The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has officially introduced silver accreditation, with ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd presenting the first to Daniel Johns last night.
The recognition was presented to Daniel – the most-awarded artist in ARIA history – for his 2022 album FutureNever on stage at the world-first screening of Daniel Johns: What If The Future Never Happened?, part of the 2025 ARIA Awards Presents program.
Silver accreditation is available for album releases by Australian artists who have achieved 20,000 units within three years of a title’s release date, applicable to titles released from 1 January 2021 only.
Daniel said: “The pursuit of writing a great album has always been my biggest inspiration. A collection of songs that is greater than the sum of its parts.
“To have my second solo album FutureNever become the first ARIA-accredited silver album is such an honour and I hope this new accreditation encourages Australian artists of all genres to stay committed to their album releases.
“Music is not a collection of social-ready sound bites, heart and soul cannot be generated by machine learning, real emotion beats artificial intelligence every day of the week. Long live the Australian album because without it there’s no music, only noise.”
ARIA CEO, Annabelle Herd, said: “Introducing silver accreditation is about recognising the strength and scale of local music in 2025, and Daniel Johns is the perfect artist to receive the first one. His career is proof of what happens when creativity, ambition and risk-taking meet the kind of connection that defines Australian music at its best.”
A trailblazer whose influence spans decades, Daniel Johns has won 21 ARIA Awards and continues to push artistic boundaries through his solo work, collaborations and storytelling across film and music.
The 2025 ARIA Awards Presents program celebrates Australia’s most dynamic artists and events ahead of the 2025 ARIA Awards presented by Spotify, taking place Wednesday, 19 November at the Hordern Pavilion on Gadigal land.
For more information, please contact:
Andrew Knowles
M: 0449 510 357
