13, 2026, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. An old-fashioned record player plays in the office of Mikey Shulman, one of the founders of AI music generator startup Suno, Tuesday, Jan. Bukaty)
The Australian Recording Industry Association has rewritten its Charts Code of Practice, and the change kicks in with the ARIA chart dated August 31. A version of Madonna’s Like a Prayer by Queensland DJ Josh Fawaz, made with AI-generated vocals and drums, has spent 16 weeks in the Australian top 20. 2 in May, was still sitting at No. 4 this week, became the most-played track on Australian radio and has crossed 48 million streams on Spotify alone. The rules come from principles the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry published in July, which more than 20 official chart programmes are adopting, with rollouts across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Songs where the machine did the actual creative work are out, and ARIA says the point is to “promote the human nature of artistry” in what it calls the most crowded market artists have ever had to fight through. Australia’s official music charts will stop counting songs built entirely by artificial intelligence. Songs that use AI as a helper are still welcome. The timing is not a coincidence. It peaked at No. Fawaz described AI as a tool and added generative AI credits to the listing only after the criticism started. Mastering, drum machines and auto-tune are all still fine. Anything using generative AI has to be substantially human made, has to be produced with licensed AI services, and must raise no stream or chart manipulation concerns. Artists now declare their AI use when they submit a song. Australia is following a template, not writing one. ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd has asked Australian radio to write similar rules of its own, which is the real test given how the Fawaz track spread.
Sweden pulled an AI-made song from its charts earlier this year.