To celebrate the release of his new album The Speed Of Now Part 1, we look back at Keith Urban's many award wins and biggest ARIA Charts achievements.
New Zealand-born Keith Urban is without question a country music superstar, having risen to fame in Australia, his home from the age of two, then relocating to Nashville and achieving unprecedented success in the US. Throughout his international career, Urban has remained connected to his ever-growing Australian fanbase, who have rewarded him with a string of hits. Here’s a closer look at every one of Urban’s ARIA Charts successes and ARIA Awards honours.
Urban’s first brush with the ARIA Awards followed the release of the 1990 multi-artist compilation album Breaking Ground – New Directions In Country Music, which featured his track 'There’s A Light On' and was nominated for Best Country Album in 1991. In the same year, Urban’s self-titled debut album peaked at #98 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
In 1992, Urban earned his first ARIA Awards solo nomination when Only You received a nod for Best Country Album. The following year, he shared a nomination in the same category with Slim Dusty for their collaborative release, Lights On The Hill.
After an extended absence from the ARIA Awards, in 2000 Urban received his third nomination for Best Country Album for his second self-titled LP, which had reached #90 on the Australian Albums Chart in 1999 and has been certified Gold. The record also served as Urban’s introduction to American audiences and yielded four hits on the US country charts.
Urban’s breakthrough success in the States was recognised at the 2001 ARIA Awards, where he received the Outstanding Achievement Award, rocking some serious lapels for the occasion.
The 2001 event also marked the first time Urban performed at the Awards, when he joined Kasey Chambers on stage for a rendition of her crossover hit 'Not Pretty Enough'.
Urban collected the trophy for Best Country Album for his third solo studio album, Golden Road, at the 2003 ARIA Awards, where he also performed his Gold single, 'Somebody Like You'. Golden Road had peaked at #29 on the ARIA Albums Chart upon release in October 2002 and is Urban’s first album to achieve Platinum status. With four nominations for Best Country Album under his belt, and finally a win in the category, Urban had cemented his status as a titan of Australian country music.
Released in 2004, Be Here earned Urban a fifth ARIA Awards nomination and second win for Best Country Album, along with his first nominations for Best Male Artist and Album Of The Year in 2005. The latter category was awarded to Missy Higgins’ The Sound Of White. Nonetheless Be Here peaked at #11 on the Albums Chart, has been certified 3x Platinum and spawned Urban’s first hit on the ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart, 'You’re My Better Half', which reached #34.
Urban’s 2006 album Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing marked his first Top 10 entry in the ARIA Albums Chart, peaking at #5. The record produced the hit single 'Once In A Lifetime', which peaked at #18, achieved Platinum status and earned Urban his third ARIA Award for Best Country Album in 2007.
That same year, Urban took the stage with John Butler Trio for an unforgettable performance of Butler’s, 'Funky Tonight'. The live collaboration was released as a digital download, reaching #11 on the ARIA Singles Chart in November 2007, making it Urban’s highest charting single to date.
Later in 2007, Urban’s anthology Greatest Hits: 18 Kids was released, peaking at #7 on the ARIA Albums Chart and going on to achieve double Platinum status.
Urban returned to the ARIA Awards in 2009, opening the event with a performance of 'Kiss A Girl' from his album Defying Gravity, which earned him a seventh nomination for Best Country Album. The record reached #3 on the ARIA Albums Chart and is certified Platinum.
Follow-up album Get Closer peaked at #11 upon release in 2010, achieved Platinum status and delivered Urban another ARIA Awards nomination for Best Country Album in 2011, taking his tally for nods in the category to eight. The LP also produced Urban’s third Top 50 single, 'Without You', which peaked at #39.
A second nomination for Best Male Artist followed in 2012 in recognition of Urban’s song 'For You', which was included on the soundtrack to the action film Act Of Valor. Proceeds from the single were donated to America’s Navy SEAL foundation.
2012 was another milestone year for Urban, with his greatest hits set The Story So Far becoming his first #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Urban toured in support of the Platinum record the following year, earning a nomination for Best Australian Live Act at the 2013 ARIA Awards. Also in 2013, Urban scored Top 50 hits with 'Shame' (#35) and 'Little Bit Of Everything' (#40), the latter landing him a nod for Best Male Artist.
A second #1 album followed in 2013 with Fuse, which included the aforementioned singles and gave Urban his ninth and most recent nomination for Best Country Album at the 2014 ARIA Awards. Although he didn’t add to his tally of three wins in the category for the Platinum record, he did collect the trophy for Best Australian Live Act on the strength of his Light The Fuse Tour.
In 2016, Ripcord became Urban’s third #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and brought him back to the ARIA Awards nominees circle. The double-Platinum LP produced the hit 'The Fighter' featuring US superstar Carrie Underwood, which was nominated for Song Of The Year. The triple-Platinum track peakied at #19 in 2017.
With close to two decades of ARIA Awards recognition under his belt, it was fitting that Urban was announced as host of the 32nd ARIAs in 2018. He also performed 'Parallel Line' and 'The Fighter' on the night, with the evening's big winner, Amy Shark, stepping in for Underwood on the latter song.
Grafitti U, Urban’s tenth solo studio album, hit #2 on the ARIA Albums Chart in 2018 and went on to achieve Gold status. A third nomination for Best Australian Live Act followed in 2019 for Urban’s Graffiti U Tour.
In September 2020, Urban released his eleventh solo studio album, The Speed of Now Part 1, which entered the Album Chart at #1. Meanwhile the first single from the record, 'One Too Many' featuring pop heavyweight P!nk, debuted at #6, a new peak for Urban on the Singles Chart.
Urban has so far collected four ARIA Awards from 17 nominations, plus an Outstanding Achievement Award, has notched up eight Top 10 albums, including four #1s, and nine Top 50 singles. His albums have been certified 13x Platinum, while his singles have achieved certification of 4x Platinum.
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