2019 ARIA Awards Nominated Artists Revealed

The countdown to the 2019 ARIA Awards in partnership with YouTube Music is on, with just seven weeks to go. At the ARIA Awards Season Launch held today at The Art Gallery of New South Wales, ARIA announced the nominees in all categories, with the winners to be revealed at The Star Event Centre, Sydney on Wednesday, 27th November 2019. The Awards Ceremony will be broadcast around Australia on the Nine Network, hosted by Guy Sebastian.

It was an exciting day for breakthrough artist Tones and I, leading the nominations tally with eight. As well as having her songs nominated in the Producer of the Year and Engineer of the Year categories, the singer-songwriter has been nominated for Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist, Best Pop Release, Best Independent Release, Best Video presented by YouTube Music and Song of the Year presented by YouTube Music. Having only debuted in February this year, Tones and I has taken Australian radio by storm, with her hit "Dance Monkey" achieving the number one spot on the ARIA Chart. Tones and I also broke the record last week for most weeks at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart by an Australian artist as "Dance Monkey" took out its tenth consecutive week in the top spot.

Equal second on the leaderboard, with seven nominations, are The Teskey Brothers, whose sophomore album “Run Home Slow” impressed critics this year and entered the ARIA Chart at number 2, as well as making an appearance at the pointy end of the US iTunes Chart. The Melbourne band have been selling out national and international tours consistently since 2017, including mammoth crowds at Latitude Festival (UK), Firefly (USA) and Bonnaroo (USA). As well as Sam Teskey winning the ARIA Engineer Of The Year, The Teskey Brothers are up for Album Of The Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist, Best Independent Release, Best Blues & Roots Album, and Best Australian Live Act at this year’s ARIA Awards.

Also coming in with seven nominations are Australian favourites Hilltop Hoods, whose record-setting career has seen six of their eight albums peak at number one on the ARIA Chart, five singles reach the top 10, and winning a huge nine ARIA Awards since 2006. This year the hip hop group are nominated for Album Of The Year, Best Group, Best Hip Hop Release, Best Video presented by YouTube Music, Best Australian Live Act, Engineer of the Year, and Song Of The Year presented by YouTube Music.

With an impressive six nominations, including Best Cover Art for Emilie Pfitzner’s artwork on “Better In Blak”, Thelma Plum is proving herself as a force to be reckoned with this year. The release of her debut album “Better In Blak” saw her nominated for a National Indigenous Music Award for Best Video, perform at Splendour In The Grass and Groovin’ The Moo and showcased as triple j’s Feature Album.

Indie-rocker Julia Jacklin also received six nominations for her second studio album “Crushing”, which she has spent the year performing on stages around the world. In the past few years Jacklin has been awarded Best Independent Blues and Roots Album at the Australian Independent Record Labels Association Awards and has also been nominated for Best Female Artist and Song of The Year at the APRA Music Awards; she now has the chance to add an ARIA Award to this collection in November.

With five nominations, Australian icon Paul Kelly may also be adding to his collection of 14 ARIA Awards, thanks to the success of his 24th studio album “Nature”. This year, he is the first artist in Australian history to be nominated across three genres in the same year, scoring a win with collaborator James Ledger in the Best Classical Album category, as well as nominations for Best Blues and Roots Album and Best Adult Contemporary Album. Kelly’s reputation as one of Australia’s greatest songwriters is proven by his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017 for distinguished service to the performing arts, as well as countless awards and chart-topping hits over his extensive career.

2018 ARIA Award winner Dean Lewis has picked up four nominations for this year’s ARIA Awards. The Sydney artist’s 7 x platinum single “Be Alright” won an ARIA Award in 2018 for Best Video and spent five consecutive weeks at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart last year. Lifted from his 2019, #1 debut album “A Place We Knew”, which also contains the hit singles “Waves” (6 x platinum), “7 Minutes” (2 x platinum) and “Stay Awake” (platinum). Lewis’ music has now amassed over 2.3 billion streams worldwide.

Also back in the nominations tally for a second year, up for four Awards, is Amy Shark. Shark was the star of the 2018 ARIA Awards, taking home four, including Album of the Year, Best Female Artist and Best Pop Release. Shark has enjoyed huge success in recent years with her 2 x Platinum single “I Said Hi” and her critically acclaimed debut album “Love Monster”, which came in at #1 on the ARIA Album Charts.

