As about Australian as VB, a Bonds chesty and Khe Sanh is Triple J’s Hottest 100. Yes, over an eight hour period the worlds biggest music democracy is count down as we remark on the year gone by and finish a drink every time one of your songs is played. But how does a song get to be voted number? What makes one particular track our favourite for that year?
Ugh, that’s so mainstream
First thing’s first, I’m the realest. Not really, however to be crowned #1 a track does have to have the same success as I G G Y. Despite being branded as an alternative youth station, the winner of the Hottest 100 does have to have some commercial success. In the twenty years that an annual countdown has been held, every winner has achieved at least a Platinum Certification in sales, meaning that 70,000 units have been sold. Whilst nowadays this is primarily digital sales, back when Dennis Leary’s Asshole won the first annual countdown in 1993 at least 70,000 people forked over $6.98 for the single (remember when they existed?). So even though triple j is hip and doesn’t play some popular music, the winner does have perform well commercially, why? Because while a lot of people who vote in the Hottest 100 are regular listeners, the countdown does also bring out others who might not always listen to triple j, therefore when they’re voting, they’ll tend vote for songs they actually know, but that’s just about of the unifying beauty of the Hottest 100. Interestingly, Sia’s Chandelier is predicted to go inside the top 10 however the track is yet to be played on triple j. A similar feat was achieved by U2 in 2004 as Vertigo came in at number 38 despite never being played.
Sing when you’re winning
A bit of a trivial point however history shows that it does carry some merit. In order to voted Australia’s favourite, a song has to be singable; a track that weather you’re 18 cans down down or a bad Indonesian cover band you somehow manage to hit every note. You’d be pretty hard pressed to find someone in their 20s who didn’t know the words to Wonderwall, which is probably why in 1995 the song saw off both The Smashing Pumpkins & Coolio. Looking to this year, there’s no doubt that Zhu’s Faded was one of the biggest tracks of the year however, a dance song has never made it to number #1, with only MGMT & Art vs Science getting close with Electric Feel and Parlez Vous Francais respectably however both tracks did finish second. This may be due to the fact that songs that we can easily sing along to get stuck in our heads and as you submit your votes, you once again find yourself singing “Lady, running down to the riptide”
Wake me up when September ends
If you were in fact asleep through the August/September period, chances are that you missed out hearing the winner for the first time. For past 20 years that an annual countdown has been held, the winner song was released in the months of August-September 8 times. Yes, 40% of the time, the winner has been played for the first time over this 8 week period. This is probably the most relevant of my Hottest 100 facts, as being released during this time means that a song is around long enough for everyone to get to know and love it, but the time December rolls around and voting opens, is still relevant enough to be in the minds of voters. Chet Faker’s Talk is Cheap is currently favourite to win this years countdown (and rightly so) and if it does it would tie Asshole and The Whitlams’ No Aphrodisiac as the second earliest release. Impressively, Take me out by Fran Ferdinand was released a full year before winning the 2004 poll. The latest release to win is The Offspring with Pretty fly for a white guy, coming out in November and winning the 1998 poll just 2 months later. January, February, April and December have never had a winner while August & September have 4 each.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
It’s only right that on our national day that Australian’s feel a sense of pride and patriotism, and this has been reflected in the Hottest 100. Out of the 20 winners of the Hottest 100, half have been Australian Artists and in the past 5 years, 4 have been homegrown. The Aussie factor appears to be the reason behind some surprise wins, including Jet’s Are you gonna be my girl beating everyones favourite Hey Ya! in 2003 and Powderfinger going back to back in 2000 with My Happiness, holding off U2’s Beautiful Day. With triple j’s tag line of “We love Australian Music” it comes as no real surprise that 50% of the time an Australian artist wins, however 2013 was the first time that an Unearthed Artist was voted #1, as Vance Joy bettered the efforts of Little Red, Killing Heidi, Grinspoon, Missy Higgins and Art vs. Science who all had tracks come in at #2 as Unearthed Artists. Despite being the Lucky Country it is not out of luck that Australians do so well in the Hottest 100 and this year, in my opinion, will be no different as 2014 could be the year that the previous record of 7 Australian tracks inside the top ten, set in 1998 & 2004, is broken as multiple Australian artists are considered favourites.
