ARIA Award for Album of the Year
The ARIA Music Award for Album of the Year, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Industry Association, an organisation whose aim is "to advance the interests of the Australian record industry." The award is handed out to an Australian group or solo artist who have had an album appear in the ARIA Top 100 Albums Chart between the eligibility period, and is voted for by a judging academy, which consists of 1000 members from different areas of the music industry. Powderfinger have won the award the most times with three wins for Internationalist, Odyssey Number Five and Vulture Street, just like they did the same thing as Best Rock Album.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the winner is highlighted in a separate colour, and in boldface; the nominees are those that are not highlighted or in boldface.| Year | Winner | Album Title |
| 1987 | - | - |
| 1987 | John Farnham | Whispering Jack |
| 1987 | Crowded House | Crowded House |
| 1987 | Hunters & Collectors | Human Frailty |
| 1987 | Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls | Gossip |
| 1987 | Spy vs Spy | A.O. Mod. TV. Vers. |
| 1988 | Icehouse | Man of Colours |
| 1989 | - | - |
| 1989 | Crowded House | Temple of Low Men |
| 1989 | 1927 | ...ish |
| 1989 | Big Pig | Bonk |
| 1989 | The Black Sorrows | Hold On To Me |
| 1989 | John Farnham | Age of Reason |
| 1990 | - | - |
| 1990 | Ian Moss | Matchbook |
| 1990 | Kate Ceberano | Brave |
| 1990 | Stephen Cummings | A New Kind of Blue |
| 1990 | Hunters & Collectors | Ghost Nation |
| 1990 | Paul Kelly & The Messengers | So Much Water So Close To Home |
| 1991 | - | - |
| 1991 | Midnight Oil | Blue Sky Mining |
| 1991 | The Black Sorrows | Harley and Rose |
| 1991 | John Farnham | Chain Reaction |
| 1991 | INXS | X |
| 1991 | Margaret Urlich | Safety in Numbers |
| 1992 | - | - |
| 1992 | Baby Animals | Baby Animals |
| 1992 | Crowded House | Woodface |
| 1992 | Deborah Conway | String of Pearls |
| 1992 | Died Pretty | Doughboy Hollow |
| 1992 | Jimmy Barnes | Soul Deep |
| 1993 | - | - |
| 1993 | Diesel | Hepfidelity |
| 1993 | Ed Kuepper | Black Ticket Day |
| 1993 | Hunters & Collectors | Cut |
| 1993 | Rockmelons | Form 1 Planet |
| 1993 | Wendy Matthews | Lily |
| 1994 | - | - |
| 1994 | The Cruel Sea | The Honeymoon Is Over |
| 1994 | The Badloves | Get On Board |
| 1994 | Crowded House | Together Alone |
| 1994 | Diesel | The Lobbyist |
| 1994 | John Farnham | Then Again |
| 1995 | - | - |
| 1995 | Tina Arena | Don't Ask |
| 1995 | Christine Anu | Stylin' Up |
| 1995 | The Cruel Sea | Three Legged Dog |
| 1995 | Silverchair | Frogstomp |
| 1995 | You Am I | Hi Fi Way |
| 1996 | - | - |
| 1996 | You Am I | Hourly, Daily |
| 1996 | Finn | Finn |
| 1996 | John Farnham | Romeo's Heart |
| 1996 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Murder Ballads |
| 1996 | Regurgitator | Tu-Plang |
| 1997 | - | - |
| 1997 | Savage Garden | Savage Garden |
| 1997 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | The Boatman's Call |
| 1997 | Powderfinger | Double Allergic |
| 1997 | Silverchair | Freak Show |
| 1997 | Spiderbait | Ivy and the Big Apples |
| 1998 | - | - |
| 1998 | Regurgitator | Unit |
| 1998 | Kylie Minogue | Impossible Princess |
| 1998 | Natalie Imbruglia | Left of the Middle |
| 1998 | The Whitlams | Eternal Nightcap |
| 1998 | You Am I | #4 Record |
| 1999 | - | - |
| 1999 | Powderfinger | Internationalist |
| 1999 | Ben Lee | Breathing Tornados |
| 1999 | The Living End | The Living End |
| 1999 | Silverchair | Neon Ballroom |
| 1999 | Spiderbait | Grand Slam |
| 2000 | - | - |
| 2000 | Killing Heidi | Reflector |
| 2000 | Alex Lloyd | Black the Sun |
| 2000 | David Bridie | Act of Free Choice |
| 2000 | Savage Garden | Affirmation |
| 2000 | Shihad | The General Electric |
| 2001 | - | - |
| 2001 | Powderfinger | Odyssey Number Five |
| 2001 | The Avalanches | Since I Left You |
| 2001 | Kylie Minogue | Light Years |
| 2001 | Something for Kate | Echolalia |
| 2001 | You Am I | Dress Me Slowly |
| 2002 | - | - |