The host of this year’s ARIA Awards, crowd favourite Guy Sebastian, has also scored four nominations for Best Male Artist, Best Pop Release, Best Video in partnership with YouTube Music, and Song of the Year in partnership with YouTube Music. Sebastian is no stranger to the ARIAs, having won four ARIA Awards from 27 nominations in his illustrious career.

Denis Handlin AO, ARIA Chairman and Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand and President, Asia said: “On behalf of the ARIA Board, congratulations to all of today's winners in the Fine Arts and Artisan Awards. It is a very talented group of artists and creative contributors, and we are very pleased to celebrate their outstanding achievement of winning an ARIA Award.

I would also like to congratulate all of the nominees announced today for the 2019 ARIA Awards in partnership with YouTube Music. We are excited to host another celebration of Australian music at the 33rd ARIA Awards where Australian music fans can look forward to a magical night of music and special moments.”

Dan Rosen, ARIA Chief Executive, added: “2019 has been a brilliant year for Australian music, and that was on display today at the ARIA Season Launch. I congratulate the winners of the Fine Arts and Artisan ARIA Awards who were deservedly rewarded for their talent and artistry.

I also congratulate all the 2019 ARIA Award nominees announced today. Our nominees come from different backgrounds and work across a range of genres, but are united in their incredible ability to entertain and inspire us with their music.  

I’m also thrilled to present this year's four incredible nominees for Telstra ARIA Music Teacher Of The Year. Without their work, and the work of music teachers all around the country, we would not be able to inspire the next generation of Australian music talent and ARIA Award winners. I encourage everyone to discover the amazing stories behind this year's nominees and to show their support by voting.

I look forward to celebrating all of these nominees and Australian music across the ARIA Season as we head towards November 27th and the 33rd ARIA Awards in partnership with YouTube Music.”

Mel Silva, VP & Managing Director of Google Australia and New Zealand, said: “The countdown towards Aussie music's night of nights is officially on and we're so thrilled to be working with ARIA and to celebrate the music industry. A huge congratulations to all the 2019 ARIA Awards nominees -- and don't forget to vote for Song of the Year and Best Video in Google Search!"

Dann Hume took out the title in the Producer of the Year category for Matt Corby’s album "Rainbow Valley". Hume has appeared on the ARIA Charts numerous times before, achieving platinum status for his work on Lisa Mitchell’s hit “Wonder”, before working on releases of ARIA Gold status such as Matt Corby's debut “Telluric” and Amy Shark’s “Weekends”.

Melbourne Ska Orchestra took home their second ARIA Award from five nominations in their career, winning Best World Music Album for their release, “One Year Of Ska”, Paul Kelly and James Ledger were honoured to be recognised in the Best Classical Album category for their release “Thirteen Ways To Look At Birds”, and the various artists who contributed to “The Recording Studio (Music From The TV Series)” were awarded the ARIA for Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album.

It was the release “TRYST” by Kate Ceberano and Paul Grabowsky which received the 2019 ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album. This is respected Ceberano’s 15th ARIA award nomination and fourth win. 
The nominees for the Telstra ARIA Music Teacher Of The Year Award, supported by The Song Room, were also announced today. Now in its third year, the award recognises music teachers for their passion and hard work in educating Australian children to play and love music.

The finalists announced are Antonio Chiappetta from St Andrews College, Marayong, NSW, Bel Skinner from North Regional TAFE, WA, Julie Rennick from Gunnedah Conservatorium, NSW, and Lee Strickland from Narbethong State Special School, QLD. ARIA congratulates the teachers and the schools for this wonderful achievement. To vote for your favourite ARIA Music teacher, visit ariamusicteacheraward.com.au.

AusMusic T-shirt Day is a massive nation-wide celebration of Australian music that reminds us how lucky we are to have such a strong local music scene, with some of the world’s best artists coming out of our backyard. Join ARIA, triple j and Support Act by wearing your favourite Australian band t-shirt on Friday, November 15th.

Support Act would like to encourage all music lovers to support their fundraising efforts by visiting ausmusictshirtday.org.au, where you can register as an individual or a team, make a donation, post and share your best band t-shirt pics using the hashtags #ausmusictshirtday, @supportact, @triplej, @aria_official. Last year the initiative raised over $100,000, with fundraising efforts helping Support Act to expand the reach of its widely acclaimed Wellbeing Helpline and continue to provide crisis relief to artists, crew and music workers in need. 

The 2018 ARIA Awards was a TV ratings success - delivering huge audience numbers and winning the viewership of the 16 to 39 and 18 to 49 age groups. #ARIAs was also the top trending hashtag on Twitter for the evening as well as trending across 14 countries and 150 cities around the world.

