COULD Rihanna be the most unlikely winner of the Australian Song Of The Year?
Her chart-topper Diamonds has made the Top 30 shortlist for the annual APRA Song Of The Year because it was co-written by Australian pop hitmaker Sia Furler.
Australia’s finest songwriters made the cut for the prestigious award which is voted by up to 85,000 members of the copyright body.
Husband and wife duo Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Missy Higgins and Gotye – who won last year with Somebody That I Used To Know – are among the composers who scored two nominations for the coveted trophy.
In one of the strongest fields to contest the Song Of The Year are a raft of emerging independent talent including Flume, Courtney Barnett and The Rubens.
Established artists from across the genre divide including eletcropop kings The Presets and soaring anthemic rockers Birds of Tokyo and The Temper Trap are also in the running.
While they struggle to get peer recognition at the ARIA Awards, the writing talents of our pop stars Guy Sebastian and Delta Goodrem have found favour with their peers who nominated a song from each artist in the top 30.
The winner of the Song Of The Year will be announced at the annual APRA Awards in Melbourne on June 17