‘Helped me buy a house’: What does it mean to win the Hottest 100?​on January 24, 2025 at 5:13 am

This weekend, another name will be added to the long and illustrious list of Hottest 100 winners. Every year, the fan-voted Triple J countdown crowns the best track from the previous 12 months, with international and homegrown acts vying for the top spot. If you believe the smart money (as well as Warm Tunas, a prediction website that tracks voting numbers), American artist Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe! is this year’s hot favourite.

For Triple J tragics, the idea that a viral star with a TikTok hit might top Australia’s most beloved countdown – once a list dominated by homegrown heavies like Powderfinger and Spiderbait – might seem baffling. However, for the station’s target demographic, youth listeners born and raised in the streaming era, it makes perfect sense.

Just last week Triple J celebrated its 50th birthday, a milestone that was cause for both celebration and introspection as the broadcaster confronts the challenge of safeguarding its future and protecting its legacy. In much the same way, the Hottest 100 must contend with an ever-shifting landscape and the reality that music, listeners and tastes have changed since its inception.

Originally called the Hot 100, the idea was the brainchild of 2JJJ staffer Lawrie Zion, who in 1988 was working at the station as part of a specialist traineeship.

“Soon after I started I read an article in Rolling Stone: ‘The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time’. It was a critic’s poll and very predictable but I liked the idea,” says Zion.

The first countdown occurred in 1989, with listeners submitting their 10 favourite songs of all time via the postal system. “We only had one computer at Triple J back then, so someone developed software to tabulate the votes,” says Zion. “People sent in 10 songs; No.1 was worth 10 votes. But we didn’t announce the results until March.”

Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart won the first two Hot 100s (in 1989 and 1990) before Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit edged it out in 1991. It wasn’t until 1993 that Triple J tinkered with the format, relaunching it as a poll of the best songs from the previous year.

“My intention was that it would be a one-off, but for the concept to continue it needed to evolve,” explains Zion.

Evolution has been a constant in the Hottest 100, even long before the days of algorithms and streaming numbers – which is why Zion remains confident the countdown can weather its current challenges.

“Streaming has changed everything but I don’t get the sense it has impacted the relevancy of the Hottest 100. It’s still got an important legacy but the future is tricky. I remember the internet ramping up in 1995 and concern [about it], but I think, and this might be a romantic view, the DNA of the Hottest 100 will never change,” says Zion.

“People will always want to talk about why they want particular songs to win or what they mean in their lives, and the Hottest 100 remains a forum for that.”

While our desire to dissect music may not have changed, has the music? One of the contemporary criticisms of the countdown is that it’s dominated by overseas artists, a far cry from the days of celebrating Australian music.

In 2024, just five out of 100 songs on ARIA’s year-end charts were Australian. However, international infiltration isn’t strictly a modern problem.

“People forget the first three winners of the Hottest 100 were Denis Leary, the Cranberries and Oasis, all overseas acts,” says Zion.

It wasn’t until Spiderbait’s Buy Me a Pony in 1996 that Australia had its first local winner. In the following decade, eight Australian acts would come out on top, a golden age for homegrown talent. On that list was Alex Lloyd, whose anthemic Amazing topped the Hottest 100 in 2001.

The next year it was the most-played track on Australian radio, and it was named song of the year by APRA, the organisation that collects royalties and passes them on to the copyright holders.

“That song had a trajectory that doesn’t happen very often: it won the Hottest 100 but then commercial radio picked it up, too. I am pretty sure John Laws even played it once,” says Lloyd.

Off the back of his Hottest 100 win (and allowing the song to be used in several adverts), Lloyd was able to set his family up.

“I’m sure it still means a lot to win, but I bought a house shortly after. I don’t know if it moves the needle in the same way for these younger artists today,” he says.

Ultimately, that depends on your definition of tangible success. In 2015, NSW band the Rubens rocketed to the top of the countdown with Hoops. Following their win, the group instantly saw their fan base swell.

“The day after winning we were about to announce a tour, and our booking agent had to frantically change the venue size for all cities,” says keyboard player Elliott Margin.

“We went from playing the Enmore in Sydney to the Hordern, and we sold out Margaret Court [Arena] in Melbourne – for a small band that’s a big deal.”

It’s been 10 years since the Rubens celebrated, but to this day Margin believes the group continues to feel the impact.

“We will have fans who come up to us at shows and talk about that being their first experience of our music. It’s still a gateway for people to experience new Australian artists,” he says.

In 2018, Triple J was forced to reckon with its patriotism more politically. Traditionally held on Australia Day, the station conducted an online survey about changing the countdown date in light of the debate surrounding January 26. Audiences voted 60 per cent in favour and, since then, the Hottest 100 has been held on the fourth weekend of January each year.

The 2018 countdown remains a memorable one, especially for Mitch Galbraith, whose band Ocean Alley topped the count with Confidence.

“I’m pretty sure we had a two-day bender at our mate Brad’s place,” says Galbraith, laughing.

Having recovered from their victory party at Brad’s place, Ocean Alley have recently set their sights on an overseas takeover, with plans to crack America and the UK, an experience that makes them appreciate the Hottest 100 in more ways than one.

“Coming up in Australia, the Hottest 100 is a direct path to getting noticed, and trying to recreate that in the States is overwhelming,” says Galbraith. “But it has helped us open doors. Saying ‘hey, we topped the Hottest 100’ still means something.”

Find more of the author’s work here. Email him at thomas.mitchell@smh.com.au or follow him on Instagram at @thomasalexandermitchell and on Twitter @_thmitchell.

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