This year, the ARIA Awards for Best Video and Song of the Year will be presented by YouTube Music. Aussies will have the chance to have their say about the winners directly in Google Search. Fans simply need to search ‘ARIA Vote’ and follow the prompts to make their selection for the ARIA Award for Best Video presented by YouTube Music. They will also be able to vote for Song Of The Year presented by YouTube Music nominees. Aussie music fans can vote once per day, per category, when signed into their Google Account, up until 11:59pm, 20th November. 

Also returning this year is the opportunity for music fans to decide an ARIA winner exclusively via Twitter for the Best International Artist category. Fans can start voting for their favourite International Artist at 11pm AEDT today by heading to Twitter and using the following hashtags:

#ARIAsArianaGrande #ARIAsBillieEilish #ARIAsEdSheeran #ARIAsGeorgeEzra #ARIAsKhalid #ARIAsPink #ARIAsPostMalone #ARIAsShawnMendes #ARIAsTaylorSwift #ARIAsTravisScott

ARIA welcomes for the first time, our ARIA Week presenting partner, Mitsubishi ASX. This year’s ARIA Week will see new initiatives and celebrations for both industry and Aussie music fans, supported by a brand passionate about Aussie music. More to be announced soon.

ARIA would also like to thank YouTube Music and partners Destination NSW, Nine Network, Swarovski, Pepsi Max, Telstra, The Star, PPCA and The Art Gallery Of NSW for hosting today’s event.

Danny Celoni, CEO, PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand said: “Pepsi Max is thrilled to make this the fourth year of our partnership with the Australian Music Industry. We have an established history with the music industry globally and we’re proud to be supporting Australia’s best musical talent at the biggest night on the Aussie music calendar.” 

ARIA would also like to take this opportunity to thank Host Richard Wilkins Nine Network's entertainment editor and presenters: ARIA Award winners, Jonathan Zwartz and Eric J Dubowsky, ARIA Awards Commemorative Artist, Anthony Lister, Gemma Pike from Double J, Veronica and Lewis from triple j, Sally and Erica from triple j, Mike E and Emma from The Edge, Tim Blackwell from Nova, and Ash London from the Hit Network.
   
EIGHT NOMINATIONS
Tones And I

SEVEN NOMINATIONS
Hilltop Hoods
The Teskey Brothers

SIX NOMINATIONS
Julia Jacklin
Thelma Plum

FIVE NOMINATIONS 
Paul Kelly
FOUR NOMINATIONS
Amy Shark
Dean Lewis
Guy Sebastian 
THREE NOMINATIONS 
Baker Boy
G Flip
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Matt Corby
RÜFÜS DU SOL 
TWO NOMINATIONS
5 Seconds of Summer
Amyl and The Sniffers
Birds of Tokyo
Dan Sultan
Gang Of Youths
Jessica Mauboy
Midnight Oil
Morgan Evans
PNAU
Sampa The Great
Tame Impala
ONE NOMINATION
Adrian Eagle
Andrea Keller
Angela Davis
Angie McMahon
Arj Barker
Barney McAll
Briggs
Burkhard Dallwitz
Carl Barron
Chaika
Charlie Collins
Chris Lilley
Clowns
Dead Letter Circus
Diana Doherty, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Nigel Westlake, David Robertson, Synergy Vocals
Dom Dolla
DZ Deathrays
Electric Fields
Felicity Urquhart
FISHER
Flume
Genesis Owusu
Genevieve Lacey
Grigoryan Brothers, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Northey
Hayden James
Holy Holy
Illy
Jimmy Barnes
John Butler Trio
Joseph Tawadros
Kaiit
Kamil Ellis, Ensemble Offspring
Kate Ceberano and Paul Grabowsky
Keith Urban
Kian
Lee Kernaghan
Luke Howard
Melbourne Ska Orchestra
Nicole Car, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti
Northlane
Ocean Alley
Paul Kelly, James Ledger
Peking Duk *Also nominated with Jack River*
Peking Duk & Jack River
Phil Slater
Regurgitator's Pogogo Show
Samantha Jade
Sammy J
Sara Storer
Seeker Lover Keeper
Skegss
Stella Donnelly
Tara Tiba
Tash Sultana
The Beanies
The Paper Kites
The Wiggles
Tkay Maidza
Trials
Various Artists (The Recording Studio)
Veronica & Lewis
Zela Margossian Quintet   
Stay tuned for more exciting announcements about the 2019 ARIA Awards in partnership with YouTube Music.