2025 Aotearoa Music Awards

2025 Aotearoa Music Awards
The stage at the 2024 awards ceremony
Awarded for	Excellence in New Zealand music
Date	29 May 2025 (2025-05-29)
Location	Viaduct Events Centre
Presented by	Recorded Music NZ
Hosted by	Jesse Mulligan & Kara Rickard
Reward	Tūī trophy
Website	Official website
Television/radio coverage
Network	Radio NZ, TVNZ+
←  2024  · Aotearoa Music Awards · 2026 →

See also: Aotearoa Music Awards

The 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards was the 58th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for New Zealand music recording artists, and the 60th anniversary of the awards. ^[1] The ceremony took place on 29 May 2025 at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland and was hosted by Radio NZ presenters Jesse Mulligan and Kara Rickard.

The awards were live streamed by Radio New Zealand, and made available to watch the next day on TVNZ+. ^[2]

The event was notable due to an incident where Chris Bishop was recorded calling a performance by Stan Walker "a load of crap" and the audience applause "performative acclaim". ^[3] Bishop declined to apologise for the comments, saying he was frustrated by the "politicisation" of the performance, but admitted he should have kept it to himself. Bishop acknowledged he had consumed alcohol but denied he was intoxicated. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

Nominees and winners

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). ^{[7] [8]}

Album of the Year Te Tino Pukaemi o te Tau	Single of the Year Te Tino Waiata Tōtahi o te Tau
Fazerdaze – Soft Power‡ Aaradhna – Sweet Surrender Anna Coddington – Te Whakamiha CHAII – Safar Georgia Lines – The Rose Of Jericho Jordan Rakei – The Loop Kaylee Bell – Nights Like This L.A.B – L.A.B VI Mel Parsons – Sabotage MOKOTRON – WAEREA Tami Neilson – Neilson Sings Nelson Troy Kingi – Leathermanand the Mojave Green	Lorde – "Girl, So Confusing featuring Lorde" (Charli XCX, Lorde)‡ Cassie Henderson – "Seconds To Midnight (11.59)" CHAII – "We Be Killing It" Fazerdaze – "Cherry Pie" Georgia Lines – "The Letter" JessB – "Power" (feat. Sister Nancy & Sampa the Great) Kaylee Bell – "Cowboy Up" MOKOMOKAI – "KUPE" feat. MELODOWNZ Reb Fountain – "Come Down" Stan Walker – "Māori Ki Te Ao" Theia – "BALDH3AD!" Troy Kingi – "Silicone Booby Trap"
Best Solo Artist Te Tino Reo o te Tau	Best Group Te Tino Kāhui Manu Taki o te Tau
Fazerdaze – Soft Power‡ Aaradhna – Sweet Surrender Georgia Lines – The Rose Of Jericho Kaylee Bell – Nights Like This MOKOTRON – WAEREA Stan Walker	Earth Tongue – Great Haunting‡ Corrella – Skeletons DARTZ – Dangerous Day To Be A Cold One Foley L.A.B – L.A.B VI SKILAA – Tiger In The River
Best Māori Artist Te Manu Taki Māori o te Tau	Mana Reo Te Mangai Pāho Mana Reo
Stan Walker ‡ Anna Coddington – Te Whakamiha Corrella – Skeletons Jordyn with a Why – Hibiscus Moon, Love & Justice MOHI TAWAZ	Stan Walker – "Māori Ki Te Ao"‡ Anna Coddington – Te Whakamiha Haami Tuari – Taku Kaenga Jordyn with a Why – "Reia" TAWAZ – "Tātarakihi" (feat. MOHI) Tuari Brothers – "Higher"
Breakthrough Artist of the Year Te Iti Rearea o te Tau	Best Pop Artist Te Manu Taki Arotini o te Tau
Hori Shaw‡ A.R.T DARTZ	Cassie Henderson – The Yellow Chapter‡ Frankie Venter Georgia Lines – The Rose Of Jericho
Best Alternative Artist Te Manu Taki Whanokē o te Tau	Best Soul / RnB Artist Te Manu Taki Manako o te Tau
Jim Nothing – Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn‡ Louisa Nicklin – The Big Sulk Vera Ellen – heartbreak for jetlag	Aaradhna – Sweet Surrender‡ Sam V Stan Walker
Best Hip Hop Artist Te Manu Taki Ātete o te Tau	Best Roots Artist Te Manu Taki Taketake o te Tau
David Dallas – Vita‡ Jujulipps – Superstar RNZŌ	Corrella – Skeletons‡ Christoph El Truento – Dubs From The Neighbourhood Lomez Brown
Best Rock Artist Te Manu Taki Rakapioi o te Tau	Best Electronic Artist Te Manu Taki Tāhiko o te Tau
DARTZ – Dangerous Day To Be A Cold One‡ Devilskin – Surfacing Troy Kingi – Leatherman And The Mojave Green	MOKOTRON – WAEREA‡ CHAII – Safar Lee Mvtthews – EXIT
Best Classical Artist Te Manu Taki Tuauki o te Tau	Te Manu Mātarae
Jian Liu – Where Fairburn Walked‡ Justin DeHart – Towards Midnight: NZ Percussion Vol 2 Michael Houstoun – The Well-Tempered Clavier	9lives L.A.B

