ARIA Award for Best Urban Album


The ARIA Music Award for Best Urban Album, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Industry Association, an organisation whose aim is "to advance the interests of the Australian record industry." Best Urban Album was first presented as "Best Urban Release" in 2004, for an album or single released by a solo artist or group until 2010, where it changed to its current name.
To be eligible, the album must be within the RnB, hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae and dancehall genres. In the case of a remixed or re-worked album, it is eligible provided that: it is not a final five nominee in any other category; contain 50% new lyrical and musical content; the artist and production team meet the artist eligibility criteria; and the ARIA member entering the album must choose the artist or production team as the recipient of the award. The nominated album must qualify for inclusion in the ARIA Album Chart, and cannot be entered in any other genre categories. The accolade is voted for by a judging school, which comprises between 40 and 100 members of representatives experienced in this genre, and is given to an artist who is either from Australia or an Australian resident.
The award for Best Urban Album was first presented as Best Urban Release to Koolism in 2004, for his album Part 3 - Random Thoughts. Hilltop Hoods have received five wins from five nominations, more than any other artist, for The Hard Road in 2006, in 2007, State of the Art in 2009, Drinking from the Sun in 2012 and Walking Under Stars in 2014.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the winner is highlighted in a separate colour, and in boldface; the nominees are those that are not highlighted or in boldface.

Best Urban Release (2004–2009)

Best Urban Album (2010–2017)

Best Urban Release (2018)

Best Hip Hop Release (2019-)