Amyl and The Sniffers, Troye Sivan, Kevin Parker Win Big at 2025 APRA Music Awards

Australian punks Amyl and The Sniffers have taken out the song of the year at the 2025 APRA Music Awards, held Wednesday (April 30) at Melbourne Town Hall.

The Melbourne group received the coveted peer-voted award for their track “U Should Not Be Doing That,” which was released as the lead single for their 2024 album Cartoon Darkness. The record itself became the group’s second consecutive release to hit No. 2 on the ARIA charts, while the single received a nomination for best video at the 2024 ARIA Awards.

The award caps off an impressive run for the four-piece, having recently wrapped up two weekends at Coachella as part of their North American tour, and taking out both best live act and best LP/EP at the 2025 Rolling Stone Australia Awards.

Troye Sivan, meanwhile, was named songwriter of the year, just shy of the one-year anniversary of “Rush” being named song of the year at the 2024 ceremony.

“Songwriting is my favorite thing that I get to do. I think it’ll be something that I do for the rest of my life,” Sivan said of his win. “I feel like it’s, one of the greatest gifts that I was born with. Not even the ability to write a good song, just the ability to create at all.”

While Otis Pavlovic and Royel Maddell of Royel Otis received the emerging songwriter of the year award just months after winning four trophies at the ARIA Awards, Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker emerged as the night’s big winner, being honored in the categories of most performed Australian work and most performed pop work.

In both instances, Parker’s win was for Dua Lipa’s “Houdini,” which he co-wrote alongside Lipa and international writers Caroline Ailin, Danny Harle and Tobias Jesso Jr. Released in November 2023, the single topped the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and reached a respectable No. 11 on the Hot 100.

Sia’s “Unstoppable” was named most performed Australian work overseas, while Tate McRae’s “Greedy” took out most performed international work. King Stingray, Ziggy Alberts, Make Them Suffer, Kaiit, Lithe, and Dom Dolla also emerged victorious in their respective genre categories, while Kylie Minogue took out the previously-announced Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.

The 2025 edition of the APRAs cemented “another huge year for Australian music, both at home and overseas,” comments APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston.

“It’s heartwarming to see so many first-time winners this year, showcasing the incredible breadth of talent Australia produces, and it’s a testament to the opportunity of Australia becoming a global songwriting powerhouse,” he added.

“With an election just days away, we hope that both sides of government can see the immense talent we have here, and the opportunities to build a stronger, fairer, more vibrant future for Australian music, recognising our music as the global cultural powerhouse and valuable export that it so clearly is.”

Established in 1982, the Australasian Performing Right Association’s annual songwriters’ ceremony is one of the Australian music industry’s most treasured events, a worthy counterpart to Britain’s Ivor Novello Awards.

Full List of 2025 APRA Music Awards winners:

Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year

Title: U Should Not Be Doing That
Artist: Amyl and The Sniffers
Writers: Declan Mehrtens / Fergus Romer / Amy Taylor / Bryce Wilson

Songwriter of the Year

Writer: Troye Sivan
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing

Emerging Songwriter of the Year

Writers: Otis Pavlovic & Royel Maddell (Royel Otis)
Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Ourness Songs

International Recognition Award

Keanu Torres (Keanu Beats)

Most Performed Australian Work

Title: Houdini
Artist: Dua Lipa
Writers: Kevin Parker / Dua Lipa*^ / Caroline Ailin / Daniel Harle / Tobias Jesso Jr.^
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Universal Music Publishing^

Most Performed Australian Work Overseas

Title: Unstoppable
Artist: Sia
Writer: Sia Furler / Christopher Braide*
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing ANZ*

Most Performed Alternative Work

Title: Paradise
Artist: Coterie
Writers: Brandford Fisher / Conrad Fisher / Joshua Fisher / Tyler Fisher / Robby De Sa*
Publishers: Concord Music Publishing ANZ / Sony Music Publishing*

Most Performed Blues & Roots Work

Title: New Love
Artist: Ziggy Alberts
Writer: Ziggy Alberts
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing

Most Performed Country Work

Title: Take Forever (Hally’s Song)
Artist: Cooper Alan
Writers: Kylie Sackley* / Timothy Cooper^ / Justin Morgan+
Publishers: I Love You More Music Worldwide* / BMG^ / SHOUT! Music Publishing+

Most Performed Dance/Electronic Work

Title: Saving Up
Artist: Dom Dolla
Writers: Dominic Matheson / Clementine Douglas* / Toby Scott^ / Caitlin Stubbs^
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Mushroom Music Publishing* / Kobalt Music Publishing^

Most Performed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Work

Title: Epitaph
Artist: Make Them Suffer
Writers: Sean Harmanis / Nicholas McLernon / Jordan Mather / Alexandra Reade / Jeff Dunne
Cooking Vinyl Publishing

Most Performed Hip Hop / Rap Work

Title: Fall Back
Artist: Lithe
Writers: Josiah Ramel* / Omid Khasrawy
Publisher: Concord Music Publishing ANZ obo Boss Level*

Most Performed International Work 

Title: Greedy 
Artist: Tate McRae 
Writers: Tate McRae / Amy Allen* / Jasper Harris^ / Ryan Tedder
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Concord Music Publishing ANZ^

Most Performed Pop Work

Title: Houdini
Artist: Dua Lipa
Writers: Kevin Parker / Dua Lipa*^ / Caroline Ailin / Daniel Harle / Tobias Jesso Jr.^
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Universal Music Publishing^

Most Performed R&B / Soul Work

Title: Space
Artist: Kaiit
Writers: Kaiit Waup / Jake Amy / Anthony Liddell / Jaydean Miranda / Justin Smith

Most Performed Rock Work

Title: Through The Trees
Artist: King Stingray
Writers: Theo Dimathaya Burarrwanga / Roy Kellaway* / Campbell Messer / Yirrŋa Gotjiringu Yunupingu* / Yimila Gurruwiwi / Lewis Stiles
Publisher: Sony Music Publishing*

Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Service to Australian Music

Kylie Minogue

Licensee of the Year

Lazybones Lounge Restaurant & Bar