2026 Tūī winners revealed at Aotearoa Music Awards
Che Fu inducted into Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa | NZ Music Hall of Fame, Fat Freddy’s Drop celebrated as Aotearoa Charts Icon
Recorded Music NZ tonight revealed the winners of the 2026 Tūī, at the Aotearoa Music Awards.
In a remarkable sweep, Marlon Williams was awarded NZ On Air Te Tino Pukaemi o te Tau | Album of the Year for Te Whare Tīwekaweka, Spotify Te Tino Waiata o te Tau | Single of the Year for ‘Aua Atu Rā’ and Te Tino Reo o te Tau | Best Solo Artist. The hattrick is a culmination of recent acknowledgements that has seen Williams win the 2026 Taite Music Prize – for which Recorded Music NZ provides the $12.5k cash prize as Founding Partner – and APRA Best Country Song at the 2026 Country Music Honours. In October 2025 he was awarded the APRA Silver Scroll Award | Kaitito Kaiaka for ‘Aua Atu Rā’, alongside album co-writer KOMMI. Mark Perkins was also awarded Te Taumata o te Pūkenga Oro | Best Engineer at AMA 2026 for his work on Te Whare Tīwekaweka.
Te Tino Kāhui Manu Taki o te Tau | Best Group was this year won by 2024, 2020 and 2019 category winners The Beths, off the back of their 2025 release Straight Line Was A Lie. Te Manu Taki Arotini o te Tau | Best Pop Artist was won by Lorde, whose 2025 album Virgin proved a global phenomenon. The star was also awarded the Tohu Tutuki o te Ao | International Achievement Tūī, an award presented for the first time since 2020, in recognition of the international success of the album. As well as debuting at #1 on the Aotearoa Top 40, Virgin went to #1 in Australia, #2 in the US and, fresh off the back of a secret set at Glastonbury, hit #1 in the UK – the first of Lorde’s albums to do so.
Te Manu Mātārae Tūī, which recognises artists that have made a significant impact on the music landscape in Aotearoa and beyond, was this year awarded to Balu Brigada. The band of multi-instrumentalist brothers Henry and Pierre Beasley from Tāmaki Makarau has seen huge success in the last year internationally. They are building a devoted following with 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify and – since releasing their first album Portal in August last year – have been busy touring around the world, including at US festival Lollapalooza. They return to Aotearoa for a sold out show at the Powerstation next month.
Te Māngai Pāho Mana Reo was taken home once again by 2025 category winner Stan Walker for ‘Mō Āke Tonu’ (feat. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke). Te Māngai Pāho Te Manu Taki Māori o te Tau | Best Māori Artist was awarded to 2024 category winner TAWAZ.
Te Wehi, a new local chart-topping artist from the East Coast, who has had a huge year on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts, was acknowledged as Te Iti Rearea o te Tau | Breakthrough Artist of the Year. He also won Te Manu Taki Taketake o te Tau | Best Roots Artist, and opened the night with a performance with frequent collaborator and 2025 Breakthrough winner and 2026 multi-finalist Hori Shaw. At peak, Te Wehi simultaneously held six of the Top 20 positions on the Official Top 20 Aotearoa Singles Chart, and closed the year with five singles in the Top 20 End-of-Year Aotearoa Singles Chart.
Te Manu Taki Rakapīoi / Rakatū Pāorooro o te Tau | Best Rock / Metal Artist went to Alien Weaponry for Te Rā. The category was expanded from Best Rock to Best Rock / Metal in 2026, to reflect the thriving metal community of Aotearoa. Fittingly, the Tūī was this year won by an established metal act – that have previously won the Rock category in 2022 and 2018. Alien Weaponry also brought their mighty version of waiata reo Māori to The Civic stage with an epic performance.
Tom Scott (Avantdale Bowling Club, Home Brew) was awarded Te Manu Taki Manako o te Tau | Best Soul/RnB Artist off the back of his first solo album, ANITYA. He also performed a medley of tracks from the record on the night. Album producer and engineer Ben Lawson was awarded Te Taumata o te Kaiwhakaputa | Best Producer for the release.
