Replay
The Wrap Up
To celebrate two decades of each nail-biting Hottest 100 countdown and every hair-tearing song vote, this year we asked you to embark on a mammoth task: go back in time and chose your best-loved tracks of the past 20 years. It was a huge ask, but you did it — a whopping 940,000+ votes rolled in.
Now let's break down the results...
Country By Country
Ireland, Scotland and Iceland were lone wolves, all appearing just once in the countdown. France would not have appeared at all if it weren't for three Daft Punk songs.
Americans may jest that they invented rock & roll, but our Hottest 100 of the Last 20 Years hits where it hurts — Aussies beat the Brits! With 29 Australian songs (almost a third of the poll), it's clear you really do love our locals.
The Gallaghers Must Be Proud
Back in 1995 you voted Oasis' singalong, "Wonderwall", the #1 track in our yearly Hottest 100 poll. Three years ago, when triple j last asked you to look back for 2009's All Time vote, Noel Gallagher's romantic number came in at #12. Is this rise to the top enough to reunite Oasis?
1997 Was Awesome
Seriously, 1997 was a stellar year for tunes. With 12 entries in the poll — including The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" (#5), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Into My Arms" (#46), Blur's "Song 2" (#22), blink-182's "Dammit" (#19), Silverchair's "Freak" (#78) and Jebediah's "Leaving Home" (#98) — it was a classic 12 months.
The earliest entry in our poll? August 1993, when Nirvana dropped "Heart Shaped Box" — the only entry from that year, fyi. The most recent spot was awarded to March 2012's release of "Little Talks", from rousing Icelandic folksters Of Monsters & Men.
The Big Jumpers
There's been some movement in tastes over the years, and the most noticeable difference comes from French electro robots Daft Punk. Their dancefloor epic "One More Time" only reached #61 in 2001; now it's #44. Jeff Buckley gave us "Last Goodbye", which hit #14 back in 1995 — it's now #3 (up from #7 in 2009's All Time poll). The Killers took "Mr Brightside" to #13 in 2004, but you remember it more fondly, voting it this year at #7. (It was #38 in 2009's H100 Of All Time poll). Last but not least, the song you voted #93 in 2009's All Time H100, Bon Iver's "Skinny Love", is now sitting at #16. Nice one Justin Vernon.
-
44 -
3 -
7 -
16
Multiple Entries
Artists with 3 songs in the countdown:
(L-R): Silverchair, Daft Punk, The Killers
Artists with 2 songs in the countdown:
(L-R): Gotye, Beastie Boys, Gorillaz, Jebediah, Jeff Buckley, Red Hot Chili Peppers, MGMT, Radiohead, Powderfinger, The Smashing Pumpkins
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THESE SONGS NEVER MADE IT INTO A HOTTEST 100 BEFORE?!?!
That's right: back in the day, the tracks below never made it into any triple j countdown. Madness! However, they eventually found their audience:
-
38 -
87
Sleepers
These tracks made it into an all-time, but never hit a Hottest countdown the year they came out:
-
6 -
36 -
57 -
59
Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" (#3, 2009 All Time); Daft Punk's "Around The World" (I know, crazy: it was voted into the 2009 Hottest 100 Of All Time at #58; in 2013 it's at #59); Bloc Party's "Banquet" (today, it's at #57; in 2009, you voted it #42 Of All Time); Foo Fighters' "Everlong" (#9, 2009 All Time).
We Love A Newcomer
There's something special about a debut album, and perhaps the most surprising result of 2013's All Time countdown is the number of songs from first records: 30. Best of all, most of those artists have continued to last the distance. There's The Strokes "Last Nite" (#48, taken from 2001 debut Is This It), Alt-J's recent "Breezeblocks" (#67, from 2002's An Awesome Wave), Foster The People's stick-in-your-head genius of "Pumped Up Kicks" (#94, from 2011's Torches)... the list goes on.
Club 20
Newcomers come and go, but there are a bunch of artists in our poll enjoying careers that span two decades: icons like You Am I, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Modest Mouse, Spiderbait, Hilltop Hoods, and TOOL.
Which track came from a band who's been around the longest? That would be "Common People" by Pulp (#83) — did you know a 15-year-old Jarvis Cocker formed an early incarnation of the Britpop classists while still at school... back in 1978!
Creature Features
For a time there it seemed like every band out of Brooklyn had to have a four-legged creature in their moniker. (Actually that may still be going). Regardless, only six critters make an appearance in band names: Modest Mouse, Spiderbait, Gorillaz, The Wombats, Arctic Monkeys, and The Cat Empire.
There are just as many animals in song titles this countdown: Mumford & Son's "Little Lion Man" (#14), The Smashing Pumpkin's "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" (#25), Florence & the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over", Spiderbait's "Buy Me A Pony" (#62 — bonus points for the band name), Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade" (#80), and TV On The Radio's "Wolf Like Me" (#89).
A sidenote: there's also a high proportion of fruit and vegetables in our artists' names: cranberries, pumpkins, chill peppers, wheat, pulp, jam... it's enough to make you want to go grocery shopping.
It's Getting Hot In Here
A language warning, dear readers: we're not sure if we're allowed to reveal what sexual practice inspired the title of Tool's "Stinkfist" (#32), but we hope they washed their hands first. You must be a saucy lot: there were plenty of tracks getting listeners hot under their collars. Witness Tennessee bad boys Kings Of Leon delivering a sweaty man fest in "Sex On Fire" (#54), while Tim Freedman sings out kinky personal ads in "No Aphrodisiac" (#58). Jet asked more politely with "Are You Gonna Be My Girl? (#68), while Lana Del Ray made us swoon with #99, her smoky debut single "Video Games". On the flipside, an unfaithful ex inspired Brandon Flowers to pen #7 "Mr. Brightside". The naughtiest tune you don't want your mother to sing along to? Trent Reznor's animalistic declaration: Nine Inch Nail's "Closer" (#40).
-
7
-
32 -
40 -
54 -
58
Cover Songs and Special Guests
For this Hottest 100 countdown, you selected just one pristine cover song: Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" at #36.
Buckley's time-stopping take on Leonard Cohen's number is, some would argue, better than the original. It appeared on his 1995 LP Grace, yet crazily "Hallelujah" didn't make a dent in a triple j poll until just three years ago.
Musos love to collaborate — fact — and there were plenty of talented buggers dropping into each other's studios across this countdown. The Gorillaz — a collaboration between Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlitt — teamed up with De La Soul and producer Danger Mouse for "Feel Good Inc" (#52) and joined Del the Funkee Homosapien and Dan the Automator for "Clint Eastwood" (#71). Dave Grohl pummelled Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan's "No One Knows" into the #11 spot. Massive Attack swam in the ethereal vocals of Cocteau Twin Elizabeth Fraser with "Teardrop" (#31). And where the hell would Kanye's "Gold Digger" (#84) be without Jamie Foxx?
The highest-ranking collaboration came from 'our Wally', aka Gotye, who enlisted Kimbra and subsequently conquered the globe with your #9, "Somebody That I Used To Know".
-
9 -
11 -
31 -
52 -
71 -
84
Other Numbers Worth Knowing
