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Cody Simpson: pop star, elite swimmer, life saver.
The Australian artist and allrounder hopes to make a splash with his latest project, a campaign that encourages Australians to become ocean-safe before they dive in this summer.
Simpson, who earned a Billboard 200 top 10 album with Surfers Paradise, is the face of the Beach Passport PSA, which launched a year ago through Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) and the national airline Qantas.
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The beach safety exercise is a complimentary online training resource that, in its first season, organizers say, was completed by more than 37,000 beachgoers.
“Growing up on the Gold Coast, the beach has always been my second home and surf lifesavers are the unsung heroes who keep us all safe,” says Simpson in a statement.
The Beach Passport, he continues, “only takes 15 minutes and will give you the knowledge that could save your life or someone else’s this summer season.”
With over 198,000 members and more than 300 affiliated clubs, according to its latest data, SLSA is said to be the largest volunteer movement of its kind in the world.
The not-for-profit was established in 1907, with a mission to keep Aussies safe in the water, a national pastime in these warmer months. Since formation, more than 715,000 people have been rescued by its surf lifesavers.
Simpson has been a dedicated Surf Life Saving volunteer and member of his local surf club, Northcliffe Surf Club, since childhood, and he’s a medalist in a major competitive swimming, having collected gold as part of the Australian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
He came up short in his bid to qualify for the individual 100m butterfly and freestyle events for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but turned his disappointment into creativity with the publication of his first-ever kid’s book, titled The Sea In Me, and the tease of “exciting projects.” He’s also behind the eco-friendly fashion brand Prince Neptune.
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Elton John has called time on full-scale touring. That hasn’t changed, but he’s still standing, he’s done almost a dozen private shows this year, and he’s cracking on with new music.
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The legendary British pop artist spoke with Variety for a dive into his philanthropy and fundraising efforts for HIV/AIDS, his love of Chappell Roan, his own health problems, and the road ahead.
Creating music, well, he’s not turning his back on it anytime soon.
“But I tell you what,” he insists, “I’m singing better than I’ve ever done before, and I’m playing really well, and I’m enjoying it, and that is helping me a lot.”
Elton’s farewell tour wrapped up in 2023, Almost five years after launching, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road jaunt grossed $939.1 million and sold 6 million tickets according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
These days, Elton still puts his hand up for the occasional one-off show, including his recent headlining spot in Singapore for the F1 Grand Prix, and for TV specials, including An Evening With Elton John and Brandi Carlile, produced by Fulwell Entertainment and shot in March at the London Palladium to promote their joint album Who Believes in Angels.
Music has “been my whole life and has given me so much and takes me on journeys that I never thought I would ever go on — and it’s still doing that,” John explains. “I just like doing the odd thing. It pays the rent very well, and it keeps me musical. I just can’t wait to go into the studio now and write some new songs and go from there.”
Elton is battling with vision problems, but he has a workaround — a teleprompter — and his friends from the music community are never far away, with offerings of encouragement, love and support.
“Paul McCartney FaceTimes me to see how I’m doing. It’s really beautiful,” he enthuses. “The love I’ve received from him and from Pete Townshend and Mick Jagger and people like that have been amazing. Or you get an email from Keith Richards saying, ‘Hello, darling, how you doing? You know we love you,’ and that’s it, but it just makes my day.”
A followup to Who Believes in Angels, which went to No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200, might not be far away.
Elton has “seven new lyrics” from longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. And “they’re really, really good, so I can’t wait to go in the studio with Andrew [Watt, his recent favorite producer] and just write and see what happens.”
It was Elton who presented Taupin with the Musical Excellence Award at the 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. John was inducted in the Rock Hall class of 1994.
Who Believes in Angels? debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 chart dated April 19, marking the 22nd top 10 for John and fourth for Carlile. In his homeland, Angels gave Elton a landmark 10th U.K. chart leader, and a first for Carlile.
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He has danced the Paso Doble, the Jive, the Foxtrot, and he’s an expert at handling deadly wildlife. When the votes were counted, and the results announced Tuesday night (Nov. 25), Robert Irwin added the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy to his growing list of accomplishments.
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At night’s end, Irwin and his dance partner Witney Carson were crowned champions of Dancing With The Stars, completing its 34th season.
Irwin has followed in the footsteps of his late father, the environmentalist and beloved TV star Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin. And with his DWTS win, the 21-year-old Australian follows the journey of his own sister Bindi, who won the competition back in 2015, for season 21.
For the finale, the final five of Alix Earle, Dylan Efron, Elaine Hendrix, Jordan Chiles and Robert Irwin squared off, as the eliminated contestants watched on and joined in on the excitement.
For the very first time, the remaining couples performed three separate new dances, including the judges’ choice, instant dance challenge and freestyle rounds.
In the end, the man from down under came out on top.
The livewire Aussie had looked the goods throughout the season, with his effortless routines which blended agility, strength, poise and a ready smile. However, Irwin sent a fright through his fanbase when, on the eve of the finale, it was revealed that he was struggling with injury, and was dealing with a rib complaint.
Following “11 weeks of crazy, vigorous, hard dancing,” Carson said in a TikTok, “my body is feeling it. Robert’s body is feeling it. We’re, like, kind of falling apart right now. Just trying to keep it together for, like, two more days. Literally today and tomorrow, and then it’s over.”
Irwin’s “ribs have been killing him,” she revealed. He played through pain, and he’s now a DWTS champion, having closely watched, and learned from, his sister’s winning run a decade ago with Derek Hough.
Season 34 of DWTS aired and streamed simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ each Tuesday, with new episodes available to stream the following day on Hulu.
Final results:
Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten (5th Place)
Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach (4th Place)
Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa (3rd Place)
Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy (2nd Place)
Robert Irwin and Witney Carson (WINNER)
From Tim McGraw to 50 Cent, here are all the musicians Swift references across her 12 studio albums.
11/21/2025
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5 Seconds of Summer enjoys the hottest possible start on the ARIA Albums Chart as Everyone’s A Star! (Universal) debuts at No. 1 — and gifts the pop-rock band a chart record.
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With their latest chart crown, confirmed last Friday, Nov. 21, the Sydney four-piece becomes the first act in the history of the ARIA Charts to hit No. 1 with their first six studio albums.
That record dates back to 5 Seconds of Summer (in 2014), and includes Sounds Good Feels Good (2015), Youngblood (2018), Calm (2020) and 5SOS5 (2022). For the record, 5SOS’s live album, LiveSOS, cracked the top 10, peaking at No. 7 in 2014.
It’s the sixth homegrown title to lead the chart in 2025, including 5OS’s Calum Hood, whose solo effort Order Chaos Order led for one cycle in June.
5SOS returned to Australia last month for a brief promo trip, including a fan-led press conference in Melbourne and their induction to the Australian Walk of Fame in Sydney.
It’s an all-Australian 1-2 on the albums survey, as the 40th anniversary edition of Jimmy Barnes’ For The Working Class Man (Mushroom Music) digs in at No. 2. The Scotland-born Australian rock legend boasts more No. 1 albums in Australia than any other artist. A two-time ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, Barnes has 16 chart leaders as a solo act, and another six with Cold Chisel.
Thanks to 5SOS and Barnesy, as he’s affectionately known in these parts, Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl (Republic/Universal) is finally bumped from the throne, down 1-3, ending six consecutive weeks at the top.
Soulful Sydney newcomer Don West opens his account at No. 25 with his debut album Give Me All Your Love, while Byron Bay punk rock quartet Mini Skirt starts at No. 36 with their sophomore effort, All That We Know (Orchard). It’s their first appearance on the chart.
The 2025 ARIA Awards were presented on Wednesday night in Sydney, but the impact is still being felt on the national charts.
Following her performance of “Man I Need” (Universal), rising English singer Olivia Dean scores her first No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, as the song lifts 2-1. Dean followed up her ARIAs performance with an outdoor set at Fleet Steps, and she’ll be back next year for a tour proper.
After winning two ARIAs, Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala bites into the ARIA top 30 with “Dracula” (Columbia/Sony). It’s up 34-28, a new peak position, and is the only homegrown cut in the top 50.
You Am I was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, and had the final word on the evening with a two-song performance of “Heavy Heart” and “Berlin Chair,” both of which appear on The Dollop & The Wallop: The Best Of (Sony). The career retrospective is new at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Finally, RÜFÜS DU SOL collected four nominations at the ARIAs and are currently on the road, in support of their fifth studio album, Inhale/Exhale (Rose Avenue Records/Warner). The tour is breathing new life into the album, lifting 47-39.