Tami Neilson collected Te Manu Taki Tuawhenua o te Tau | Best Country Music Artist for a record-sustaining eighth time, for Neon Cowgirl. She also performed ‘King Of Country Music’ (from 2022 album Kingmaker) with a nod to Topp Twins classic ‘Untouchable Girls’ on the night. Neilson was joined for the performance by a group of special guests that included fellow Country finalist Jenny Mitchell, and The Mitchell Twins. The tribute followed the heartbreaking news earlier this week that Dame Jools Topp – a key mentor for Neilson, alongside Jools’ sister and bandmate Dame Lynda Topp – passed away on Saturday. The Topp Twins were celebrated at the Country Music Honours in Gore on Friday, with the Country Music Honour for Contribution to Country Music in Aotearoa. Tami Neilson won the inaugural Honour in 2025.
The 2026 JD Sports Tā te Iwi | People's Choice Tūī was awarded to indie pop sensation Borderline, who have had a huge year off the back of the release of their debut EP Chrysalis. The band was also a finalist for Te Manu Taki Arotini o te Tau | Best Pop Artist and Te Iti Rearea o te Tau Breakthrough Artist of the Year.
Te Manu Taki Whanokē o te Tau | Best Alternative Artist went to autodidact alt hip hop artist and performer MĀ for her first album Blame It On The Weather. She also took to the stage to present a special performance of ‘TrapsJam’, from the multi-nominated release.
Te Manu Taki Tāhiko o te Tau | Best Electronic Artist was awarded to Caru & Brandn Shiraz for their collaborative EP, Back 2 Back. Te Manu Taki Ātete o te Tau | Best Hip Hop Artist Tūī went to MOKOMOKAI for PONO.
Te Manu Taki Ahurea o te Tau | Best Folk Artist was awarded to ex-Harry Styles backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ny Oh (Naomi Ludlow), for her debut album Wildwood.
Te Manu Taki Tautito o te Tau | Best Jazz Artist went to London-based composer Louisa Williamson for her second solo album Groundwork. Te Manu Taki Tuauki o te Tau | Best Classical Artist Tūī was awarded to Michael Norris for his Rerenga collection of chamber and orchestral music spanning 2015–2022.
Te Taumata o te Toi | Best Album Artwork was awarded to Nick Keller for his work for Beastwars album The Ship // The Sea. NZ On Air Te Taumata o te Ataata | Best Music Video Content was won by Stella Reid for ‘Scared Old Men’ by Dick Move. The band also delivered a high energy live performance featuring the song.
Te Taumata o te Hokona | Highest Selling Artist was won by Six60 for the eighth time in a row. NZ On Air Te Taumata o te Horapa | Radio Airplay Record of the Year was won by RIIKI REID for her hit single ‘Over Romantic’. The artist performed a rework of the track with a troupe of dancers.
Che Fu was inducted into Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa | New Zealand Music Hall of Fame by Recorded Music NZ. The hip hop legend was welcomed to Te Whare by his longtime hero Betty-Anne Hall, the voice of Ardijah – who only recently released her first solo album, Slow Burn. Che closed out the night with a medley of some of his most iconic tracks, accompanied by the current iteration of his longtime band The Kratez.
Fat Freddy’s Drop was celebrated as the 2026 recipient of the Aotearoa Charts Icon award, introduced in 2025. The taonga acknowledges the group’s success in the Official Aotearoa Music Charts over the course of their career – an impressive, ongoing run that has seen them release eight acclaimed studio albums, four of which went to #1 on the Top 40.
Marlon Williams, Lorde and 2025 People’s Choice Tūī winners Devilskin were also acknowledged with the first-ever Aotearoa Charts #1 awards, for going to #1 on the Official Top 40 in 2025.
Recorded Music New Zealand CEO Jo Oliver says;
“Congratulations to all winners at the 2026 Aotearoa Music Awards. These incredible artists are resonating with audiences both locally and overseas.
“Recorded Music NZ is proud to promote and champion New Zealand artists and music through the Aotearoa Music Awards and the Official Aotearoa Music Charts, celebrating success and shining a spotlight on emerging talent.”
AMA 2026 was co-hosted by return host Kara Rickard, and comedian and actor Tom Sainsbury. The event was livestreamed via AMA Official Media Partner RNZ and is available to view on the RNZ Music YouTube channel. The broadcast is brought to our screens with the invaluable support of sponsorship and broadcast partner Irirangi Te Motu | NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho.