From the international breakthrough of eight-time nominee Courtney Barnett to Tame Impala's warped psychedelia and Meg Mac's rise, it's been a great year for home-grown music. Before the ARIAs on   November 26, we predict who will (and who should) win the top prizes in Australia's music awards. 
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk!) 
Funny-as, biting-as, Australian-as. With a band that owns each song comfortably, a delivery that is equal parts dry and insouciant, and garage-rock hooks, this translated everywhere around the world.
Flight Facilities, Down To Earth (Future Classic)
A joyous blend of dance, pop, electronics and wit that had more pop hooks per square metre than any album save, maybe, Taylor Swift's.
Hermitude, Dark Night Sweet Light (Elefant Traks)
Missing the comma inserted into Barnett's album title, but that's about the only thing missing in a richly detailed sonic journey that stretches beyond the corridors of electronica or hip-hop.
Tame Impala, Currents (Modular)
Calmer, emotionally open and less rock-driven than before but no less immersed in psychedelia as Kevin Parker warps minds with sudden shifts, carefully structured songs and a strong push towards dance.
Vance Joy, Dream Your Life Away (Liberation Music)
Out of its depth in this company, but the soft-edged songs and warm sentiments sure did sell a lot, thanks mainly to Riptide. If he gets a few more songs like that on an album, this category could be his one day.
SHOULD WIN Some of us had more fun with Flight Facilities than everyone else combined, but Courtney Barnett's perfectly judged tales of the quotidian life will be the defining Australian sound of 2015.
WILL WIN With votes splitting wildly, Courtney Barnett's solid core of excellent will overcome indie wariness and fatigue. BERNARD ZUEL

SONG OF THE YEAR
Conrad Sewell, Start Again (300 Entertainment/Warner Music)
Kylie Minogue turned down this ballad when Sewell was still a songwriter for hire, and he wisely kept it to launch his own career.
Grace, You Don't Own Me feat. G-Eazy (RCA/Sony Music)
And confirming the Sewell family's chart-topping DNA, Conrad's younger sister Grace struck a contemporary chord with a cover of Lesley's Gore's defiant 1963 classic.
Iggy Azalea, Trouble feat. Jennifer Hudson (Mercury Australia/Universal Music)
A top-10 single in a quieter year for the Mullumbimby-born rapper that made good use of a jaunty, retro feel.
Jarryd James, Do You Remember (Jarryd James Music/Dryden Street Limited)
More from Brisbane: a struggling singer-songwriter strikes gold with his debut single, a mournfully immaculate electronic lament.
Marlisa, Stand By You (Sony Music)
A remnant of her 15 minutes of fame, a by-the-numbers paean to resilience from the winner of last year's season of The X Factor.
Nathaniel, Live Louder (Sony Music)
A platinum-record certified success with disco roots from the R&B/pop singer, who also graduated from The X Factor.
Peking Duk, Take Me Over feat. Safia (Vicious Bitch/Universal Music)
A touchstone song of the last festival season, this joyous electro mix took the Canberra duo from Triple J to commercial radio.
Sia, Elastic Heart (Inertia)
A latter single from 1000 Forms of Fear, Album of the Year at the ARIAs 12 month ago, Elastic Heart demonstrated Sia's talent for making the painful resonant.
The Veronicas, You Ruin Me (Sony Music)
A great complement to their early teenage pop assertiveness, a piano ballad of regret and reconsideration.
Vance Joy, Georgia (Liberation Music)
A sweetly plangent folk-rock tune from the Melbourne musician about to support Taylor Swift in Australian stadiums.
SHOULD WIN Conrad Sewell's Start Again was quite the introduction, but Peking Duk's Take Me Over was impressive even when ubiquitous.
WILL WIN This category is voted by the public, so who can get their fanbase motivated? Don't be surprised if it's the Veronicas. CRAIG MATHIESON

