# ARIA Award for Best Adult Alternative Album

The ARIA Music Award for Best Adult Alternative Album is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", and have been given by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) since 1987.
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 is judged by a specialist judging school of representatives experienced with the genre.
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 under its current name. Again, from 2012 to 2015 the award was not presented until 2016 awards, the most recent ceremony.
You Am I and Regurgitator have won the most awards in this category with two each. You Am I have 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. Since the award's inception only six solo acts have been nominated with one artist, Sarah Blasko, winning in 2016 for her album Eternal Return.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years are listed as per the ARIA Award ceremony.
Table key :
| ‡ | Indicates the winner |
| Year | Artist | Album title | Ref. |
| 1994 (8th) | You Am I‡ | Sound as Ever | |
| 1994 (8th) | The Clouds | Thunderhead | |
| 1994 (8th) | Crow | My Kind of Pain | |
| 1994 (8th) | The Cruel Sea | The Honeymoon Is Over | |
| 1994 (8th) | Dave Graney & the Coral Snakes | Night of the Wolverine | |
| 1995 (9th) | You Am I‡ | Hi Fi Way | |
| 1995 (9th) | Custard | Wahooti Fandango | |
| 1995 (9th) | Magic Dirt | Life Was Better | |
| 1995 (9th) | Regurgitator | Regurgitator | |
| 1995 (9th) | Silverchair | Frogstomp | |
| 1996 (10th) | Regurgitator‡ | Tu-Plang | |
| 1996 (10th) | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Murder Ballads | |
| 1996 (10th) | Pollyanna | Long Player | |
| 1996 (10th) | Spiderbait | The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake | |
| 1996 (10th) | You Am I | Hourly, Daily | |
| 1997 (11th) | Spiderbait‡ | Ivy and the Big Apples | |
| 1997 (11th) | Dirty Three | Horse Stories | |
| 1997 (11th) | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | The Boatman's Call | |
| 1997 (11th) | The Fauves | Future Spa | |
| 1997 (11th) | Powderfinger | Double Allergic | |
| 1998 (12th) | Regurgitator‡ | Unit | |
| 1998 (12th) | Dirty Three | Ocean Songs | |
| 1998 (12th) | The Living End | "Second Solution / Prisoner of Society" | |
| 1998 (12th) | The Paradise Motel | Flight Paths | |
| 1998 (12th) | You Am I | #4 Record | |
| 1999 (13th) | Not from There‡ | Sand on Seven | |
| 1999 (13th) | Gerling | Children of Telepathic Experiences | |
| 1999 (13th) | Tim Rogers | What Rhymes with Cars and Girls | |
| 1999 (13th) | Something for Kate | Beautiful Sharks | |
| 1999 (13th) | Spiderbait | Grand Slam | |
| 1999 (13th) | Tendrils | Soaking Red | |
| 2000 (14th) | Dirty Three‡ | Whatever You Love, You Are | |
| 2000 (14th) | 28 Days | "Rip It Up" | |
| 2000 (14th) | David Bridie | Act of Free Choice | |
| 2000 (14th) | Nokturnl | "Neva Mend" | |
| 2000 (14th) | Tumbleweed | Mumbo Jumbo | |
| 2001 (15th) | Art of Fighting‡ | Wires | |
| 2001 (15th) | Big Heavy Stuff | Size of the Ocean | |
| 2001 (15th) | Magic Dirt | What Are Rockstars Doing Today | |
| 2001 (15th) | Something for Kate | Echolalia | |
| 2001 (15th) | You Am I | Dress Me Slowly | |
| 2002 - 2009 | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. |
| 2010 (24th) | Angus & Julia Stone‡ | Down the Way | |
| 2010 (24th) | Basement Birds | Basement Birds | |
| 2010 (24th) | Clare Bowditch | Modern Day Addiction | |
| 2010 (24th) | The Cat Empire | Cinema | |
| 2010 (24th) | Washington | I Believe You Liar | |
| 2010 (24th) | Whitley | Go Forth, Find Mammoth | |
| 2011 (25th) | Boy & Bear‡ | Moonfire | |
| 2011 (25th) | Grinderman | Grinderman 2 | |
| 2011 (25th) | Little Red | Midnight Remember | |
| 2011 (25th) | Seeker Lover Keeper | Seeker Lover Keeper | |
| 2011 (25th) | The Panics | Rain on the Humming Wire | |
| 2012 - 2015 | No award given. | No award given. | No award given. |
| 2016 (30th) | Sarah Blasko‡ | Eternal Return | |
| 2016 (30th) | Jarryd James | Thirty One | |
| 2016 (30th) | Matt Corby | Telluric | |
| 2016 (30th) | Peter Garrett | A Version of Now | |
| 2016 (30th) | The Temper Trap | Thick as Thieves | |