Amyl And The Sniffers, Guy Sebastian, Sia & More Win Big At 2026 APRA Awards

Mary Varvaris

Other winners included Emily Wurramara, Sarah Aarons, Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack, Ocean Grove, Rachael Fahim, ONEFOUR, and many others.

Amyl And The Sniffers, Guy Sebastian, Sia(Credit: John Angus Stewart, Jonny Valiant, Erik Melvin)

Guy Sebastian

As APRA celebrates its 100th anniversary, this year’s APRA Awards should be epic enough to commemorate the occasion, right? And they were.

This year’s award ceremony was hosted by Julia Zemiro and starred guest presenters Bernard Fanning, Jessica Mauboy, Mark Coles Smith and Stella Donnelly, with music curated by François Tétaz.

With tributes to INXS and Rob Hirst on the night, the star-studded award ceremony itself – held at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion tonight (29 April) – stood out just as much as the performances.

This year’s big winners were Amyl And The Sniffers, who took home three awards, including the Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year and Most Performed Rock Work for the playfully controversial Jerkin’, as well as the coveted Songwriter of the Year award. With the latter, the band took home the award for a second consecutive year.

Amyl And The Sniffers weren’t the only big winners. Guy Sebastian and co-writers Ned Houston and Robby De Sa won two awards, Most Performed Australian Work and Most Performed Pop Work, for the hit single, Maybe.

Elsewhere, one of Australia’s most successful pop stars, Sia, won Most Performed Australian Work Overseas for the third consecutive year with Unstoppable. She’s now APRA’s most-awarded writer member of all time, with 14 awards to her name.

Meanwhile, Australian songwriter Sarah Aarons, who’s penned hits for artists including BTS, Flume, Gracie Abrams, ROSÉ and Tame Impala, was recognised for her global success, taking home the International Recognition Award. In the final Board-appointed award, Emily Wurramara was crowned the 2026 Emerging Songwriter of the Year.

Other winners throughout the evening were from the statistically determined Most Performed categories.

First-time winning artists included Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack for Please Don’t Move To Melbourne (Most Performed Alternative Work), Rachael Fahim with co-writers Keenan Te, Liam Quinn, Shawn Mayer and Vlado Saric for Who You Are (Most Performed Country Work), and Adam Ventoura and Daniel March for penning Karen Lee Andrews’ Survival (Most Performed Blues & Roots Work).

Previous winners appear in other categories, such as Stuart Crichton in the Most Performed Dance/Electronic Work category, who co-wrote Sonny Fodera’s Tell Me, and took home wins.

Ocean Grove’s Brent “Twiggy” Hunter, Luke Holmes and Sam Bassal won the Most Performed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Work award for RAINDROP. Meanwhile, ONEFOUR writers Hoi Tang, Jerome Misa, and Salec Su’a took home Most Performed Hip Hop/Rap Work for Spinnin’ featuring Nemzzz. PANIA took home her first award (Most Performed R&B/Soul Work) alongside co-writers Chelsea Warner, Jake Amy and Sam Varghese for Pity Party.

While the top five Song of the Year-nominated tracks were reimagined by artists including BOY SODA, BARKAA, Playlunch, Way Dynamic, and Sarah Blasko, the evening was home to tributes to Australian music royalty.

As previously announced, INXS were honoured with this year’s Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music. During the award ceremony, their longtime friend and APRA Chair, Jenny Morris MNZM OAM, presented the prestigious award, while punk singer Ecca Vandal put a new spin on their song, Just Keep Walking.

Meanwhile, The Presets revisited their 2018 Like A Version with their cover of Midnight Oil’s Power and the Passion, which featured a very special guest appearance by Peter Garrett, paying tribute to Midnight Oil drummer, Rob Hirst, who recently passed away.

In a statement, APRA AMCOS CEO, Dean Ormston, said of the evening: “The 2026 APRA Music Awards were a fitting way to celebrate not only 100 years of APRA, but today’s biggest and brightest stars.

“It’s a privilege to look back at 100 years of service to our members and the incredible breadth and diversity of Australian talent. As a nation, we derive so much, socially, culturally and economically, from our music creators; it’s imperative that we recognise and celebrate that contribution.”

Ormston continued, “We thank the Australian Government and the NSW Government for their partnership in making this event possible. The presence of Federal Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke MP, and NSW Minister for Music, the Arts and Night Time Economy, John Graham MLC, reflect these governments’ understanding of the cultural and economic weight of what Australian songwriters contribute to this nation, and why that contribution deserves to be celebrated.”

The 2026 APRA Music Award Winners:

Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year

Title: Jerkin’

Artist: Amyl and The Sniffers

Written by: Declan Mehrtens / Amy Taylor / Bryce Wilson

Songwriter of the Year

Amyl and The Sniffers

Declan Mehrtens / Fergus Romer / Amy Taylor / Bryce Wilson

Emerging Songwriter of the Year

Writer: Emily Wurramara

Publisher: Mushroom Music Publishing

International Recognition Award

Writer: Sarah Aarons

Publisher: Sony Music Publishing

Most Performed Australian Work

Title: Maybe

Artist: Guy Sebastian

Written by: Guy Sebastian / Robby De Sa* / Ned Houston*

Published by: Universal Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing*

Most Performed Australian Work Overseas

Title: Unstoppable

Artist: Sia

Written By: Sia Furler / Christopher Braide*

Published by: Sony Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing ANZ*

Most Performed Alternative Work

Title: Please Don’t Move to Melbourne

Artist: Ball Park Music

Written by: Sam Cromack

Published by: Sony Music Publishing

Most Performed Blues & Roots Work

Title: Survival

Artist: Karen Lee Andrews

Written by: Daniel March / Adam Ventoura

Most Performed Country Work

Title: Who You Are

Artist: Rachael Fahim

Written by: Rachael Fahim / Shawn Mayer / Liam Quinn / Vlado Saric / Keenan Te*

Published by: Sentric Music Publishing obo ACTS Music Publishing*

Most Performed Dance/Electronic Work

Title: Tell Me

Artist: Sonny Fodera & Clementine Douglas

Written by: Stuart Crichton / Sonny Fodera* / Clementine Douglas^ / Ruth Cunningham^

Published by: Concord Music Publishing ANZ / BMG* / Mushroom Music Publishing^

Most Performed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Work

Title: RAINDROP

Artist: Ocean Grove

Written by: Samuel Bassal* / Brent Hunter* / Luke Holmes

Published by: BMG*

Most Performed Hip Hop / Rap Work

Title: Spinnin’

Artist: ONEFOUR & Nemzzz

Written by: Jerome Misa* / Salec Su’a* / Hoi Tang / Nemiah Simms* / Robin Turrini

Published by: Sony Music Publishing*

Most Performed International Work

Title: Timeless

Artist: The Weeknd & Playboi Carti

Written by: Abel Tesfaye* / Jordan Carter^ / Raul Cubina+ / Mike Dean^ / Evan Hood^ / Jarrod Morgan^ / Chisolm Petty+ / Tariq Sharrieff+ / Mark Williams~ / Pharrell Williams^

Published by: Universal/MCA Music Publishing* / Sony Music Publishing^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Warner Chappell Music~