Australia's recorded music industry has barred songs largely or wholly created by artificial intelligence from its official charts, effective this week. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which operates the country's official singles and albums rankings, announced that all eligible releases must from now on be "substantially human made" — meaning humans must have written the song and performed the lead vocal and primary instruments. AI-generated music will also be ineligible for the prestigious ARIA Awards.

The decision was catalysed by a striking controversy: an AI-generated cover of Madonna's 1989 pop anthem "Like a Prayer", produced by Australian DJ and producer Josh Fawaz, spent 16 weeks in Australia's top 20 singles chart, peaking at number two in May and topping the ARIA dance chart. The track became a fixture on commercial radio playlists and was streamed more than 48 million times on Spotify alone. Fawaz later added generative AI credits to the song following a public backlash. ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd drew a clear line: "Music generated wholesale by services built on artists' recordings is a different matter" from AI tools used as creative aids. A chart that rewards unlicensed AI output, she said, would "undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent."

The new rules do allow some AI assistance. Producers may still use AI for mastering, drum machines, and tools like auto-tune, provided the core creative work — songwriting and performance — is demonstrably human. Music must also be produced using legally licensed AI services, a requirement targeting tools trained on artists' recordings without authorisation. Artists will be required to declare AI use when submitting tracks for chart consideration; ARIA said it could retrospectively adjust chart positions if a song later proved to be largely AI-generated, and could even request the return of awards for a number-one position.

The Australian move aligns with international momentum. In July, the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the global recording industry, issued guidelines specifying that chart-eligible music must be "substantially human made" and produced with properly licensed AI tools. Those principles are being rolled out across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Sweden earlier this year also removed an AI-generated song from its charts.

For many in the music community, the stakes are existential. Alexis Weaver, a composer and lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, described the debate as "exceptionally fraught and very emotional" for musicians, while welcoming ARIA's move as a signal that human creativity would be prioritised. Australian electronic duo Peking Duk, who had pointedly re-recorded one of their own songs using AI assistance simply to secure radio airplay, backed the new rules. The policy also reflects broader government concern: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged in July to provide "the strongest possible protection" from AI for Australian creatives, describing the unauthorised use of artists' work to train AI models as tantamount to "theft".