SYDNEY, Australia — The 40th ARIA Awards will be presented Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, on Gadigal land — the sixth consecutive year at the iconic venue.
Spotify returns as headline sponsor for the ARIAs, the Australian recording industry’s flagship awards ceremony, while free-to-air network 10 will broadcast the ceremony, and Paramount+ will stream it live.
Also announced today (Aug. 19) by labels body ARIA, the date for the 2026 ARIA Awards nominations. The full shortlist will be unveiled on Thursday, Sept. 24.
“Australian music is electric, ever-evolving and has never failed to set the cultural conversation ablaze right around the world,” comments ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd. “The ARIA Awards have had the best seat in the house for four decades of one incredible show. Whatever gets thrown at Aussie music, our artists find a way to cut through. Now is no exception.”
The likes of multiple ARIA Award winners Amyl and The Sniffers, The Kid LAROI, Ninajirachi, Dom Dolla and Troye Sivan “are all proof of that,” Herd continues, “and there is a generation behind them who will take Australian music somewhere none of us can picture yet.
“That’s exactly what we can’t wait to celebrate at the 40th ARIA Awards: the icons who built these four decades, the superstars carrying Australian music today and the artists who will own the next forty years. I promise the team has thrown everything they have at making this milestone unforgettable, see you in November.”
Destination NSW supports the ARIAs, while Spotify returns for a second year as presenting partner and will amplify the awards with its global platform, in-app voting and a global OOH campaign.
Last time, ARIA announced “a record year of engagement across Australia and the world,” through its first-year partnership with Spotify. Two weeks after the 2025 ARIAs, organizers reported 696,836 public votes were cast across Spotify and the ARIA website, a total more than 200% up from corresponding edition the prior year.
That tally was broken down to 614,490 via Spotify and 82,316 via aria.com.au, for one of the “strongest” votes in ARIAs history.
The ARIA’s milestone celebrations got underway in June with a special Hall of Fame event at Sydney’s Carriageworks, where six acts who were inducted: the late Gurrumul, Jenny Morris, Kate Ceberano, Spiderbait, The Living End and Vika & Linda.
At last year’s ARIA Awards, Amyl and The Sniffers lead the way with four silver spiked trophies, ahead of Ninajirachi (with three) and Dom Dolla (two), while The Kid LAROI performed at Spotify’s invite-only Artist Party, kicking off the ARIA Week.
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