ARIA Bars 100% AI-Generated Songs From Charts as Top-20 Hit Fuels 16-Week Debate

3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 25

Monday next week, wholly AI-generated tracks will become ineligible for ARIA’s official charts and awards, tightening Australia’s response to generative music.
ARIA said songs will qualify only if humans wrote them and performed the lead vocal and primary instruments, and any AI tools used must be legal and licensed.
A reworked version of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” made with AI-generated vocals and drums helped force the issue after spending 16 weeks in Australia’s top 20, peaking at No. 2 in May and sitting at No. 4 on Tuesday.
Annabelle Herd said rewarding unlicensed AI output would undercut the recorded music industry, while composer Alexis Weaver backed the move as a way to prioritize human creativity even as AI tools become harder to avoid.
The policy aligns ARIA with July principles from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which say chart-eligible music must be “substantially human made.”