Hitmaker Sarah Aarons adds more silverware to her heaving collection by snagging several Billions Awards, presented to APRA AMCOS‘s songwriter members and their publishers in recognition of a song surpassing one billion streams.
The Los Angeles-based, Melbourne-raised Aarons earns two awards for her breakup song “I Miss U, I’m Sorry,” co-written with and performed by folk-pop darling Gracie Abrams. Her second award is for another love song “Love Me Not,” performed by Ravyn Lenae and co-written with Anderson Paak, Brent Reynolds, Christian Farlow, Craig Balmoris, Dahi, Dominic Angelella, Jaelen Irizarry, Julian Nixon and Spencer Stewart. Aarons is published by Sony Music Publishing.
Just last month, Aarons was on hand at the 2026 APRA Music Awards, where she won the international recognition award, for her work with the likes of Tame Impala, BTS, Flume, Gracie Abrams, ROSÉ and Maren Morris. All told, she has won sixth APRA Awards, included the coveted songwriter of the year at the 2019 APRAs.
Meanwhile, sibling duo Amy and George Sheppard, along with co-writer Jay Bovino, collected their first Billions Award for “Geronimo,” recorded by the Brisbane-based pop group Sheppard. The song won two APRA Music Awards in 2015 for most played Australian work and pop work of the year, and cracked the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014, peaking at No. 53. The Sheppards are published by Mushroom Music Publishing.
“It’s been an amazing journey for us, and to have the amazing team that we’ve had, getting to bring joy to people for the last 14 years, it’s a dream come true,” comments George Sheppard. “Thank you so much for this amazing honor.”
Sneaky Sound System‘s Connie Mitchell is feted for the hip-hop song “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” co-written with DJ Toomp and Kanye West. Following its release in 2007, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Also in the winners’ circle is Kota Banks (published by Gaga Music) and Taka Perry (published by Concord Music Publishing ANZ) for their work on KATSEYE’s “TOUCH.” Other co-writers on the song were Blake Slatkin, Caroline Ailin, Magnus Holberg and Omer Fedi.
“We wrote ‘TOUCH’ a few years ago at my old studio in Glebe,” explains Perry at a special presentation for the Billions Awards. “At the time I was a huge K-pop fan and I wanted to write some K-pop demos. I hit up Kota (Banks), and I was like, ‘do you want to come to the studio and work on a few songs together?’ And one of those songs was ‘TOUCH.’ I think we probably wrote it in an hour or two. It was just one of those things where it was the right song, in the right place.”
The eighth recipient is Los Angeles-based, Scottish songwriter and producer Stuart Crichton (published by Concord Music Publishing ANZ), who enters the 1,000,000,000 List with Kygo’s “Stargazing,” which he wrote back in 2017 alongside Kygo, Jamie Hartman and Justin Jesso.
Crichton, who called Australia home in the 2000s, and is represented by Concord Music Publishing ANZ, enjoyed APRAs glory last month with most performed dance/electronic work for “Tell Me,” recorded by Sonny Fodera and Clementine Douglas.
The Billions Award takes into account streaming numbers from the major services, including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
“When APRA’s founding publishers first met 100 years ago in 1926, they could never have imagined we’d be here in 2026 celebrating songwriters and publishers for reaching one billion streams,” comments Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS.
“It’s an extraordinary achievement, especially given the sheer volume of music released every day – both human and AI-generated. We’re incredibly proud to have been able to support these eight members throughout their careers and now see their songs connecting with huge audiences around the world.”
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