It was, according to triple j the biggest Hottest 100 ever – period! Bigger than Obama’s and even bigger than Trump’s.
There’s nothing fake or rigged about the massive 2,386,133 votes that were cast, with Kendrick Lamar’s mega hit ‘HUMBLE.’, coming out at #1 among triple j listeners in 2017’s Hottest 100 .
triple j’s Music Director Nick Findlay says: “When I look back on 2017, it’s hard to deny that when it came to music, Kendrick Lamar dominated on all fronts. Back in March, ‘HUMBLE.’ burst its way onto our speakers with such force that it immediately became an instant classic for the triple j audience, who overwhelmed us with requests. Now seeing it as the #1 song of the year only further cements ‘HUMBLE.’ as a modern-day masterpiece, and shows just how powerful and important Kendrick Lamar is as a songwriter of our generation.”
Kendrick Lamar is the first person of colour to ever top the Hottest 100 and also breaks the four-year long streak of Aussie artists hitting #1. He’s also the sixth US act and the second-ever hip hop artist to hit #1, following Macklemore in 2012.
2,386,133 votes were cast in the national music poll and 65 Aussie artists appeared in the poll. Other stats include:
• 33 artists first uploaded their music to triple j Unearthed, including 5 songs uploaded in 2017
• Kendrick Lamar is the first person of colour to ever top the Hottest 100, as well as the second-ever hip hop artist to hit #1
• Kendrick also broke a Hottest 100 curse, becoming the first artist to make the leap from #2 (with ‘King Kunta’ in 2015) to #1
• Women appear in four songs in the Top 10: Lorde, Julia Stone and feature artists Mataya and Kira Divine
• 51 songs were from male artists or groups, 25 from female solo artists and all-female groups, and 24 from acts including both male and female members
• June was the ‘Hottest Month’ with 15 songs released in that month making the countdown
Women appeared in half of the Top 20: two songs from Lorde, one from Vera Blue, alongside Julia Stone; Peking Duk’s key collaborators AlunaGeorge and IconaPop, Jen Boyce from Ball Park Music, Cesira Aitken from The Jungle Giants, feature artist Mataya (her second time in the Top 10. Her first: Hermitude’s ‘The Buzz’, #8 in 2015), and Kira Divine’s vocal performance on PNAU’s ‘Go Bang’.
The Hottest 100 charity partner, AIME raised $220,000, which will go towards mentoring Indigenous kids through high school and into university, training and employment at the same rates as non-Indigenous students.
Can’t get enough Hottest 100? There’s more:
- 10am Sun 28 Jan local time: Find out who made it into the Hottest #200-101 on triple j
- 12pm Sun 28 Jan AEDT: Re-live the classic 1997 Hottest 100 on Double J 6-9am Mon 29 Jan local time: Ben & Liam announce the winner of the Golden Ticket on triple j
- On demand: Re-live the 2017 Hottest 100 on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube. Plus you can pre order triple j’s Hottest 100 Volume 24 CD
The top 10 songs were
The full list of all the Hottest 100 songs is here.