And the winner is… 
Based on all the information above I believe that Peking Duk ft. Nicole Millar “High” will take out the number 1 spot for 2014. Whilst this is a pretty obvious prediction seeing as it was the most played track in 2014 and the first song triple j played in 2015, it does match some of the criteria. Firstly, the Aussie duo’s track has gone 2x Platnium, selling over 140,0000 units and peeked (pun fully intended) at number 5 on the ARIA charts. Even though the track was first released on February 14 (3 days after Talk is Cheap) the boys just finished off a national tour which still makes them relevant when it comes to voting. Finally, probably the toughest point to prove is the sing ability. Despite being a dance track, Nicole Millar’s lyrics are catchy and easy enough to remember that whether your a hipster or a white girl you’ll be able to scream them out whilst busting out your best moves.
Rounding out the top 10 in no particular order in my opinion will be:
Chet Faker – Talk is Cheap
Chet Faker – Gold
Sia – Chandelier
Milky Chance – Stolen Dance
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
Zhu – Faded
Allday – Always know the DJ
Sticky Fingers – Gold SNAFU
Caribou – Can’t do without you
So we’ve learnt what elements help get a track to #1, however there’s only one way a song can win; getting the most votes! With only a few days left to be about of the Australia Day countdown, here are The 10 5 Crack Voting Commandments.
– Thou shalt not double up on artists
Everyone has their favourite artists from 2014, and it would very easy to list multiple songs from the same artists, however at the end of the day you only get 10 votes so you want to make the most of it. Personally, the entire Built on Glass album could have taken up my votes however that’s why the J award exists, so that we can vote for our favourite albums. By only voting for one song per artist this also helps give your votes a mix of a number of different genres.
– Thou shalt not vote for covers
Firstly, I could’t be a bigger advocate for covers especially Like A Version. If you ever shopped around Bundoora in the past 12 months theres a chance you would have heard me singing along to The Temper Trap’s cover of Dancing in the Dark, however when it comes to Hottest 100 votes this is a no go zone. Based upon the belief that original songs deserve the chance to be recognised because if someone is covering your song, chances are it’s pretty popular already. This year was particularly tough with incredible covers from Chet Faker, Kasabian, Daniel Lee Kendall & Bluejuice all making the shortlist. But once again, there’s only 10 spots so it’s fair to say that your favourite ten songs from last year are originals, however enjoy Kasabian’s genius Like A Version below, regardless of how your feeling at the beginning you’ll be happy by the end.
– Thou shalt not vote for favourites
Now this is a bit of a controversial one. In 2013, there was no doubt that Get Lucky was one of my favourite songs, heck I still know all the words to it, however it did not get a vote, why? I try to avoid voting for favourites. I’ve always thought that if a song is popular enough, an extra vote from me wouldn’t have much of an impact on where it finishes in the countdown. In addition, if the track is one of the front runners to win, chances are it’s off a pretty decent album with many other excellent tracks, so combining this with the one track per artist, don’t vote for songs that are favoured to win as everyone else will do that for you.
– Thou shalt make a long list
A slight play on words since it’s official title is “The Shortlist” however if like me you can listen to pretty much anything, your shortlist is likely to be on the longer side. This is fun though, as you end up with about 40 tracks and spend more time trying to cut down the shortlist than actually picking tracks in the first place. And it can actually be pretty easy to cut things down if you don’t vote for covers, or favourites, or double up on artists (what excellent suggestions, someone attractive must have thought of this). And if you still have to cut down on tracks, make them go head to head against one another and ask yourself “if both of these songs were on 2 different radio stations at the same time, which one would I choose” and boom, you have your 10 favourite tracks for 2014.
Thou shalt not rank your votes
This is where it gets tricky. Whilst as a part of voting you do have to choose your number 1 song, it is ill-advised to rank all your songs 1-10, why? Because this wastes time and is unnecessary but it also can actually make you second guess your choices. You’ve already made a short list, you’ve chosen your top 10, the last thing you want it be undermining your choices. Get your top 10 and your favourite track will be obvious so just look forward to finishing that Victor or Somersby whenever your recognise one of your votes. If your interested, my votes are below but happy shoeys to you all this January 26th.
Caribou – Can’t Do Without You
SBTRKT – New Dorp. New York{Ft. Ezra Koenig}
The Preatures – Somebody’s Talking
Meg Mac – Roll Up Your Sleeves
Lana Del Rey – Brooklyn Baby
The Kooks – Forgive & Forget
The Kite String Tangle – Arcadia
Kimbra – Miracle
Chet Faker – To Me
Benjamin Booker – Have You Seen My Son?
americanboyp.wordpress.com 