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The Kids are alright. Stray Kids, however, are going gangbusters. In late August, the boyband landed their seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with KARMA, notching the biggest entry for the year to-date.
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All seven of the pop outfit’s entries on the national albums tally have debuted at No. 1, beginning with ODDINARY in 2022. Last year, when HOP debuted atop the list, Stray Kids became the first act to debut atop the Billboard 200 with their first six entries in the 69-year history of the chart. With KARMA, their most recent release, they extended that record.
And with a seventh No. 1, Stray Kids surpassed BTS, Linkin Park and Dave Matthews Band for the most leaders among groups on the all-genre Billboard 200 this century. Among K-pop bands, BTS is in second place, with six No. 1 titles. ATEEZ is a distant third with two No. 1s on the weekly chart.
In Korea, Karma became the first K-pop album of the year to surpass 3 million copies in first-week sales.
That was August. Fast forward a couple months and the release today (Nov. 21) of Stray Kids’ new EP (or “special album”), DO IT, via JYP Entertainment.
DO IT is the first part of the SKZ IT TAPE series, a musical command to “act boldly with confidence right now,” while also exploring the story of the group as they seize the day and create their own “IT”.
On the live front, Stray Kids have also been bagging bar-setting numbers. The band played the final show of the Dominate World Tour at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on July 30, completing a 2025 run that visited Latin America, Europe and North America, setting Boxscore records for revenue and attendance in each region.
That’s after whipping up frenzies through Asia (Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok and more) and Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) in 2024.
With the five-track DO IT, Stray Kids can, well, do it again on the Billboard 200. Stream it in full below.
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The hangovers have cleared. The cleanup, complete. And the 2025 ARIA Awards are in the books.
The Australian recorded music industry’s annual night is the curtain call on the year in music, a fancy party in Sydney as the baking hot summer makes its predictable entrance.
It’s a good — no, great — time of year. AC/DC is currently in the market, playing stadiums. Oasis and Metallica have been, and rocked. Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran are coming. The festivals circuit will swing in the weeks ahead.
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The ARIAs, presented at the historic Hordern Pavilion, which last year celebrated its 100th anniversary, was a goal-scoring celebration for Amyl and The Sniffers. The punk rock outfit converted four of their six nominations, including the coveted album of the year, for Cartoon Darkness. This was the year Amy Taylor ruled at Glastonbury, and scored nominations at the Grammys and Brit Awards. In years to come, they’ll remember 2025 as the year their respective lives changed.
Ninajirachi entered the ARIAs race with a leading eight nominations, and she didn’t go home disappointed, by collecting three trophies, including the Michael Gudinski newcomer award.
Fellow production masterminds Kevin Parker and Dom Dolla collected two pointy awards each.
Not every artist got what they’d hoped, or deserved. And some got the surprise of a lifetime. Billboard remembers the surprises and the snubs from the 2025 ARIA Awards.
Surprise: BARKAA
If a hero had to be selected from the 2025 ARIA Awards, it was BARKAA. The Indigenous artist won for best hip hop/rap release with Big Tidda (Big Apples Music / Island Records Australia / Universal Music Australia), beating out a stacked field that included Hilltop Hoods, Miss Kaninna, ONEFOUR and the Kid LAROI. The roar of approval from the audience was immense, and BARKAA’s acceptance speech was honest and real. “Still can’t believe I can now say I’m an ARIA award winning rapper, the first Aboriginal woman to ever win this award,” she writes on social media. “Hip-hop raised me and hip-hop saved me and this is BIGGER THAN ME! My purpose was to come out here and put on for BLACK WOMEN, to be that representation like my sisters who have paved the way before me, to be able to do what I’m doing.” She’s nominated in the First Nations category for the NSW Music Prize, to be unveiled next week.
Snub: Hilltop Hoods
The Hilltop Hoods aren’t just a hip-hop group. They’re Aussie rap royalty. Hailing from Adelaide, the Hoods are on a wild winning streak. Suffa, Pressure and DJ Debris debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in August with Fall From The Light (Island Records Australia / Universal Music Australia), their sixth consecutive leader, and seventh overall. With this feat, the Hoods established an ARIA record for chart leaders by an Australian group, ahead of AC/DC, Powderfinger, Cold Chisel, Silverchair, and the rest. They couldn’t however, extend on their tally of 10 career ARIA Awards on Wednesday night, despite reeling in five nominations.
Surprise: Amyl and The Sniffers
Amyl and The Sniffers cleaning up with four ARIA Award wins wasn’t a surprise, not to the industry. But it was to them. The much-loved punk rock outfit always keeps it real, Amy Taylor always speaks her mind, and with best group and best album honors, for Cartoon Darkness (Amyl and The Sniffers / Virgin Music Group), Amyl and The Sniffers were the dominant force at this year’s ceremony. Bass player Gus Romer was both a surprise and a snub; he failed to take the stage when his band won for album of the year. “Looks like we lost the bass player,” Taylor joked. “It happens a lot, he’s replaceable, don’t worry about it.” It’s official: Amyl and The Sniffers are national treasures.
Snub: Royel Otis
After dominating the 2024 ARIA Awards with four wins, Royel Otis might’ve expected the good times to roll on. The Sydney duo of Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic collected four nominations this time, off the back of their sophomore album Hickey (Ourness / Capitol Records), which cracked the ARIA top 10, emulating the chart success of their debut, Pratts & Pain. Royel Otis had the top-ranked homegrown recording on triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown in January, with a cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” coming in at No. 2, and Hickey single “Moody” topped Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay Chart in July of this year. On Wednesday night, those four ARIA Award nominations came to nought.
Surprise: Ninajirachi
With eight nods, the night was all set up for Ninajirachi. As the house lights went up, the EDM artist (real name: Nina Wilson) had her hands full with three heavy ARIA trophies. That’s quite a haul, and it comes after she collected the Australian Music Prize and triple j’s J Award for I Love My Computer (NLV Records). Ninajirachi could see the irony in winning the Michael Gudinski breakthrough artist award; the Central Coast-raised creative released her first record eight years ago, as a teen. Good things do come to those who wait, and Ninajirachi can now claim to be an overnight success, a decade in the making. She’s nominated in two categories for the NSW Music Prize, to be announced next week.
Snub: RÜFÜS DU SOL
Electronic music was pumping at the ARIA Awards, as Ninajirachi and Dom Dolla scored five awards between them. RÜFÜS DU SOL bagged four nominations for 2024’s Inhale / Exhale (Rose Avenue Records / Warner Music Australasia), their fifth studio album. The collection opened its account at No. 3 on the ARIA Chart, continuing a podium finish for all their recordings: Atlas (2013), Bloom (2016) and Surrender (2021) went to No. 1 in 2013 and Solace peaked at No. 2 in 2018. RDS have won four career ARIA Awards, they have a Grammy Award in their safekeeping (and they can add another, for best dance/electronic album next February), and they’re currently touring the country. The 2025 ARIA Awards just wasn’t their night.
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Sometimes it rains, sometimes it pours. For Cynthia Erivo, it’s pouring, in spectacular fashion.
The award-winning actress, singer, and producer is, of course, reprising her role as Elphaba in Wicked: For Good, the sequel to 2024 feature film Wicked, which raked in nearly $750 million at the worldwide box office, the best showing ever an adaptation for a Broadway musical.
That’s for starters. The Nigerian-British star penned the newly-published autobiography “Simply More,” she’s the cover star on Britain’s GQ, and her voice is still “missing in action,” the fallout from all the promo, the extensive singing and the airmiles put in for Wicked: For Good, which arrives Friday, Nov. 21 in theaters.
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Erivo stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night (Nov. 19) for a quiet chat about her busy schedule.
For her work on stage and screen, Erivo has won a Tony, Emmy and this week she landed two Grammy Award nominations for Wicked: one for “Defying Gravity” (with Ariana Grande) in the best pop duo/group performance category, and another for “Be Okay” in the best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella category.
“I didn’t even know we could be nominated for that,” she told Fallon. “I didn’t know we could be eligible.”
Fallon also coaxed Erivo into ranking her favorite songs from Wicked, a project not far removed from being asked to choose your favorite kids, she remarked. And she discussed the origins of that meme (it’s a story of a lost hat, with a happy ending) and recreated it for the moment.
