Drake, The Weeknd, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tanya Tagaq, A Tribe Called Red, and more are among the 40 artists who have been selected for the 2017 Polaris Prize long list. The 201-member jury, made up of members of the Canadian music media, narrowed the titles down from 188 to 40 to create the long list. The same jurors will pick their top 5 albums to create the shortlist and the winner of the Polaris Prize will be decided on September 18 by an 11-member grand jury.
The albums selected for the Polaris Prize are judged based on artistic merit, rather than genre or record sales. The eligibility period for the prize was from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017. Last year, Kaytranada took home the award for his 99.9% album. See the full long list here.