Additional awards

The following awards were also presented:

Best Country Artist Te Manu Taki Tuawhenua o te Tau	Best Folk Artist Te Manu Taki Ahurea o te Tau
Tami Neilson – Neilson Sings Nelson‡ Barry Saunders and Delaney Davidson – Happiness Is Near Kaylee Bell – Nights Like This	Holly Arrowsmith – Blue Dreams‡ Kerryn Fields – The Folk Singer Mel Parsons – Sabotage
Best Children's Music Artist Te Manu Taki Kerekahu o te Tau	Best Jazz Artist (Te Kaipuoro Tautito Toa)
Claudia Robin Gunn‡	Lucien Johnson – Ancient Relics‡ Thabani Gapara – Dzindza Umar Zakaria – Family Music

Artisan awards

Best Album Artwork Te Taumata o te Toi	Best Music Video Content Te Taumata o te Ataata
Matt Sinclair – Neilson Sings Nelson (Tami Neilson)‡ Emma Hercus – Sabotage (Mel Parsons) Natalie King, Chris Schmelz – Uneven Ground (Death and the Maiden)	Oscar Keys, Ezra Simons, Kristin Li – "Paradise" (DARTZ)‡ CHAII – "Night Like This" (CHAII) Night Watch – "Nightshift" (Jujulipps)
Best Producer Te Taumata o te Kaiwhakaputa	Best Engineer Te Taumata o te Pūkenga Oro
Nic Manders – The Rose Of Jericho (Georgia Lines)‡ CHAII, Frank Keys – Safar (CHAII) Rory Noble	Simon Gooding – Safar (CHAII)‡ Emily Wheatcroft – Snape, Amelia Murray – Soft Power (Fazerdaze) Nic Manders – The Rose Of Jericho (Georgia Lines)

Special awards

People's Choice Award Tā te Iwi
Devilskin ‡
Highest Selling Artist Te Taumata o te Hokona
Six60 ‡
Radio Airplay Record of the Year Te Taumata o te Horapa
"Take It Away" – L.A.B ‡

References

1. Holmes, Stephanie (25 May 2025). "'A beautiful thing': 60 years of the Aotearoa Music Awards and why they remain vital". NZ Herald . Retrieved 10 November 2025.
2. Simich, Ricardo (29 May 2024). "Spy shares all the buzz ahead of the Aotearoa Music Awards". NZ Herald . Retrieved 20 July 2025.
3. Gallot, Eva (30 May 2025). "National MP Chris Bishop calls Stan Walker's AMA performance 'a load of crap'". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
4. Manch, Thomas (3 June 2025). "Chris Bishop won't apologise for calling Stan Walker performance 'crap'". The Post . Retrieved 6 June 2025.
5. "'What a load of crap': Chris Bishop caught 'ranting' during Stan Walker's Aotearoa Music Awards performance". RNZ. 30 May 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
6. Dunlop, Mani. "'Load of crap' Minister Chris Bishop on Stan Walker AMA performance". Te Ao Māori News. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
7. Solomon, Serena (8 April 2025). "The finalists for the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards". Radio NZ . Retrieved 28 July 2025.
8. Emhail, Isra'a (30 May 2025). "Aotearoa Music Awards 2025: Fazerdaze re-emerges on top". One News.

External links

• Official website