Universal‘s Wicked: For Good should provide a Thanksgiving feast, somewhere in the order of $120 million-plus domestically and upwards of $200 million worldwide, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
With those numbers, Jon M. Chu’s film would bank the best start for a Broadway musical adaptation ever. By trying to manage expectations, the studio has suggested anything around $115 million in North America would be huge result.
Watch Erivo’s late night interview below.
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You Am I emerged at the right time, with the right look, sound, songs and attitude. At the 2025 ARIA Awards on Wednesday night, Nov. 19, the ‘90s indie rock legends were elevated into the ARIA Hall of Fame, recognition of all those special traits, and their lasting impact on the country’s music scene and beyond.
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Formed in the late ’80s, and led by frontman Tim Rogers alongside bandmates Andy Kent, David Lane and Rusty Hopkinson, You Am I owned their lane.
You Am I were hard to beat in the ‘90s, a time when young Australian music fans were connected like never before. Newly-committed fans might discover You Am I on Triple J, which had rolled out as a national network, or on its sister music video channel Rage. Or watch them perform Saturday morning on the ABC’s Recovery, or catch them in the flesh on stage at the traveling Big Day Out.
Along the way, the group has released 11 studio albums, most recently 2021’s The Lives of Others, which went to No. 2 on the ARIA Chart. And they’ve collected 10 ARIA Awards, not including the Hall of Fame honor.
Australia’s alternative rock community loved, and still love, You Am I. The proof was there in the induction video, which included glowing tributes from Silverchair’s Daniel Johns, Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning, and the country’s prime minister Anthony Albanese, who remarked that “along the way, you’ve added to who we are.”
Each bandmate took turns at the mic, though it was Rogers’ address that will spring to mind in years to come. The singer and guitarist held back tears as he spoke of his own health ordeals, and how making music with the band had given him life.
“F*** I love rock ‘n’ roll,” he remarked.
The rockers wrapped up the 39th ARIA Awards with a two-song performance of “Heavy Heart” and “Berlin Chair.” You Am I were in fine form, having reunited this year for a major national tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Hi Fi Way, which arrived fully formed on Feb. 20, 1995.
Next year, to mark the 40th anniversary of the ARIAs, the trade body will create a standalone ceremony with a class of five inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Watch You Am I’s ARIA Hall of Fame performance below.
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SYDNEY, Australia — The 2025 ARIA Awards are in the books, and, for hundreds of guests at Hordern Pavilion and the various afterparties across Sydney, hangovers and urgent sleep.
Many in the room said the show was one of the best in recent memory, led by honest speeches, strong performances and worthy winners.
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Australia’s recorded music industry has enjoyed some wins of late, none greater than the federal government’s decision to shut-down any talk of a text and data mining (TDM) exemption in the nation’s Copyright Act, a “significant” win that was achieved through a unified lobbying effort. Via Big Music, if you will.
There have been losses, too. Wednesday night’s 39th annual ARIA Awards in Sydney, however, was a celebration of the good times.
Amyl and The Sniffers led the way, with four spiky trophies. Ninajirachi (three), Dom Dolla (two) and Kevin Parker (two) also had nights to remember.
At the top of the show, before the free-to-air broadcast went out on Network 10, ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd and chair Natalie Waller reflected on the struggles, the journey, and the wins in 2025.
See the speech in full below and read more on the 2025 ARIA Awards here.
Annabelle Herd: Hello and welcome to the 2025 ARIA Awards at the iconic Hordern Pavilion on beautiful Gadigal country! We might not be the most exciting duo you’ll see tonight, but we are definitely the most consistent.
It’s a privilege to celebrate on this land. We pay our respects to First Nations people, elders, leaders, and especially the incredible First Nations nominees, artists, and colleagues here tonight. Always was, always will be.
Natalie Waller: A huge congratulations and welcome to all the nominated artists — we hope you have a wonderful night.
A very warm welcome to NSW Arts and Music Minister John Graham; Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke; Minister for Disability Jenny McAllister; Shadow Attorney-General and Arts Minister Julian Leeser; Senator Sarah Hanson-Young; and Dr Sophie Scamps. Thank you all for always standing with our industry.
