Sydney, Australia (August 27, 2026)—An AI cover of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” recently dominated the Australian airwaves, and that has led the Australian Recording Industry Association to ban recordings generated wholly by artificial intelligence from its charts.
The track, released by Brisbane-based DJ Josh Fawaz, features AI-generated vocals and drums and sat for 16 weeks on ARIA’s top 20 singles chart, peaking at No. 2 in May. It is one of the most-played tracks on Australian radio and has been streamed more than 48 million times on Spotify.
ARIA has now published a new Code of Practice for its charts, effective Aug. 30, that follows the global principles on recordings developed using generative AI set out by IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). Wholly AI-generated tracks will not be eligible for the ARIA Charts. Recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role remain eligible. In its new Charts code, a recording developed using generative AI is eligible only where it is substantially human made and it raises no stream or chart manipulation concerns.
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Where ARIA determines that a recording is ineligible, it may decline to accept it for survey, exclude or remove it from the charts prospectively or retrospectively, adjust chart positions, withdraw accreditations and revoke or request the return of any ARIA #1 Award. An ineligible recording will also not be eligible for an ARIA Award.
According to Annabelle Herd, ARIA CEO, “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. Artists already use AI tools in their work, the charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists’ recordings is a different matter … We call on all parties who have a role in deciding the music played and promoted to Australian audiences, particularly radio, to support human artistry and implement similar changes across their own codes.”
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In the U.S., The Recording Academy, for its part, updated the rules regarding Grammy Award eligibility in 2023. Only human creators can be considered, nominated or win a Grammy, and works containing no human contribution or that are wholly AI-generated are ineligible in any category. But, providing a human contributed in a meaningful way, the use of AI instrumentation, vocals or production tools will not result in automatic disqualification. In short, you can’t simply type a text prompt into AI and claim ownership, but must have made structural creative choices.
Further, an AI-generated component is ineligible for an award in a category specific to that element; in other words, an AI vocal cannot win for best vocal performance. However, AI may be used to clean up a legacy vocal demo (as was the case with the Beatles’ “Now and Then,” which used an old John Lennon demo) or alter a texture. Similarly, to be considered for song of the year, the melody and lyrics must have been written mostly by a human. No award or nomination will be granted to an AI entity, the academy says.
