Since 2000, the Amadeus Austrian Music Awards have been presented and are considered the country’s most important and comprehensive music prize. At Austria’s “homegrown Grammys,” the FM4 Award is also presented annually. Particularly special because the result is determined 100 percent by listeners, the award goes in 2026 to the Tyrolean musician NENDA.
NENDA Is the Winner of the 2026 FM4 Award
NENDA grew up in Tyrol, spent nearly a decade in London working as an actress and musician, and now lives in Vienna. In 2021, she released her very first single, Mixed Feelings, which immediately reached number one in the FM4 annual charts that same year.
After that, things became a little quieter around NENDA musically—apart from a handful of live shows, including a performance at Vienna Popfest in 2023. In 2025, she released her debut album KRRRA, an album that sounds exactly like its title: NENDA eats Krampuses for breakfast, having realised that you can gleefully demonise the patriarchy and other targets without sacrificing humour in the process.
NENDA can also do it all: rap and spoken word, touches of jazz and soul, rock ’n’ roll guitar, and a deep, warm sonic backdrop.
The FM4 Award
Unlike most other categories at the Amadeus Awards, the FM4 Award is not determined by a combination of sales figures, jury votes, and audience voting. Instead, it is decided exclusively by fans ahead of the live show. FM4 nominates 20 “homegrown acts”; in the first voting round, five acts are selected for the final. All votes cast up to that point are then reset to zero before a second round of voting begins. The votes of the fan community ultimately determine who receives the prestigious FM4 Award.
Within the Austrian music scene, the FM4 Award is regarded as a key stepping stone for artists. In recent years, it has gone to acts such as Mavi Phoenix, Leyya, Cari Cari, Wanda, and Bilderbuch.
The 2026 Amadeus Austrian Music Awards ceremony will take place on 6 March 2026 at Marx Halle Vienna and will be broadcast on a time delay on ORF 1 and ORF ON.