Recorded Music NZ marks a milestone in vinyl’s revival with the release of a one-off set of Official Aotearoa Music Vinyl Charts, launched alongside The Long Play, a new podcast exploring the warped history of vinyl in Aotearoa from Charlotte Ryan and The Spinoff.

The charts capture the top vinyl albums and artists across New Zealand between 2003 and 2025, reflecting the format’s return to significance over that time. The Long Play is a four-part series tracing vinyl’s journey from its 19th Century origins to its digital era resurgence, featuring voices from across the music industry, including artists, historians, retailers and label heads.

Recorded Music’s Director of Data & Analysis Paul Kennedy features in the podcast, and offers some more context for the vinyl charts, and recent trends on the Aotearoa Charts website

Listen to the podcast here

Check out the Top 40 Vinyl Charts
Check out the Top 20 Aotearoa Vinyl Charts

We are pleased to confirm that our 2025 distribution has been finalised. We are distributing a total of $12.025 million to rights holders and recording artists, with $2.129 million of that allocated to Aotearoa recordings.

At the time of this distribution we are part way through a two year project to upgrade to a new system. The new system has been developed for us by PPL, our equivalent collective management organisation in the UK, and is supported by services delivered by PPL.

We are confident the new system will deliver a positive step change but appreciate that some of you have experienced transitional issues this year. We thank you for your patience and please rest assured that the team is working hard to resolve any glitches and to get set up for next year’s distribution.

The new system will mean new ways of working and later this year we will be launching a new portal (“My Recorded Music”). The portal will give rights holders and artists greater visibility and more control over managing repertoire and other details. You will hear more about this soon and we will be asking everyone to log in to the portal to register tracks and to keep us updated.

Read on below for some further notes. Our sincere thanks to our licence partners OneMusic and to the team at PPL for their hard work to help us deliver this distribution.

• As set out in our Annual Report, the 2025 distribution total is lower than 2024 due to two key factors. There are changes in the timing of income from OneMusic, our public performance licence partner, and we are also carrying more costs than usual due to investing in the new distribution system. These factors continue through 2025 and mean that the 2026 distribution will also be lower than 2024 levels. Rest assured that we are doing our best to manage these factors and to maximise the distribution to rights holders and artists, which we expect to see grow again in 2027
• If you are due a payment, but have not yet received it, please check that you have confirmed your bank and payment details in response to the email we sent recently from payments@recordedmusic.co.nz
• The distribution has been allocated according to our Distribution Policy and Transitional Schedule which can be viewed here
• As always if you have any questions or concerns please contact memberservices@recordedmusic.co.nz and bear with us as we work through your queries

Kirikiriroa heavy rockers Devilskin entered the Official Top40 Albums Chart at #1 on Friday with RE-EVOLUTION. RE-EVOLUTION is the band’s third album to top the charts, following in the footsteps of We Rise (2014) and Be Like The River (2016).

The placing makes Devilskin the third artist from Aotearoa to reach #1 on the Top 40 Albums Chart so far in 2025.  The other albums to do so are Marlon Williams’ Te Whare Tīwekaweka and Lorde’s Virgin.  The other 2025 Aotearoa number one is Lorde’s single What Was That.

Recorded Music NZ CEO Jo Oliver says:

“Congratulations to Devilskin on RE-EVOLUTION entering at number 1 in the Top40 Albums Chart. Reaching no.1 in the Albums Chart is a pinnacle achievement for NZ artists and the fact that this is the band’s third album to do so is testament to their longevity and ever-growing fanbase.”

Devilskin’s three #1 albums puts them in fine company, as they move to third on the all-time list of #1 albums by local rock acts behind only the Feelers (with four) and Shihad (five).

RE-EVOLUTION, produced by Dave Rhodes, also leads the Top20 NZ Albums Chart, the band’s fifth to do that. Over a 15-year career, Devilskin has now spent an impressive 276 weeks in the NZ Top20 Albums chart and they continue to be a fan favourite, recently winning the JD Sports Tā Te Iwi | People’s Choice Award at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards and delighting audiences on an 11-date national tour with Villainy and Midwave Breaks.

View this week’s Charts in full here

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About the Charts & AMA
The Official Aotearoa Music Charts reflect the most popular singles and albums in Aotearoa each week. They are the only charts endorsed by the music industry and are compiled according to globally recognised guidelines. The Charts are compiled by Recorded Music NZ and published at 4pm every Friday – the first to be published in the world each week.

The Aotearoa Music Awards (AMA) is the annual showcase for the music industry, celebrating artists and music from Aotearoa. Recorded Music NZ produces AMA and acts as its kaitiaki – in 2025 we are celebrating 60 years of the awards and 50 years of the Official Music Charts.

As a result of our ongoing system changes –

• 2025 payments will not be advised on 30 June. We intend to make payments available by the end of July. We know it’s important to you to receive your payment as soon as possible and rest assured that the Recorded Music team is working hard to ensure that’s the case
• No invoice will be needed for you to collect your 2025 distribution payment. Shortly we will be in contact to ask you to confirm your payment and bank account details. No action is required from you today.

Find out more here

Recorded Music NZ represents 4,670 recording artists and 3,665 rights holders in Aotearoa through licensing, advocacy and promotion. We produce the Aotearoa Music Awards and Official Aotearoa Music Charts.

Recorded Music is a key player in the music ecosystem in New Zealand and supports the protection of Western Springs as a large-capacity natural music venue. Western Springs Stadium (and Outerfields) is already a unique, iconic venue for a wide range of activities, and it’s our strong view that utilising the natural landscape in an enhanced way to further establish the space as a multipurpose outdoor venue in central Tāmaki Makaurau is not only important for our artists and other stakeholders, but that it would prove an important cultural asset on the whole.

The stadium in its existing form has to date successfully hosted some of the biggest concerts to come through Auckland, including international acts like Bob Marley and Post Malone, festivals like Big Day Out and Laneway, and local act Six60’s record-breaking 2019 concert. We are excited at the prospect of a permanent soundstage at the site, as well as the expansion and improvement of the existing community sport facilities.

Rather than fully privatise what is an important community hub, we support the imperatives of Option 2, to protect it as a community and cultural asset and build on what it already provides to Aucklanders. This proposal is for a low-impact development that will also be less disruptive for residents in the area than the proposed Option 1, while increasing the cultural cache of the area and city and contributing to the economy of both.

Recorded Music’s 2024 Annual Report has been published. It includes the organisation’s financial results for 2024, overviews of changes to the Aotearoa Music Awards and Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and a wealth of other information about the year that was.

View the report

Yesterday we provided a statement to RNZ relating to the actions of one of our guests at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards on Thursday night, and we wanted to share it with you below. We loved celebrating all the finalists, winners and our music community at the event and enjoying the incredible performances. Māori ki te ao!

The inappropriate comments made by Hon. Chris Bishop during Stan Walker’s performance have no place at the Aotearoa Music Awards.  

Aotearoa Music Awards is committed to creating a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for everyone involved and our expectations were clearly communicated to all who attended the event.   

The Awards respect and honour te ao Māori and we were proud to support Stan with his vision for his powerful rendition of Māori Ki Te Ao.