Words by Patrick Staveley.

Nominations for the 2023 Shure Rolling Stone Australia awards have been announced ahead of the April 4 party celebrating Australia’s best and brightest in music. 

2022 was a successful year for Australian music with a plethora of exciting new music released, while fans also enjoyed going to shows once again with frequency following the pandemic.

Australian artists are also continuing to make a splash overseas with new talent Budjerah collaborating with and now set to support Ed Sheeran. 

A host of various artists are amongst the nominations this year, with Vance Joy, Budjerah, Keith Urban, The Wiggles and Spacey Jane all picking up multiple nominations. 

Vance Joy is up for best single, best record and the rolling stone global award. 

Triple J favourites Spacey Jane, have had another huge year with nominations for best album (‘Here Comes Everybody’) and best single with ‘Hardlight’ which hit #3 on the radio station’s famed hottest 100. 

Budjerah is up for best new talent and best single as he prepares to support Ed Sheeran at his Australian shows. 

Rolling Stone Australia’s editor-in-chief Poppy Reid says the country’s depth in music talent continues to grow. 

“I don’t think we’ve had a more exciting era of Australian music in terms of overall diversity than right now,” she said. 

“Australian acts have been consistently breaking industry rules in terms of what should work on a global level and have been connecting far and wide with music that takes risks. I think our list of nominees reflects that.”

It’s set to be just the third edition of the annual Rolling Stone Australia awards with the event picking up more traction, to the excitement of Reid. Rolling Stone Australia has also picked up its readership according to Roy Morgan research which demonstrated a 20% increase on its last survey. Editors of the UK and US Rolling Stone editions are also taking part in the voting for the global award. 

“Our awards are my favourite event of the year for many reasons. We get to bring the industry together in a very casual, fun environment which serves as the antithesis to most awards shows - so it’s always an annual highlight for myself and many of the guests - but it’s also an opportunity to stand on the global stage and show them how incredible Australian artists are.”

Here’s the list of nominees for the 2023 Shure Rolling Stone Australia awards:

Best Single

Amy Shark - “Only Wanna Be With You”

Budjerah - “Ready for the Sky”

Courtney Barnett - “Rae Street”

Keith Urban - “Brown Eyes Baby”

Ruel - “Growing up is ___”

Spacey Jane - “Hardlight”

The Kid LAROI - “Thousand Miles”

Vance Joy - “Clarity”

Best New Artist

Blake Rose

Budjerah

Eliza & The Delusionals

Forest Claudette

James Johnston

Lara D

Merci, Mercy

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

Best Record

5 Seconds of Summer - 5SOS5

Gang of Youths - angel in realtime

Julia Jacklin - Pre Pleasure

Parkway Drive - Darker Still

Spacey Jane - Here Comes Everybody

The Wiggles - ReWiggled

Thelma Plum - Meanjin

Vance Joy - In Our Own Sweet Time

Rolling Stone Global Award

Alison Wonderland

Gang Of Youths

Iggy Azalea

Keith Urban

Kylie Minogue

Rüfüs Du Sol

Tash Sultana

The Wiggles

Tones And I

Troye Sivan

Vance Joy

A number of new sponsors have jumped on board this year including headline partner Shure. 

The awards ceremony takes place on the 4th of April in Sydney.