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Add the andPOP Facebook Application(andPOP) - Singer-songwriter Missy Higgins was crowned top pop princess at the 19th Australian Record Industry Association awards, where she picked up five ARIAs on Sunday.
At the ceremony held in Sydney SuperDome, Higgins, 22, took home best pop and breakthrough artist honours, best new artist, highest selling album and album of the year for her debut set ?The Sound of White,? reports Billboard.
?The Sound of White? has moved 560,000 units in Australia, according to EMI.
"The wins have been the pinnacle to what's been an amazing year," said Higgins, who has spent much of this year touring the U.S. opening for Jason Mraz and Ray Lamontagne.
Ben Lee, a music industry veteran at 27, was the other big winner of the night with three ARIAs, including Best Male Artist and Single of the Year for ?Catch My Disease.?
Lee, who fronted his band Noise Addict at 16, had not won an ARIA award until this year,
"Now is the time where I feel like I'm young," he said, according to ABC News Online.
"I've got the passion for my music and the passion to try and say something to the world."
In a year dominated by breakthrough acts, Perth band Eskimo Joe won Best Group and Keith Urban was awarded Best Country Album for ?Being Here,? while the Go-Betweens took the ARIA for Best Adult Contemporary Album for ?Oceans Apart.?
The music DVD prize went to Jet's "Right Right Right."
Jimmy Barnes, who has had six consecutive chart-topping solo albums in his decades-long career, was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a solo artist. He had previously been inducted as a member of Cold Chisel.
"There's been highs and lows but you don't appreciate the highs without the lows," he said.
"That's the beauty of life ? you take it as it comes and if it's all high you don't appreciate anything else."
Rock musician Neil Finn led a poignant moment during the awards ceremony with his tribute to former Crowded House bandmate Paul Hester, who committed suicide earlier this year.
After organizers aired a video tribute to Hester, Finn performed an acoustic rendition of the band?s hit, ?Better Be Home Soon.?
