AIR Awards announce 2026 nominees with Melbourne’s Ninajirachi dominating the field

Now in its 20th year, the AIR Awards continue to champion Australia’s independent sector. The milestone celebration returns to Australia’s only UNESCO City of Music, reinforcing Adelaide’s growing status as a national music hub.

Melbourne experimentalist Ninajirachi has emerged as the clear standout of the 2026 AIR Awards nominations, scoring a massive seven nods including Independent Album of the Year for I Love My Computer, Song of the Year for iPod Touch, and additional recognition across Electronic categories, Producer, Engineer, Publicity and Music Video.

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

Also flying high are Folk Bitch Trio, who earned nominations for Blues and Roots Album, Breakthrough Artist and Independent Album of the Year with their acclaimed Now Would Be a Good Time. The witty Melbourne three-piece continue their rapid rise as one of the most beloved acts in Australian indie-folk.

Melbourne soft rock project Way Dynamic further cements their breakthrough year with three nominations including Best Independent Pop Album, Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

Other strong local showings include The Belair Lip Bombs (Best Rock Album) and Rona. (Breakthrough Artist and Electronic Album), underlining Melbourne’s continued strength in the independent sector.

The 20th anniversary AIR Awards will be held at Adelaide Town Hall on Thursday 30 July, with the accompanying Indie-Con Australia and A2IM’s Indie Week Australian Edition running 29–31 July.

2026 AIR Awards Nominees

Best Independent Blues and Roots Album or EP

• John Butler – Prism
• Folk Bitch Trio – Now Would Be a Good Time
• Liz Stringer – The Second High
• Melbourne Ska Orchestra – The Ballad of Monte Loco
• Sons of the East – Sons

Best Independent Hip Hop Album or EP

• Bliss n Eso – The Moon (The Light Side)
• Devaura – Vol 1. Learning in Public
• Elsy Wameyo – Wameyo
• Jamaica Moana – Bud & Deni
• Teether & Kuya Neil – Yearn IV

Best Independent Country Album or EP

• Emily Lubitz – Two Black Horses
• Hayley Jensen – Country Soul
• Imogen Clark – Choking on Fuel
• Ruby Gill – Some Kind of Control
• Wade Forster – Gooseneck Party

Best Independent Jazz Album or EP

• Natalie Gauci – Pictures of Mars
• Phia – When I’m Holding You, I’m Holding Me
• Temporary Blessings – Sumbisori T
• he Cat Empire – Bird in Paradise
• Touch Sensitive – In Paradise

Best Independent Classical Album or EP

• Andrea Lam – Piano Diary
• Australian String Quartet – Vanessa Perica, String Quartet No. 1 No Feeling is Final
• Joseph Tawadros – The Forgotten Path to Humanity
• Rose Riebl – Dust
• William Barton, Omega Ensemble – Gift – Our Breath of Life

Best Independent Children’s Album or EP

• Diver City – Weekend Baby
• Emma Memma – Dance Island Party
• Justine Clarke – Mimi’s Symphony
• Teeny Tiny Stevies – Brain Fart
• The Wiggles, The Tree of Wisdom – The Tree of Wisdom

Best Independent Dance/Club Single

• Confidence Man, Jade – Gossip
• DJ PGZ and Yikes – Ouss Ouss
• Fisher – Stay
• Shouse – Sunrise
• VV Pete – Wassa feat. Utility, Formation Boyz

Best Independent Electronic Single

• Cosmo’s Midnight – 45
• Keanu Nelson – Place Where I Go / Kapi Ngalyananni
• Ninajirachi – iPod Touch
• Robert Baxter & Sweatbaby – Icy (Take It Off)
• The Superjesus & The Journey – Something Good

Best Independent Punk Album or EP

• Press Club – To All the Ones I Love
• Private Function – ¯_(ツ)_/¯
• Radio Free Alice – Empty Words EP
• These New South Whales – Godspeed
• Wet Kiss – Thus Spoke the Broken Chanteuse

