Good Luck, Babe! Reflections on a love affair with triple j’s Hottest 100

Late Sunday night, January 26th, my son Jacob came home from his job at Woolworths to find me going through my triple j Hottest 100 albums. I have them all and was looking at how many Australian songs were No 1, or top 10, over the last 35 years.

I had read Tyler Jenke’s exceptional article for The Music about the 2024 edition and its relative lack of Australian representation (29 in the top 100). What I had most liked about the piece was that it wasn’t stacks on the ABC but rather a “Here’s what happened. What can we do?”

Jacob is 18. He doesn’t actively listen to the radio, is a huge fan of the Spotify DJ and has only a six stack CD player in his 24-year-old first car. On his trips to work, cricket training and matches, to see his girlfriend and so on, over the last six months he has worked his way backwards through those Hottest 100 CDs, with his favourites remaining indefinitely in his vehicle.

I’ve been enjoying his music discovery process. We know each other’s tastes pretty well. About two years ago I told him he should check out Powderfinger. Via the CDs, having totally forgotten our previous conversation, he’s become totally enraptured in Bernard Fanning and the boys. He just needed to find them for himself.

That has always been the joy of triple j. Every year, every Unearthed, Like a Version and then the Hottest 100, we as a nation have discovered unforgettable soundtracks to our lives.

That night, as he hoovered up a meal, he wanted to know what I was doing, and why. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. We stayed up till past midnight anyway talking about Countdown 2024 (Chappell Roan debuted as an artist in this edition and at No 1 with Good Luck, Babe!), what can be changed and what we could personally do.

One is the very act above. Thirty years ago, when I was 18 and Oasis’s Wonderwall topped the 100, I would no more have discussed the countdown with my parents than my sex life.

Wonderwall was No 1 in Vol 3. Note my name stuck on, so that when I took it to a party, it was clearly stated to be MINE

I don’t believe Jacob and I are an anomaly either. Over that period the boundaries have changed. I bet more Australian families compare their votes than you would realise. Even better, the hyper-competitive for listener ear radio industry are acknowledging and supporting each other’s efforts to broaden its audience for new music:

Head of triple j, Double J and ABC Country Lachlan Macara told me:

“It’s important for Australian artists to continue to have as many avenues as possible to reach the audiences they deserve, and I love the responsibility we carry at triple j of being held to the highest possible standard when it comes to this stuff. But the truth is we’ve never been more of an outlier when it comes to our support of local acts compared to pretty much all the other players in the market. It’s not just the algorithms, I’d love to hear more Australian music on radio and tv, too. The likes of Nic Kelly, Maddy Rowe and Matty O who are flying the flag for new Australian music on commercial radio are doing such great work in this space and are proof there’s more than enough quality local music to go around.”

In our respective votes this year I had picked six Australians and Jacob five. I did not think about where my act was from when voting and, if I’m completely honest, my favourite release last year was BACKBONE by Chase & Status and Stormzy, from Britain. It was #13 in the countdown. I feel like a naughty kid admitting how much I enjoy playing it loud in the car and in my earbuds when I drag myself to the gym.

Something I like about voting in the countdown is that it reflects who I am and what I like, not what people think I should like.

The number of Australian acts that this huge sample size of two voted for is reflective of how much Australian music triple j plays; more than 50%. We overlapped on a couple (Dom Dolla, Luude and FISHER) he had The Kid LAROI, I had Thelma Plum, and the triple j unearthed high winner Mariae Cassandra. Her song Million Billion Trillion I thought was wonderful.

Finally, Jacob’s favourite Hottest 100s are Vol 23 & 25. 2015 and 2017. His greatest musical loves – Tame Impala, Empire of the Sun, Angus and Julia Stone, Flume, The Killers and Kendrick Lamar all appear in there somewhere. We have bought and supported their music. Mine is 2009’s Vol 17, but every countdown has introduced me to someone new at the time, and often later on a relisten.

Taken at the Killers gig together two years ago

 

The problem, if it is actually a problem, with our nation engaging with new and new-ish local acts is not due to something triple j is doing, or not doing. But there are some changes that we believe could double Australian music voting when it comes to the 2025 countdown and support those artists.

Firstly, I totally understand why the national broadcaster got rid of the physical albums with CD sales dwindling. But I also think their current ‘buy a T-shirt and all proceeds go to this charity’ could be more effective. Although Lachlan told me:

“We’re so grateful to our audience who have raised over $400,000 for We Are Mobilise, that’s over 24 years of housing for those who need it most!”

