"It means a lot to me to receive this award."
Sydney-based producer and songwriter Khaled Rohaim and New Zealand's Te Whiti Warbrick have joined APRA AMCOS' exclusive The 1,000,000,000 List with hit Rihanna track, Needed Me.
The pair co-wrote and co-produced the 2016-released track along with Twice As Nice co-founders Lewis Audino and Nick Hughes and other international songwriters, from the Barbadian singer's #1 ANTI album which has now hit over one billion streams.
"Being part of such a massive song like Needed Me by Rihanna was such an honour," Rohaim said.
"It means a lot to me to receive this award and to join the small group of Australians who have been acknowledged for their contribution to a song reaching 1,000,000,000 streams.
"Thank you APRA AMCOS for putting the behind-the-scenes creatives into the spotlight with this award."
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As well as working with other massive names like Ariana Grande and the late Juice WRLD, Rohaim also produced over half of the tracks on Sydney rapper The Kid LAROI's Fuck Love (Savage) mixtape, which hit #1 on the ARIA Albums chart this past weekend and saw the 17-year-old become the youngest Australian solo artist to score a local #1 record.
"It was a real joy to be able to present the award to Khaled in our Sydney office, and the New Zealand team is looking forward to celebrating with Te Whiti in Auckland soon," APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston said.
Rahaim and Warbrick join the prestigious list alongside a stack of huge Aussie acts including 5 Seconds Of Summer (Youngblood), Troye Sivan (Youth), Flume (Never Be Like You), Dean Lewis (Be Alright), Starley (Call On Me), Tones & I (Dance Monkey) and VASSY (Bad).