ARIA Award for Best Adult Alternative Album

CountryAustralia

Presented byAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA)

First award1994

Final award2016

ARIA Award for Best Adult Alternative Album
2016 winner Sarah Blasko
Country	Australia
Presented by	Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA)
First award	1994
Final award	2016
Currently held by	Sarah Blasko, Eternal Return (2016)
Most wins	Regurgitator and You Am I (2 each)
Most nominations	You Am I (5)
Website	ariaawards.com.au

The ARIA Music Award for Best Adult Alternative Album was an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres",^[1] and have been given by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) since 1987.^[2]

To be eligible for this award, the album must be of an Adult Alternative genre by solo artists and groups; only album recordings are eligible; recordings must be directed toward Adult Alternative formats; the recording cannot be entered in any other genre category. Best Adult Alternative Album was judged by a specialist judging school of representatives experienced with the genre.^[3]

Best Adult Alternative Album was first handed out in 1994. Up until 2001 it was called Best Alternative Release, which was awarded for an album or single release. From 2002 to 2009 the award was discontinued before being reinstated in 2010 as Best Adult Alternative Album. Again, from 2012 to 2015, the award was not presented until the 2016 awards and did not return the following year.

You Am I and Regurgitator were the only artists to win twice in this category. You Am I received the most nominations with five, followed by Dirty Three, Regurgitator and Spiderbait with three and Magic Dirt, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Something for Kate with two. Martyn P. Casey, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis and Jim Sclavunos have earned three nominations each as members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. Ellis was the only musician nominated as part of two acts in the same year, as in 1997 he was nominated as a member of both Dirty Three and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Only six solo acts were nominated for the award, with one artist, Sarah Blasko, winning in 2016 for her album Eternal Return.