| 2002 | Kasey Chambers | Barricades & Brickwalls |
| 2002 | Alex Lloyd | Watching Angels Mend |
| 2002 | George | Polyserena |
| 2002 | Kylie Minogue | Fever |
| 2002 | Silverchair | Diorama |
| 2003 | - | - |
| 2003 | Powderfinger | Vulture Street |
| 2003 | Delta Goodrem | Innocent Eyes |
| 2003 | The Sleepy Jackson | Lovers |
| 2003 | Something for Kate | The Official Fiction |
| 2003 | The Waifs | Up All Night |
| 2004 | - | - |
| 2004 | Jet | Get Born |
| 2004 | The Dissociatives | The Dissociatives |
| 2004 | Eskimo Joe | A Song Is a City |
| 2004 | The John Butler Trio | Sunrise Over Sea |
| 2004 | Kasey Chambers | Wayward Angel |
| 2005 | - | - |
| 2005 | Missy Higgins | The Sound of White |
| 2005 | Ben Lee | Awake Is the New Sleep |
| 2005 | Evermore | Dreams |
| 2005 | Keith Urban | Be Here |
| 2005 | Sarah Blasko | The Overture & the Underscore |
| 2006 | - | - |
| 2006 | Bernard Fanning | Tea & Sympathy |
| 2006 | Augie March | Moo, You Bloody Choir |
| 2006 | Eskimo Joe | Black Fingernails, Red Wine |
| 2006 | The Sleepy Jackson | Personality – One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird |
| 2006 | Wolfmother | Wolfmother |
| 2007 | - | - |
| 2007 | Silverchair | Young Modern |
| 2007 | Gotye | Mixed Blood |
| 2007 | The John Butler Trio | Grand National |
| 2007 | Powderfinger | Dream Days at the Hotel Existence |
| 2007 | Sneaky Sound System | Sneaky Sound System |
| 2008 | - | - |
| 2008 | The Presets | Apocalypso |
| 2008 | Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu | Gurrumul |
| 2008 | Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson | Rattlin' Bones |
| 2008 | The Living End | White Noise |
| 2008 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! |
| 2009 | - | - |
| 2009 | Empire of the Sun | Walking on a Dream |
| 2009 | AC/DC | Black Ice |
| 2009 | Eskimo Joe | Inshalla |
| 2009 | Sarah Blasko | As Day Follows Night |
| 2009 | The Temper Trap | Conditions |
| 2010 | - | - |
| 2010 | Angus & Julia Stone | Down the Way |
| 2010 | Birds of Tokyo | Birds of Tokyo |
| 2010 | Sia | We Are Born |
| 2010 | Tame Impala | InnerSpeaker |
| 2010 | Washington | I Believe You Liar |
| 2011 | - | - |
| 2011 | Boy & Bear | Moonfire |
| 2011 | Cut Copy | Zonoscope |
| 2011 | Eskimo Joe | Ghosts of the Past |
| 2011 | Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu | Rrakala |
| 2011 | Grinderman | Grinderman 2 |
| 2012 | - | - |
| 2012 | Gotye | Making Mirrors |
| 2012 | 360 | Falling & Flying |
| 2012 | Missy Higgins | The Ol' Razzle Dazzle |
| 2012 | The Jezabels | Prisoner |
| 2012 | The Temper Trap | The Temper Trap |
| 2013 | - | - |
| 2013 | Tame Impala | Lonerism |
| 2013 | Birds of Tokyo | March Fires |
| 2013 | Flume | Flume |
| 2013 | Guy Sebastian | Armageddon |
| 2013 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Push the Sky Away |
| 2014 | - | - |
| 2014 | Sia | 1000 Forms of Fear |
| 2014 | Chet Faker | Built on Glass |
| 2014 | Dan Sultan | Blackbird |
| 2014 | Jessica Mauboy | Beautiful |
| 2014 | Sheppard | Bombs Away |
| 2015 | - | - |
| 2015 | Tame Impala | Currents |
| 2015 | Courtney Barnett | Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit |
| 2015 | Flight Facilities | Down to Earth |
| 2015 | Hermitude | Dark Night Sweet Light |
| 2015 | Vance Joy | Dream Your Life Away |
| 2016 | - | - |
| 2016 | Flume | Skin |
| 2016 | RÜFÜS | Bloom |
| 2016 | Sia | This Is Acting |
| 2016 | The Avalanches | Wildflower |
| 2016 | Troye Sivan | Blue Neighbourhood |
| 2017 | - | - |
| 2017 | Gang of Youths | Go Farther in Lightness |
| 2017 | A.B. Original | Reclaim Australia |
| 2017 | Amy Shark | Night Thinker |
| 2017 | Illy | Two Degrees |
| 2017 | Paul Kelly | Life Is Fine |
| 2018 | - | - |
| 2018 | Amy Shark | Love Monster |
| 2018 | Courtney Barnett | Tell Me How You Really Feel |
| 2018 | Gurrumul | Djarimirri |
| 2018 | Pnau | Changa |
| 2018 | Troye Sivan | Bloom |
| 2019 | - | - |
| 2019 | Dean Lewis | A Place We Knew |
| 2019 | Hilltop Hoods | The Great Expanse |
| 2019 | Rüfüs Du Sol | Solace |
| 2019 | The Teskey Brothers | Run Home Slow |
| 2019 | Thelma Plum | Better in Blak |