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST RELEASE
Conrad Sewell, Start Again (300 Entertainment/Warner Music)
The Brisbane boy turned pop singer-songwriter with an international deal announced himself with this melancholic hit ballad, which turned on his soulful voice and impeccable craftsmanship. The luscious locks were a help, too.
Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk!)
From a share house in Melbourne's inner north to the world, via repeated conquests of American network television. "Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint you," sang Barnett. Not likely.
Gang of Youths, The Positions (Verge/Sony Music)
Keyed to the shadow of death and couched in the musical language of alternative-rock in 2015 - treated backbeat, electronic textures, anthemic vocals - this Sydney quartet were a surprise success.
Jarryd James, Do You Remember (Jarryd James Music/Dryden Street Limited)
It's the rags to potential riches storyline: Jarryd James quit music and struggled with depression when his band broke up and their album was shelved, but then hit No.2 on the singles chart with his solo debut.
Meg Mac, Never Be (LittleBIGMAN/Inertia)
A handful of striking tracks, most notably this gospel-tinged single with a serious rumination and a surging rhythm, established this Sydney artist as a talent to watch.
SHOULD WIN Courtney Barnett, because she's the successor to Paul Kelly and Tim Rogers as an Australian generation's definitive songwriter.
WILL WIN Courtney Barnett, because this category is the classic consolation prize for someone undeniably great but also idiosyncratic. CM

BEST GROUP
5 Seconds Of Summer, LiveSOS (EMI)
A live album? Why not, the nice boys from the Sydney suburbs nailed their live shows all over the world amid screams, hair dye and exploding things that didn't always go to plan.
AC/DC, Rock Or Bust (Alberts)
A conundrum for the ages, or for a musical Passover: how is this album different from all the other AC/DC albums (since Bon Scott died nearly two generations ago)? The answer is, despite losing Malcolm Young it isn't different, and that's why people love it. Let there be tsoor.
Hermitude, Dark Night Sweet Light (Elefant Traks)
A duo who don't use their own voices but whose collective mind is powerful and inventive.
Tame Impala, Currents (Modular)
A band by name only in the studio, this is the outlet for the mind, body and exhaled bong air of Kevin Parker and it's a pretty fascinating one.
The Preatures, Blue Planet Eyes (Mercury)
A band making pop without being embarrassed to be doing so, balancing strong personalities along the way.
SHOULD WIN Hermitude reflect two minds melding as one like a proper group.
WILL WIN Tame Impala because Kevin Parker smokes enough for a five-piece.

BEST FEMALE ARTIST
Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk!)
Compelling, laconic, driven and relaxed and will not be answering questions such as, "Who are you wearing?", except with a laugh.
Jessica Mauboy, Can I Get A Moment? (Sony)
Turning into just the kind of pop star we need - sparking and versatile and capable of delivering anywhere (except maybe Flemington racecourse). Will make sure if she's asked, "Who are you wearing?" that the right sponsor is being worn and mentioned.
Meg Mac, MegMac EP (LittleBIGMAN)
Will likely be asked, "Who are you?" by the gadflies on the red carpet. But they'll know her well enough in another year.
Megan Washington, There There (Mercury)
Every chance to be asked, "Why didn't we hear more of your songs?". To which she should answer, "Because they were too good for the idiots on radio."
Sia, Elastic Heart (Inertia)
Won't be asked anything because she doesn't talk, or appear at awards ceremonies generally. Doesn't stop her winning stuff.
SHOULD WIN Megan Washington's album was a huge leap in songwriting, production and depth, ignored by radio of course despite its mix of catchy uptempo pop songs and killer ballads. Courtney Barnett made a great record, as simple as that.
WILL WIN Sia. Because there's only so many times ARIA voters can go to the well of an album (Barnett's) they don't own and don't understand. Sia makes hits that are widely loved and they're getting bigger. That's something everyone understands. BZ
BEST MALE ARTIST
#1 Dads, Nominal (Pieater/Inertia)
Big Scary's Tom Iansek proved that his side project was no sideline, with #1 Dads advancing the Melbourne songwriter and producer's sound with gorgeous guitar pop tunes.
Daniel Johns, Talk (Eleven/EMI)
Eight years after Silverchair's final album, Daniel Johns returns to forsake stadium rock for sinuous soul, with sparse grooves and a libidinous falsetto his new - very on-trend - tools.
Guy Sebastian, Tonight Again (Sony Music)
The original reality singing competition winner is approaching 15 years of fame, and this Motown-flecked celebration sums up his comfortable reassurance and commanding voice.
Jarryd James, Do You Remember (Jarryd James Music/Dryden Street Limited)
Moody but memorable - the vocal production alone is otherworldly yet yearning - Jarryd James' hit single set up his debut album, Thirty One, for equal success.
Vance Joy, Dream Your Life Away (Liberation Music)
James Keogh hasn't yet been able to match the offhand audaciousness of his 2013 breakthrough Riptide, but his debut album gave him a solid set that he's toured non-stop.
SHOULD WIN Tom Iansek of #1 Dads, but he'll have to wait until Big Scary's next disc.
WILL WIN Vance Joy's album is over a year old, so look for ARIAs fave Daniel Johns. CM

