Macklemore & Ryan Lewis song beats out Of Monsters and Men and alt-J. triple j’s Hottest 100 consolidated its position as summer’s biggest music poll engaging with more and more people around the world than ever. 187,975 people registered to vote (up 11.71% on 2011) casting 1,516,765 votes (up 10% on last year) for their favourite songs of 2012. The peak age of voters was 21.
On top of that, 2702 Hottest 100 parties were registered from 55 countries all over the world, from the UK to Uruguay, celebrating triple j’s Hottest 100 on Australia Day.
Another big success came through the use of social media. With 51% of voters posting their results on social media platforms.
However, organisers admit that it does open up the poll to speculation and analysis, and that they may make a few changes to the system to avoid spoiler attempts in the future.
triple j’s Music Director Richard Kingsmill said of the winning song “It’s great that as we celebrate 20 years of our annual poll, we also celebrate the first hip hop song to reach #1. As a rapper, Macklemore feels like he’s come from nowhere; but he’s been working hard, doing things his way, for a number of years and it’s nice to see it paying off. ‘Thrift Shop’ is just one of many inventive and insightful tunes from the whole album.”
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis weren’t the only act to achieve big things this past year. Who guessed a 21 year old bedroom producer from Sydney’s northern beaches – aka Flume – would close the year with one of the biggest albums? Or that a sweet singing collaborator of Kanye and Odd Future – Frank Ocean – would drop one of 2012’s most defining listens in Channel Orange. Then there’s the Leeds University formed four-piece with the keyboard shortcut name of alt-J, delivering off-kilter slices like ‘Breezeblocks’. And Brit producers Rudimental who haven’t even dropped their first longplayer, smashed the Top 20 with two entries. Throughout the countdown there’s a heavy emphasis on new artists. Acts like Alabama Shakes, Allday x C1, Asta, C2C, Django Django, Everything Everything, Icona Pop, The Lumineers, MS MR and Purity Ring appeared in the Hottest 100 for the first time, making a huge impact on listeners. It was also a big year for Unearthed discoveries, with 20 songs from 13 Unearthed artists making it into the poll, including two from Unearthed High artists Asta and Snakadaktal.
Breaking the list down further there’s a lot of interesting stats. Aussies came up trumps with a total of 41 songs in the countdown. 25 tracks came from the USA, with another 22 songs from the UK. Four Swedish, three Canadian, two Icelandic and one French artist made the cut, as well as two international collaborations. Flume was the most-represented artist with four songs (including the HyperParadise remix) in the list. Up next were alt-J, Frank Ocean and Calvin Harris with three tracks apiece. Australian artists scoring two songs each are Ball Park Music, Chance Waters, The Rubens, The Presets, San Cisco, Seth Sentry and 2012 J Award winners Tame Impala. Internationally, The Black Keys, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Grimes, Jack White, Lana Del Rey, Mumford & Sons, Of Monsters & Men, Rudimental and Two Door Cinema Club also placed twice.
2012 was another huge year for music and the Hottest 100 continues to celebrate that. Music fans all over the world told us their favourite songs of the year, and from Unearthed newcomers (Sticky Fingers, Jungle Giants, Asta) to acts from far flung places (Iceland’s Of Monsters And Men), you can always expect to hear the best new music when it comes to triple j’s Hottest 100.
For more stats than you can poke a stick at head to the triple j Hottest 100 website : www.triplej.net.au/hottest100
*triple j’s Hottest 100 in 2012*