If, for the 2025 countdown, a special edition double VINYL album was released, with $10 from the cost going to the selected charity, not only is around 40 on the countdown’s artists financially supported through royalties from the sale but those who have invested in the Hottest 100 have a physical, musical reminder. Have you looked at how vinyl is selling lately? Alongside that, maybe be a Double J re-release, on vinyl, of 2015 and 2005. And even 1995 with its Wonderwall!

I would buy all four, and an extra 2015 for Jacob.

Secondly, next year in the voting I would love to see a couple of changes. This year had an A-Z of artists to choose from. I did not realise that I could choose a song from outside those presented as long as it fit the Hottest 100 Eligibility criteria of having its initial release (online or on-air) between 1 December 2023 and 30 November 2024.

Next year I would like one of the tabs to be Australian acts. They should still be in the A-Z as well, but having all the local artists in the one space I feel would guarantee people would at least skim through the list and perhaps find something they didn’t know was Aussie or had forgotten about.

I would also love to see each song that was included in the voting have the date it was first played on triple j and how many spins it had up until voting commenced. I can feel those working at triple j groaning at me at the additional work, but I felt that artists like Gracie Abrams, with her song That’s So True currently (as of this week) the most played on commercial radio, that there are extra votes for their freshness and newness. Some that might have had 500 triple j spins have lost that initial “what a great song” buzz. Gracie was #5.

Our love is alive for CYRIL as the most played song on Australian radio in 2024

Finally, the question that apparently is only on my lips. What the heckfire happened to DJ CYRIL, the wonderful bucket hat wearing Northern Territory lad whose remix of the Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman 1978 hit Stumblin’ In was THE MOST PLAYED SONG ON AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL RADIO LAST YEAR?

No one can look this good in a bucket hat and Cookie Monster’s skin as CYRIL

I went to vote for him in the countdown (not knowing I could add him) and he wasn’t on the songs that were presented. He, who featured in previous triple j Unearthed. I asked a mate who was certain that Stumblin’ In was released in 2023, and thus ineligible.

I found the first mention by CYRIL of it in late October 2023 (see above). It went viral via TikTok, strangely enough in Germany first via their Bayern Munich team using it in a video. My friend who I was cross referencing CYRIL with told me they are mighty sick of the song. That is nothing on the Germans! I’ve attached the music video (released Feb 2024) below. Savour their comments.

It also debuted in the Airplay charts in February 2024 and I can’t imagine that triple j played it much earlier than that. Maybe they never picked it up? Either way I found it strange, and vaguely disappointing that CYRIL, who so exemplifies the triple j values, never got a run in either 2023 or 24, presumably because the release date sat uncomfortably on the edge. I would have voted for his Dean Lewis Fall At Your Feet remix too, which was definitely released in 2024.

There is a clear advantage to songs released in the latter half of a year in the Hottest 100 voting. I can’t imagine that the music industry would become like the film industry, releasing hot prospects for the Oscars as close to Awards time as possible, but even I am affected by the ‘freshness’ of a song, versus something like CYRIL that I now hear slammed in the supermarket too. He shoulda been a contender though.

That’s a million billion trillion words (and 2 cents worth) about a countdown done and dusted for this year. The Hottest 100, a simple idea from triple j producer Lawrie Zion in 1988, continues to flourish. Some final stats:

  • 2,489,446 votes were submitted
  • Every song in the top four would have won the 2023 countdown
  • Chappell Roan received the greatest number of votes for a winning track in Hottest 100 history
  • Charli xcx and Billie Eilish simultaneously broke the record for most entries in one countdown (8 songs each)
  • 54 Australian songs featured in the Hottest 200-101

Lachlan Macara said:

“Every year triple j’s Hottest 100 combines a lot of the best things about triple j: our commitment to audiences all over the country, our creativity in platforming Australian artists, and our role in building shared experiences around music and content.

For the first time in a long time, Australian artists made up less than 50% of the Hottest 100 countdown. This shift is likely due to a bunch of factors: a big year of international album releases, Australian artists competing against global algorithms and the discoverability of Australian music across the broader media landscape. 

We know how much it means for Australian artists to make the countdown, so we’re not going to stop banging on about music from our own backyard, and we know our audience has a lot of love for local talent — 54 Australian songs featured in the Hottest 200-101.

In triple j’s 50th year, we’ll continue to get creative with how we back and break Australian artists – you’ve seen it with what LAV did for Royel Otis in terms of exporting them overseas, and our regional events like One Night Stand (which is coming back sooner than you might think this year). Plus, we’ve got some other big things coming this year that will give Australian music fans a chance to get very loud about their local favourites.”

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo

 

 

 

 

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