BEST INDEPENDENT RELEASE
Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (Milk!)
From the start of her career Courtney Barnett has helped run the mail-order department of her record label, Milk!, and if she occasionally miscalculates the postage costs her raucous, rich music is spot on.
Hermitude, Dark Night Sweet Light (Elefant Traks/Inertia)
One of the many qualities Messrs' Dubber and Stuart's fifth album possesses is that it doesn't chase trends in electronic music: it's for both headphones and the dancefloor.
Jarryd James, Do You Remember (Jarryd James Music/Dryden Street Limited)
The success of Do You Remember is a reminder that a great song, not a marketing budget and a social media team, remains the key to launching a new Australian artist.
Paul Kelly, The Merri Soul Sessions (Gawd Aggie Recordings/Universal Music)
Paul Kelly was like the band leader of an old-fashioned soul revue on this album, directing fellow vocalists and a crack band as the songs did not remain the same.
Vance Joy, Dream Your Life Away (Liberation Music)
After the success of Riptide, Vance Joy could have hired big name producers for his debut album, but he thankfully chose to let his songs be the focus.
SHOULD WIN Hermitude, who've hit a peak after 15 years by sticking to their guns.
WILL WIN Courtney Barnett, if only to hear her write about the ceremony on her next record. CM

 Reluctant star Barnett slowly adjusting to life in the spotlight
For an anxiety-prone, self-described shy person, being thrown into the spotlight is not without its challenges.
It's something Courtney Barnett, accidental international rock star and eight-time nominee at this year's ARIA awards, is still adjusting to.
"I prefer not to be at awards shows because I find them really nerve-racking," she says over a beer at Melbourne's Exford Hotel. "I'm kind of glad I'm not there for the ARIAs."
When the ARIAS are presented on Thursday night, she will be in the middle of a three-week tour of Germany, Britain and Paris. By the end of this year, Barnett and her band will have played more than 100 shows all over the world, including at Glastonbury, as well as performing on ratings-crushing TV programs such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
If 2013 was the year that launched Barnett with the panic-attack poetry of her globally lauded single Avant Gardener and equally acclaimed double EP A Sea of Split Peas, 2015 was the year that declared her a star with staying power.
The   March release of her debut album was met with almost universal praise - and now, eight ARIA nominations.
"I guess it's hard for me because I'm normally kind of quiet, and to be kind of thrust in this other weird world ...," she says before trailing off.
"I'm totally grateful to have that recognition, to even be nominated for things, I'm stoked, but it's a real balance of dealing with not being comfortable with it ... and appreciating it and enjoying it at the same time."
Barnett says she's "just not built to do speeches", but on stage, and notably at the first of her huge homecoming shows in Melbourne in   May, she is increasingly relaxed, bantering easily with bandmates and the audience between songs and looking pretty chuffed to be there.
The global attention might have been dialled up a notch with the release of her album and the TV appearances, but the touring schedule, while heavy, is not as gruelling as last year, she says.
"We got all these opportunities and tried to take them all and I was kind of on tour doing press all day every day then doing a show at night, then flying somewhere in the morning, doing press - it was kind of crazy, and kind of unnecessary, it was kind of a learning curve as well, to go, that's not totally necessary," she says.
"This year, even though we released an album, I was like, 'Can we chill the f--- out a bit?'"
A slightly slower pace has made 2015 a more enjoyable year for Barnett, who names singing a duet with Archie Roach on ABC radio this month as her biggest highlight.
She was also pleasantly surprised to win the ARIA for best cover art when the nominations were announced (along with a handful of awards) at a ceremony in Sydney last month.
"I was probably more proud of that than any of the other ones," she says.
"I don't think I'm an amazing artist, but I do it and I try, and that's one thing that I've done totally on my own, like, I write the songs but there's so many other people involved. I think I was like, 'Wow! I drew a picture and it won an award.' It's kind of cool."
Annabel Ross