Selects • January 2025
Hottest 100s
We go back to 1989 and look at the world’s biggest music poll.
The Early Years
Back when postal votes were the only vote.
The first Triple J Hottest 100, held in 1989, was a poll of the most popular songs of all time. Which song took out the number one spot?
Fronted by Ella Hooper, which Australian band was the first Triple J Unearthed artist to score a top 5 entry?
Which Australian political figure announced “No Aphrodisiac” as the year’s most popular song live on air in 1997?
In 1991, another “All Time” poll was conducted. Which English band scored nine tracks in the countdown?
In 1993, the Hottest 100 introduced a rule limiting entries to songs released within the past 12 months. The first three number-one songs after this change had a one-word title. Name one of them.
The Early Years
Prolific Pollers
We’ll give you a cheeky clue about these artists that polled most entries in a Hottest 100. Can you name them?
This Queensland unit scored a then-record four songs in the 1998 poll. It makes sense - their old stuff is better than their new stuff.
This band scored five numbers in the 2002 poll. Honestly, no one knows how they did it.
What a great night for this trio from Adelaide. After taking the hard road, they polled six tracks in 2006.
This left-handed rocker scored four tracks in the 2015 countdown. Not bad for someone who’s pedestrian at best.
Let’s hope this multi-instrumentalist didn’t drink too much after scoring seven tracks in the 2023 countdown, setting the record for most appearances by a single artist.
Prolific Pollers
The New Millennium
Once we got past the Y2K bug, things really kicked into gear.
The new millennium kicked off in 2000 with Powderfinger going back-to-back, winning the poll with what song?
Which Australian band currently holds the record for the most consecutive entries in the Hottest 100, making the chart every year between 1997 and 2006 - Grinspoon, Silverchair or The Living End?
In 2003, Frenzal Rhomb set the record for the shortest song to ever make the countdown with an anthem trashing the band of which celebrity?
At just over six minutes, which 2007 tune is the longest song to reach Number 1?
Name one of the two famous people whose names are also titles of songs featured in Hottest 100 countdowns - one in 2001 and the other in 2010.
The New Millennium
Fill in the Blank
Can you fill in the missing word from these opening lyrics of Hottest 100 winning songs?
So if you're lonely
You know I'm here waiting for you
I'm just a _________
I'm just a shot away from you
(Number 1 in 2004)
White shirt now red, my bloody nose
Sleeping, you're on your tippy toes
Creeping around like no one knows
Think you're so ________
(Number 1 in 2019)
I was scared of dentists and the dark
I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations
Oh, all my friends are turning _____
You're the magician's assistant in their dream
(Number 1 in 2013)
Don’t you want to be
A ___________
An ocean in the sea
(Number 1 in 1996)
Yeah, bitch, I said what I said
I'd rather be ______ instead
I let all that get to my head
I don't care, I paint the town red
(Number 1 in 2023)
Fill in the Blank
Modern Times
Am I so out of touch? No. It's the children who are wrong.
The longest gap between Hottest 100 entries is 26 years, a record held by which singer who polled with “Padam Padam” in 2023 after last featuring in 1997 with “Did It Again”?
Following a campaign from Buzzfeed, which hit single from Taylor Swift was notably disqualified from the 2014 countdown?
Who is the only act in the countdown's history to rank a song in every position of the top 5, achieving this feat with entries from 2016 to 2020?
Which singer scored five songs from her debut album Sour into the 2021 countdown?
Who was the most recent artist to achieve the number one spot in a Hottest 100, without polling any other entries in the same countdown?
Modern Times
Second is the Best
Who cares who won? Can you name the artist that polled number 2 from the song and year?
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
(1995)
Black Fingernails, Red Wine
(2006)
Little Talks
(2012)
Adore
(2016)
B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)
(2022)
Second is the Best
Leaderboard
Top Scores
- 25 BridgeStone
- 22 Lizzzzzy and the Jet
- 21 Amy & Ben
- 22 Nick
- 28 Jema and Rhys
- 20 Carissa
- 24 HorneBerg
- 21 T Cubed
Random Scores
- 17 RiRi G & Soy Boy
- 15 Jess N Ben
- 15 Gunnerside
- 14 Shatzas
- 12 The Storks
- 13 ChloeandGrace
- 17 Seaford Gang
- 12 Coral and Paul
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