WA artist Sam Perry has taken out The Voice Australia 2018, becoming the first loop artist to win the TV singing competition.
Perry, dubbed the most controversial artist in the show's history, has been a fan-favourite since blowing audiences away with his first audition in April and he again impressed with all of his performances on Sunday night's grand finale.
After taking to the stage with his mentor and judge Kelly Rowland to perform Michael Jackson's They Don't Care About Us, the 28-year-old later returned to deliver a mash up of Fatboy Slim's Praise You and Kanye West's Stronger.
Prior to being announced as the winner, Perry paid respect to Rowland.
"I am so proud to be standing up with her on this stage," he said.
"You know, this thing is huge. Thank you to The Voice in general for letting me be here.
"You really ran with what I was doing. You didn't stop me, you helped me grow it. That is something that we're not used to. Obviously Kelly, we did that."
Following the win, Perry has scored a contract with Universal Music and a cash prize of $100,000, as well as releasing his first original single, Trust Myself.
Perry's win follows past The Voice victors who have experienced mixed success in the Australian music industry.
While 2017's winner Judah Kelly hit #3 on the ARIA chart with his debut album, Count On Me, 2016 winner Alfie Arcuri set a new record for the show's worst performing winner's single with Cruel which debuted on the ARIA Chart at #89, selling just 1,458 copies.
2013 winner Harrison Craig's debut album, More Than A Dream, peaked at #1 on the Albums chart and he also enjoyed three top ten singles. However, his 2016 LP, Kings Of Vegas, charted at #36 and he has had no singles chart since.
Last night's grand finale was also The Voice's lowest-ever, with TV Tonight reporting it attracting 987,000 viewers, down on last year's figure of 1.35 million.
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