon Carr and Jim Lockhart to the stage to collect the award.

Last night’s winners were chosen by a panel of eleven Irish music media professionals and industry experts chaired by Jim Carroll. All shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award.

Recent winners of the show’s top prize, Album of the Year, have included Fontaines D.C., Lankum, and CMAT again in 2022.

The ten Irish albums shortlisted for the Album of The Year 2025 include:

• Amble – Reverie
• Bricknasty – Black’s Law
• Joshua Burnside – Teeth of Time
• CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY
• Dove Ellis – Blizzard
• Junior Brother – The End
• Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE
• pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km
• Maria Somerville – Luster
• SPRINTS – All That Is Over

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