Welcome also to Destination NSW CEO Karen Jones, and to two amazing women who, like us, spend every waking hour thinking about how to lift Aussie music: Sound NSW’s Emily Collins and Music Australia’s Millie Millgate.
So what has ARIA been up to since we were last on this stage? Quite a lot.
AH: This year we launched ARIA Innovator, kicked off ARIA Collab with two world-leading producers working with Australian talent, delivered another Great Southern Nights in NSW, and modernized the ARIA Charts by removing singles and albums over two years old, changes already delivering incredible results for new Aussie music.
AH: And then there was the big one.
When big tech tried to strip us of our copyright for AI training, after they’d already stolen all the music, we said: yeah, nah.
They didn’t expect the response they got. As an industry we hit back with a loud, unified, sophisticated, artist-led campaign delivered with heart and serious impact.
NW: The entire creative sector moved as one. And the result? Australia became the first country in the world where government ruled out a text-and-data-mining exception for AI training.
AH: A critical step, but only half the battle. We still need to ensure it is artists and rightsholders who decide whether their music can be used for AI and on what terms. This isn’t just about payment — it’s about agency. AI is exciting, but the benefits and opportunities must reach everyone in the chain, not just the tech bros.
When we were in Canberra after the announcement, a political heavy hitter started introducing us not as reps from the Australian music industry but as “Big Music.” And honestly? They’re right.
We should be known as Big Music — and this year we proved why. Canberra knows it, and so does the public who backed Australian music and culture. Let’s keep going.
NW: Thank you to every artist who spoke up including Briggs, Paul Dempsey, Kate Ceberano, Missy Higgins, Peter Garrett and of course Jack River/Holly Rankin. Nothing is more powerful, with the public or with Canberra, than artists speaking from the heart.
AH: And thank you to all our political supporters including the PM, Attorney-General, Michelle Rowland, and those here tonight — we know you’re standing with us on this critical issue.
NW: On this special night I also want to acknowledge someone whose contribution to this industry is immeasurable. This year Lynne Small is leaving ARIA and PPCA for a well deserved retirement. For nearly three decades, Lynne’s knowledge, sharp mind, heart and dedication shaped everything we did. Lynne, from all of us: thank you.
AH: And I want to acknowledge Van Picken, who recently stepped down as Chair and CEO of Sony Music Australia. As an ARIA Board member, Van contributed to evolving the ARIAs into what they are tonight, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter.
NW: Now, back to tonight: Fifty-five percent of this year’s nominees are women. The indie scene is thriving. Hip-hop and R&B artists are finally getting their due. A new generation is reshaping what Australian music sounds and looks like.
Australian artists are streaming globally at record levels, selling out tours overseas, and appearing on festival lineups next to the world’s biggest names. The rebuild is working — brick by brick.
AH: And the momentum is real. Audiences are engaging not just with the music but the stories behind it.
Venues are packed again. Artists who’ve spent years grinding are breaking through here and internationally at the same time.
None of this happened by accident, it happened because people in this room showed up for each other and refused to accept that Australian music should be anything less than world-class.
NW: It’s been a huge year, we’re exhausted but we’re energized, because everything we’ve been building is working. The industry is unified. The music is undeniable. The audience is there.
And tonight is about celebrating what we’ve achieved — and recognizing that we’re just getting started.
NW: So let’s make it a night to remember. Dance and cheer loudly, support each other and remind everyone watching why Australian music matters.
AH: Before we kick off, I want to shout out our new presenting partner Spotify. Mikaela and the local team have seriously put everything and more into the 2025 ARIAs and the nominated artists and the engagement has already been incredible with public voting records absolutely smashed.
Thank you to Destination NSW, Paramount+ and Ten, and all our sponsors.
Huge love to our Exec Producer Craig Campbell and the Roving team, event producer Brendan Maher and the Second Sunday crew, and the whole ARIAs team — this is not an easy event to pull together but they do it with style! To the ARIA Board, Chart and Marketing Committee, performers, presenters, and everyone who poured everything into making tonight happen, thank you.
Most importantly, thank you to everyone in this room: artists, managers, label teams — special shout-out to the reps with ever-creative ways of asking me whether their artists have won — plus publicists, radio programmers, venue operators and crew. You’re all the reason Australian music is Big Music now.
NW: So raise your glasses — and let’s do this. To AusMusic!