Best Independent Heavy Album or EP

• Battlesnake – Dawn of the Exultants and the Hunt for the Shepherd
• Hands Like Houses – Atmospherics
• Npcede – Npcede
• The Maggie Pills – Hearts Induring Lingering Loss
• Thornhill – Bodies

Best Independent Electronic Album or EP

• Essendon Airport – Mor
• Mel Blue – No More Jackets Please
• Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer
• Rona. – It’s All Here (EP)
• Shouse – Collective Ecstasy

Best Independent Rock Album or EP

• Playlunch – Sex Ed
• Spacey Jane – If That Makes Sense
• Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers – Glory
• The Belair Lip Bombs – Again
• The Southern River Band – Easier Said Than Done

Best Independent Soul/RnB Album or EP

• Bumpy – Kanana
• Cookin’ on 3 Burners – Cookin’ the Books
• Don West – Give Me All Your Love
• Felivand – My Body’s My True North
• Wilsn – Bloom

Best Independent Pop Album or EP

• Georgia Knight – Beanpole
• Montaigne – It’s Hard to Be a Fish S
• tella Donnelly – Love and Fortune
• The Tullamarines – Safety Blanket
• Way Dynamic – Massive Shoe

Breakthrough Independent Artist of the Year – presented by PPCA

• Folk Bitch Trio
• Georgia Knight
• Rageflower
• Rona.
• Yes Boone

Independent Song of the Year

• Jem Cassar-Daley – Kiss Me Like You’re Leaving
• Keli Holiday – Dancing2
• Ninajirachi – iPod Touch
• Playlunch – Keith
• Way Dynamic – Miffed It

Independent Album of the Year

• Folk Bitch Trio – Now Would Be a Good Time
• Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer
• The 046 – Legacy in Motion T
• he Belair Lip Bombs – Again
• Way Dynamic – Massive Shoe

Best Independent Label

• ABC Music
• Astral People Recordings
• College of Knowledge
• Mushroom Music
• NLV Records

Independent Marketing Team of the Year

• Mushroom Music – Bliss n Eso, The Moon (The Light Side)
• NLV Records, The Orchard – Ninajirachi, I Love My Computer P
• laylunch, ABC Music – Playlunch, Keith
• Secretly Group – Folk Bitch Trio, Now Would Be a Good Time
• The Annex – Ocean Alley, Love Balloon

Independent Publicity Team of the Year

• Cult Logic – Ocean Alley, Love Balloon
• Mushroom Music – Bliss n Eso, The Moon (The Light Side)
• Mushroom Music – Wilsn, Bloom
• TWNTY Three – Folk Bitch Trio, Now Would Be a Good Time
• TWNTY Three – Ninajirachi, I Love My Computer

Independent Music Video of the Year

• Angus Wolfe pka Ball Bass John – Ninajirachi, Fuck My Computer
• Bridgette Winten, Folk Bitch Trio – Folk Bitch Trio, Cathode Ray
• Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore – Miss Kaninna, Backstreets
• Tas Wilson, James Adams – Jem Cassar-Daley, Kiss Me Like You’re Leaving
• Jasper van Daatzelaar – Way Dynamic, People Settle Down

Independent Producer of the Year

• Angus Stone – Dope Lemon, Golden Wolf
• Benjamin Stewart – Slowly Slowly, Forgiving Spree
• Dylan Young – Way Dynamic, Massive Shoe
• Nick Didia – Ocean Alley, Love Balloon
• Nina Wilson – Ninajirachi, I Love My Computer

Independent Mix, Studio or Mastering Engineer of the Year

• Becki Whitton, Timothy Harvey, Hannah Cameron – Ruby Gill, Some Kind of Control
• Leon Zervos – Ocean Alley, Love Balloon
• Michael Carpenter – Imogen Clark, Choking on Fuel
• Stephen Mowat – Wilsn, Bloom
• Thomas Purcell pka Wave Racer – Ninajirachi, I Love My Computer

For more information on the 2026 AIR Awards, head here.