Adele up against two past winners for Mercury Prize

LONDON (Reuters) - British singer Adele, who stormed to the top of the charts in Britain and the United States with her second album "21," was one of 12 artists shortlisted on Tuesday for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for album of the year 2011.

Also in the running for the annual award were previous winners Elbow and PJ Harvey as well as London rapper Tinie Tempah andJames Blake for his self-titled debut album.

The prize honors music of any genre by British or Irish artists and is based solely on the music on the album.

According to the Official Charts Company, in commercial terms Adele dominates the shortlist. The winner of the award is announced on September 6.

The 12 nominated albums have sold 3.9 million copies between them in Britain, the OCC said, of which Adele's "21" accounted for 2.7 million.

In distant second was Tempah's "Disc-Overy" with sales of 620,000 copies and in third was Elbow's "Build a Rocket Boys!" at 230,000.

Three albums on the Mercury shortlist have sold less than 10,000 copies each -- King Creosote & Jon Hopkins' "Diamond Mine," Ghostpoet's "Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam" andGwilym Simcock's "Good Days At Schloss Elmau."

The shortlist is as follows:

Adele - 21

Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi

Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys!

Everything Everything - Man Alive

Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam

Gwilym Simcock - Good Days At Schloss Elmau

James Blake - James Blake

Katy B - On A Mission

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

Metronomy - The English Riviera

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy