Amyl and The Sniffers, INXS Win Big at 2026 APRA Music Awards

Amyl and The Sniffers snared a hattrick at the 2026 APRA Music Awards, presented Wednesday night (April 29) in Sydney, while INXS was feted with the lifetime achievement award.

For the past year, no Australian act could touch Amyl And The Sniffers on the awards circuit. It was the same story at the Hordern Pavilion, as the loveable rogues collected the peer-voted APRA song of the year, marking the second consecutive year the punk rockers have won prestigious honor, having done so in 2025 with “U Should Not Be Doing That”.

The Melbourne four piece also collected most performed rock work for their cheeky Cartoon Darkness hit “Jerkin’,” and lifted the coveted songwriter of the year award.

“I remember when we first wrote that song and people were asking us, ‘oh, could you maybe write a censored version?,” singer Amy Taylor said of “Jerkin’”. “And we kind of tried to do it, but obviously then there’ll just be no lyrics at all.” Taylor pointed out that her band, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, are all self-taught in their disciplines. “It was all very DIY at the start. We recorded ourselves, we wrote ourselves,” she remarked. “So it feels amazing to be in this position.”

Earlier in the day, Amyl’s managers Simone Ubaldi and Andrew Parisi (of Sundowner Artists)  jointly won manager of the year at the AAM Awards, also presented in Sydney.

Doubling up on the night was Guy Sebastian and co-writers Ned Houston and Robby De Sa, who won most performed Australian work and most performed pop work for “Maybe”. The victory marks Houston’s first APRA Award, and the fourth career win for Sebastian and De Sa.

Sia scooped the category for most performed Australian work overseas for the third consecutive year with the aptly-titled “Unstoppable,” for the singer and songwriter’s 14^th donut-shaped award across her career. The Adelaide-raised artist is now APRA’s most-awarded writer member of all time.

Hitmaker Sarah Aarons made the trip from her base in Los Angeles to receive the international recognition award, her sixth APRA Award. While visiting the stage, Aarons, who was worked with the likes of Tame Impala, BTS, Flume, Gracie Abrams, ROSÉ and Maren Morris, told of her homesickness. Her favorite restaurant on the West Coast is the Qantas business lounge at LAX, she quipped. “Not being home is really hard.”

Emily Wurramara made history at the 2024 ARIA Awards, when Nara won for best adult contemporary album, the first time an Indigenous woman had won the category since its inception in 1987. The proud Warnindhilyagwa woman etched her name in APRAs history at the Hordern when she nabbed emerging songwriter of the year, a board-appointed award recognizing her incredible body of work over the past year.

The biggest cheers of the night, however, were directed at INXS, who were saluted with the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music. Long-time friend, artist and APRA chair Jenny Morris inducted the new wave band, with an emotional trip down memory lane.

“People ask me what made INX different. The honest answer is everything,” she remarked. “I’ve stood on the riser with these guys. I watched them from the wings, from the front of the house, from the stage door, from every single angle. They were extraordinary.” The six-piece’s “power, intelligence, and visceral effect of the music couldn’t be ignored.”

Holding back tears, Morris recounted the late, great frontman Michael Hutchence, who passed away in 1997, aged 37. “The Michael I knew was modest. As his friends will tell you, in his private time he liked nothing better than just being part of the cohort. One of the bunch. He was not someone who looked over your shoulder at the room full of glitz and glamor. He would look you in the eye. He genuinely wanted to hear what you had to say. He once said, ‘there is an integrity to INXS in the music, that makes it worthwhile.’” He claimed they were “worthwhile. A modest word from a modest man.”

With over 75 million albums sold worldwide, and a slew of international awards from their peers and fans, INXS is one of the most popular bands to emerge from the land Down Under.

Formed back in 1977, INXS would go on to climb rock’s highest summit, a stadium act whose posters were attached to teenagers’ walls everywhere. The sextet of Andrew (keyboards), Jon (drums), and Tim Farriss (lead guitar), along with Garry Beers, Kirk Pengilly (guitar/sax), and the charismatic Hutchence, landed five top 20 albums on the Billboard 200, and a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Kick’s “Need You Tonight.”

In the United Kingdom, the band scored six top 10 albums, including a No. 1 with Welcome To Wherever You Are from 1992, plus a BRIT Award in 1991 for best international group.

The surviving members of the band were on hand to receive the Ted Albert Award, ahead of what will be INXS’ 50^th anniversary. Each spoke. Andrew Farriss recounted a youthful conversation with his older brother and bandmate, Tim. “I said to him early in our career, you know, we’re going to have to get real job one day. And this is fun, we play music, have a few beers, a few laughs. We get away with it. Then we went and did all that. Incredible. You were right brother.” Pengilly, who spoke last, admitted the band made “amazing choices.”

As previously announced, the awards celebrated the 100^th anniversary of APRA, and were hosted by Julia Zemiro with guest presenters Bernard Fanning, Jessica Mauboy, Mark Coles Smith and Stella Donnelly, and music curated by François Tétaz.

Performers included Christine Anu, Ngulmiya and Rob Ruha; Barkaa; Ecca Vandal; Paul Kelly; and The Presets’ show-stopping electronic rendition of Midnight Oil’s “Power and the Passion,” featuring a special guest appearance by Peter Garrett, in tribute to the late Oils drummer, Rob Hirst.

“The 2026 APRA Music Awards were a fitting way to celebrate not only 100 years of APRA, but today’s biggest and brightest stars,” remarks Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS. “It’s a privilege to look back at 100 years of service to our members and the incredible breadth and diversity of Australian talent. As a nation we derive so much, socially, culturally and economically, from our music creators, it’s imperative that we recognize and celebrate that contribution.”

The APRAs celebrate excellence in contemporary music, honoring songwriters and publishers who have achieved artistic excellence and outstanding success in their fields. At told, 18 awards were presented across three distinct selection processes: board selected, most performed (based on statistical analysis) and peer voted.

See all the winners at apraamcos.com.au/apramusicawards2026 and below.