The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has become the first national chart body to implement eligibility rules for recordings made with generative AI, barring wholly AI-generated tracks from the ARIA Charts effective August 31, 2026.
To qualify for charting, a recording must be “substantially human-made” and raise “no stream or chart manipulation concerns,” ARIA said. The organisation will apply the global music industry’s AI labelling standard, announced July 10, to distinguish AI-generated recordings from AI-assisted ones. Recordings that use AI in a supporting role remain eligible.
“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,” ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said. She urged other decision-makers, particularly radio, to adopt similar codes.
The rules carry enforcement mechanisms. ARIA can decline to survey an ineligible recording, remove it from the charts, adjust positions, withdraw accreditations, and revoke any ARIA No. 1 Award. Ineligible tracks are also barred from the ARIA Awards. Artists can contest exclusions through an updated disputes process.
The policy follows high-profile cases of AI-generated music reaching chart positions. Breaking Rust reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart in 2025, and IngaRose topped iTunes charts in the U.S. and globally in April 2026. Neither involved detected streaming fraud.
Source: Billboard
