Rap group Hilltop Hoods have featured twice, with 1955 featuring Montaigne and Tom Thum at 73 and Cosby Sweater at 64.
The Hilltop Hoods, Daniel Smith, Matthew Lambert and Barry Francis, are the bookies’ favourite. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Ahead of the countdown, online bookies had Hilltop Hoods as the short favourite to come out on top with The Nosebleed Section. Also in the hunt is Powderfinger’s My Happiness, Untouched by The Veronicas, Never Tear Us Apart by INXS and Missy Higgins’ track, Scar.
The crop of favourites reflected Triple J’s younger demographic with “classic” Australian anthems like John Farnham’s You’re The Voice and AC/DC’s Thunderstruck sitting outside the top 20 most likely tracks.
Despite its baffling longevity, Vance Joy’s Riptide only made it to 48 in Saturday’s poll, far lower than many predicted.
The 2013 hit took out the number one spot on the 2013 Hottest 100 and was the most streamed Australian song by Australians on Spotify in 2024. Last year, Riptide enjoyed 331 consecutive weeks in the Aria charts, despite being more than 10 years old.
There was also plenty of love for Redgum’s I Was Only 19. Recorded in 1983, the song is a first-person account of an Australian soldier’s experience in the Vietnam War.
The countdown has not been without controversy. It comes after a decline in local artists featuring in the station’s usual annual poll.
Earlier this month Australian artist Ben Lee told this masthead that, while a one-off countdown to promote Australian music was a positive step, Triple J should consider turning the annual Hottest 100 into a celebration of Australian only music.
“It’s a bit of a snooze-fest, if I’m honest,” he said.
“It’s not me, Missy Higgins and Powderfinger that need a leg-up at the moment. So it feels like an attempt to relive the glory days without addressing the issue.
“Triple J should give the Hottest 100 to Kyle and Jackie O, let commercial radio run it nationally as a pop mainstream phenomenon and Triple J’s business should be the Australian Hottest 100.”
On Friday, Triple J revealed one song in the top 20 had never been in a Hottest 100 countdown before, and there were just 30 votes between the song ranked at 100 and the one that missed out, at 101.
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