Marlon Williams was the biggest winner at the 2026 Aotearoa Music Awards.
After dominating the nominations in April, Williams once again led the way at tonight’s Auckland ceremony with three wins.
Thanks to his deeply personal album Te Whare Tīwekaweka, his first fully te reo Māori album, Williams won Album of the Year, Single of the Year, and Best Solo Artist, while Mark Perkins also won Best Engineer for his work on the record.
Williams was present at tonight’s ceremony to collect his multiple awards. For the big one, Album of the Year, he was welcomed to the stage by a Kapa haka, appearing visibly emotional as it was performed.
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“I’m absolutely humbled by what a beautiful night that it’s been,” Williams said at the start of his Album of the Year speech.
“Didn’t expect all of this, but here we are,” he added, before welcoming his band, the Yarra Benders, onto the stage with him to receive their flowers.
Other major awards went to The Beths (Best Group) and Lorde (Best Pop Artist and International Achievement), while Ché Fu was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame on the night.
Te Whare Tīwekaweka topped our Best New Zealand Albums of 2025 list, seeing off strong competition from albums by Geneva AM, The Beths, Theia, and many more.
The album also made it into our Best New Zealand Album of the 2020s So Far list in the middle of last year. “Perhaps recency bias is a factor, but Marlon Williams’ most personal release to date already feels like an Aotearoa classic,” we wrote.
“Te Whare Tīwekaweka is the album we’ve all been waiting for from Marlon Williams — a stunning ode to love, life, and connection, sung entirely in te reo Māori,”our album review read.
One of the album’s standout tracks, “Aua Atu Rā”, featured in our Best Australian & New Zealand Songs of the 21st Century So Far countdown last year, despite only being released in 2025.
“Aua Atu Rā” is its [Te Whare Tīwekaweka] high point, a swaying song inspired by ’60s Māori showbands that acted as a ‘guiding light’ for the full album,” we wrote.
“Williams and his collaborator KOMMI deservedly won this year’s Silver Scroll Award for ‘Aua Atu Rā’. Both it and Te Whare Tīwekaweka are already modern Aotearoa classics.”
