Australia Bans Wholly AI-Generated Songs From Official Music Charts

Australia's music charts are drawing a line on artificial intelligence. Starting Friday, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) will bar tracks that are wholly or largely AI-generated from its official charts, which cover everything from the top 50 singles to the top 50 albums, according to ARIA and reporting from the BBC and The Independent.

The trigger was a specific song. Queensland DJ Josh Fawaz released an AI-assisted cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" that used AI-generated vocals and drums. It became the most-played track on Australian radio, peaked at number two on ARIA's overall singles chart in May, reached number four on two ARIA charts in July, and has been streamed more than 48 million times on Spotify, according to the BBC and ABC News (Australia). As of Tuesday it was still sitting at number four on the chart, per The Independent.

Fawaz initially didn't flag the AI use. After backlash from music industry figures, he added generative AI credits to the Spotify track listing, disclosing that the vocals and drums were AI-generated. He has said he used AI "as a tool."

What the new rules actually require

Under ARIA's updated Charts Code of Practice, tracks are only chart-eligible if humans wrote the song and performed the lead vocal and primary instruments, according to ARIA's statement carried by the Associated Press and The Independent. AI can still be used for mastering, drum machines, and auto-tune. Artists have to declare AI use when submitting a track for chart consideration.

If a chart-topping song is later found to be substantially AI-generated, ARIA says it can retroactively adjust chart positions and ask that any Number One award be returned. Artists can challenge an exclusion. An ARIA spokesperson told the ABC that under the new standard, Fawaz's song likely wouldn't qualify going forward, since its lead vocals and drums were AI-generated.

The rules also exclude AI-generated music from ARIA's annual awards, and they carve out a separate category for tracks that raise "stream or chart manipulation concerns." ARIA pulled this language directly from global industry guidance, according to Al Jazeera and ABC News.

Not a fringe move, part of a global standard

ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd framed the decision as keeping pace with technology rather than rejecting it outright. "These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is, to say the least, a rapidly developing space," Herd said, according to the BBC. "A chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent."

ARIA's members include major labels operating in Australia, among them Sony Music Entertainment Australia and Universal Music Australia, according to Al Jazeera. The move mirrors a directive published in July by the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the global recording industry and says charting tracks must be "substantially human made." Al Jazeera reports the IFPI-linked labeling system, backed by a coalition including the Recording Industry Association of America, sorts tracks into "AI-Generated" and "AI-Assisted" categories based on how much of the creative work AI actually did.

ARIA isn't the first to act. A song was banned from Sweden's music charts earlier this year for being AI-created, according to the BBC. IFPI said in July it plans to extend similar chart guidelines to Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Industry reaction is mostly supportive, but the debate is real

Sydney Conservatorium of Music lecturer Alexis Weaver told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the AI-in-music debate is "exceptionally fraught and very emotional for a lot of musicians," and called ARIA's move a "wonderful step forward" for prioritizing human creativity. Weaver also acknowledged the practical reality artists face: "It can be quite hard to avoid AI tools in the current landscape. There is a way to use it while you're still steering the ship and making the main creative choices."

Electronic duo Peking Duk backed the rule change and posted an AI-assisted re-recording of their 2014 hit "High" to Instagram, joking it was so "Australian radio will play it." Bandmember Adam Hyde told Channel Nine's Today show that AI-generated music risks "removing the human experience from life."

Fawaz himself has defended his use of AI as a production tool rather than a wholesale substitute for songwriting. This perspective reflects the reality that AI-assisted work already blurs lines artists have used for decades, from drum machines to pitch correction to sampling. ARIA's rules try to draw that line at authorship and performance rather than banning AI tools outright, which is why mastering, auto-tune and drum machines remain permitted.

The practical test comes this Friday, when the new ARIA charts publish under the updated code. Whether Fawaz's Madonna cover survives on the charts, gets its position adjusted, or triggers a formal challenge will be the first real-world test of how ARIA enforces a rule that sounds far more precise on paper than it will be in practice.