The star-studded 2025 APRA Song of the Year shortlist is here, representing songwriters of all genres, established or emerging.

The peer-voted Top 20 featuring first-time nominees BARKAA (for We Up), Dom Dolla (Saving Up), Nooky (Won’t Stop by 3% and Jessica Mauboy), Queenie (Not Divine), Grace Cummings (A Precious Thing), Middle Kids’ Hannah Cameron and Tim Fitz (Dramamine), Hussy Hicks (Fool On The Hill), TISM (Death To Art), and, of course, ARIA favourites Royel Otis (Heading For The Door).

Other artists on the shortlist include country music pioneer Kasey Chambers, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker (for Dua Lipa’s Houdini), pop star Amy Shark, punk rockers Amyl And The Sniffers, singer-songwriter Angie McMahon, supergroup Fanning Dempsey National Park (Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning and Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey), jazz-meets-pop fusion act Hiatus Kaiyote, indie rockers King Stingray, the iconic Missy Higgins, beloved Nick Cave, and pop sensation Troye Sivan.

All genre categories and the final five nominees for the peer-voted Song of the Year will be revealed on Wednesday, 2 April. The winners will be announced just a few weeks later.

Thousands of APRA members voted for the songs you’ll see in the shortlist below ahead of the APRA Music Awards on Wednesday, 30 April, at the Melbourne Town Hall.

You can check out a playlist of the Top 20 songs on the shortlist below.

APRA Song of the Year

2025 Shortlist

Title: A Precious Thing

Artist: Grace Cummings

Writer: Grace Cummings

Title: Backbone (The Desert Child)

Artist: Kasey Chambers

Writer: Kasey Chambers

Publisher: BMG

Title: Beautiful Eyes

Artist: Amy Shark

Writer: Amy Shark

Publisher: Mushroom Music Publishing

Title: Death To Art

Artist: TISM

Writers: TISM

Title: Disconnect

Artist: Fanning Dempsey National Park

Writers: Paul Dempsey / Bernard Fanning*

Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing*

Title: Dramamine

Artist: Middle Kids

Writers: Hannah Cameron / Timothy Fitzmaurice

Publisher: Mushroom Music Publishing

Title: Everything’s Beautiful

Artist: Hiatus Kaiyote

Writers: Paul Bender / Simon Mavin / Perrin Moss / Naomi Saalfield

Publisher: Universal Music Publishing

Title: Fool On The Hill

Artist: Hussy Hicks feat. Minnie Marks

Writers: Leesa Gentz / Julia Parker

Title: Heading For The Door

Artist: Royel Otis

Writers: Otis Pavlovic / Royel Maddell / Daniel Carey*

Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Ourness Songs / Kobalt Music Publishing*

Title: Houdini

Artist: Dua Lipa

Writers: Kevin Parker / Dua Lipa* / Caroline Ailin / Daniel Harle / Tobias Jesso Jr.^

Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Universal Music Publishing^  

Title: Making It Through

Artist: Angie McMahon

Writer: Angie McMahon

Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing

Title: Not Divine

Artist: Queenie

Writer: Eloise Thetford

Title: One Of Your Girls

Artist: Troye Sivan

Writers: Troye Sivan / Oscar Gorres* / Brett McLaughlin^

Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Sony Music Publishing^

Title: Saving Up

Artist: Dom Dolla

Writers: Dominic Matheson / Clementine Douglas* / Toby Scott^ / Caitlin Stubbs^

Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Mushroom Music Publishing* / Kobalt Music Publishing^

Title: The Second Act

Artist: Missy Higgins

Writer: Missy Higgins

Publisher: Mushroom Music Publishing

Title: Through The Trees

Artist: King Stingray

Writers: Theo Dimathaya Burarrwanga / Yimila Gurruwiwi / Roy Kellaway* / Campbell Messer / Lewis Stiles / Yirrŋa Gotjiringu Yunupingu*

Publisher: Sony Music Publishing*

Title: U Should Not Be Doing That

Artist: Amyl And The Sniffers

Writers: Declan Mehrtens / Fergus Romer / Amy Taylor / Bryce Wilson

Title: We Up

Artist: Barkaa 

Writers: Chloe Quayle / Jacob Turier

Publisher: Sony Music Publishing

Title: Wild God

Artist: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 

Writers: Nick Cave / Warren Ellis*

Publishers: BMG / Kobalt Music Publishing*

Title: Won’t Stop

Artist: 3% feat. Jessica Mauboy

Writers: Danzal Baker / Andrew Burford / Madeline Crabtree* / Corey Webster / Dallas Woods^

Publishers: Sony Music Publishing* / Kobalt Music Publishing^