The ARIA Music Award for Best Urban Album, was an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It was handed out by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), 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 Best Urban Album.
To be eligible, the work must have been within the RnB, hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae and dancehall genres. In the case of a remixed or re-worked album, it was eligible provided that: it was not a final five nominee in any other category; contain 50% new lyrical and musical content; the artist(s) 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 was 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 their album Part 3 - Random Thoughts. Hilltop Hoods won all six of their nominations, more than any other artist, for The Hard Road in 2006, The Hard Road: Restrung in 2007, State of the Art in 2009, Drinking from the Sun in 2012, Walking Under Stars in 2014 and the final award, as Best Urban Release, for "Clark Griswold" along with featured artist Adrian Eagle in 2018.ARIA Award previous winners. Drapht was the only other artist to win multiple awards in this category, winning both his nominations for The Life of Riley in 2011 and Seven Mirrors in 2016. It was replaced by two categories, Best Hip Hop Release and Best Soul/R&B Release, in 2019.
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) Year Winner(s) Album/single title 2004 Koolism Part 3 - Random Thoughts 1200 Techniques Consistency Theory Daniel Merriweather "City Rules" The Cat Empire The Cat Empire J Wess J Wess Presents Tha LP 2005 Daniel Merriweather "She's Got Me" Butterfingers "Figjam" Jade MacRae "So Hot Right Now" Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets Joel Turner and the Modern Day Poets Weapon X and Ken Hell "Otherman" 2006 Hilltop Hoods The Hard Road Bliss n Eso "Up Jumped the Boogie" Jade MacRae Jade MacRae Phrase Talk with Force Weapon X and Ken Hell Sneakerpimpin' Ain't Easy 2007 Hilltop Hoods The Hard Road: Restrung Bliss n Eso Day of the Dog Phazed Out Foreign Heights Get Yours Remix Jackson Jackson The Fire Is on the Bird Justice & Kaos Turn It On 2008 Bliss n Eso Flying Colours A-Love Ace of Hearts Katalyst What's Happening Muph & Plutonic ...And Then Tomorrow Came Spit Syndicate Towards the Light The Herd Summerland 2009 Hilltop Hoods State of the Art Astronomy Class Pursuit of Happiness Horrorshow The Grey Space Pez A Mind of My Own Phrase Clockwork
Best Urban Album (2010–2017) Year Winner(s) Album title 2010 M-Phazes Good Gracious Bliss n Eso Running on Air Lowrider Round the World Space Invadas Soul-Fi Urthboy Spitshine 2011 Drapht The Life of Riley Illy The Chase Koolism The 'Umu Phrase Babylon Vents Marked for Death 2012 Hilltop Hoods Drinking from the Sun 360 Falling & Flying Katalyst Deep Impressions The Bamboos Medicine Man The Herd Future Shade 2013 Illy Bring It Back Bliss n Eso Circus in the Sky Horrorshow King Amongst Many Seth Sentry This Was Tomorrow Urthboy Smokey's Haunt 2014 Hilltop Hoods Walking Under Stars 360 Utopia Iggy Azalea The New Classic Illy Cinematic Thundamentals So We Can Remember 2015 Seth Sentry Strange New Past Citizen Kay Demokracy Hiatus Kaiyote Choose Your Weapon The Meeting Tree R U a Cop Tuka Life Death Time Eternal 2016 Drapht Seven Mirrors Citizen Kay With The People Koi Child Koi Child L-FRESH The LION Become Urthboy The Past Beats Inside Me Like a Second Heartbeat 2017 A.B. Original Reclaim Australia Illy Two Degrees Remi Divas & Demons Thundamentals Everyone We Know Tkay Maidza Tkay
Best Urban Release (2018) Year Winner(s) Album/single title 2018 Hilltop Hoods (featuring Adrian Eagle) "Clark Griswold" 360 Vintage Modern Esoterik My Astral Plane Kerser Engraved in the Game Mojo Juju Native Tongue
Artists with multiple wins 6 wins Hilltop Hoods
2 wins Drapht
Artists with multiple nominations 6 nominations Esoterik Hilltop Hoods
5 nominations Bliss n Eso
4 nominations Illy
3 nominations 360 Phrase Tuka Urthboy
2 nominations
Notes
References
External links The ARIA Awards Official website