Animal Farm (2026)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program in May, 2026.

(PG) ★★

Director: Andy Serkis.

Cast: (voices of) Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Woody Harrelson, Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close, Laverne Cox, Steve Buscemi, Jim Parsons, Andy Serkis, Kathleen Turner, Iman Vellani.

"And then I said, 'why yes, I do want to roll around in my own filth!'."

The idea of doing a modernised CG family-friendly adaptation of George Orwell's legendary fascism allegory Animal Farm sparks two major questions - how will they tone down some of the darker elements of the original story, and will that dilute the power of its message?

Director Serkis and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller have a decent crack at it here, and are willing push things in some cases. But ultimately this is a dark tale that feels largely too dark for young kids, yet not actually dark enough to do Orwell's story justice, making you wonder if this could ever really work for a family audience.

The story follows the animals of Manor Farm, who fight back rather than be sent to the slaughterhouse when their drunken owner Farmer Jones goes broke. Under the leadership of Snowball the pig (Cox), the animals begin to run the farm themselves, but things take a turn when a pig named Napoleon (Rogen) decides he would make a better leader.

Animal Farm has been adapted twice before, both times aimed at family audiences, to middling reviews and less than enthusiastic responses. This version is likely to receive about the same reception - it's too grim for the littleys, too kidsy for older kids, and too watered down for adults.

They get some things right though. The introduction of a new character, Lucky the pig (Matarazzo), to serve as audience surrogate is helpful, and many of the core elements of the book remain - the slogans, the fates of several characters, and the final image of Orwell's book, for example. 

But where the story tries to modernise, be cool, and appeal to a new young audience, the film feels off, like it has a trotter in two worlds. There are the obligatory dance bangers and pigs doing silly antics to appeal to the kiddies, but it's at odds with the central tale about how communism works in theory, but not in practice because power corrupts, money is the root of all evil, and people are pigs. The famous final image of Orwell's book where the humans and pigs are indistinguisbale from each other is not the end of the film, for example - instead the movie has to find a "happy ending", which is understandable, but this ain't it.

The voice cast is excellent though, and definitely elevate the production - Matarazzo, Turner, Rogen, Culkin, Vellani, Harrelson and Parsons are all great. 

Serkis and Stoller get points for trying, and they almost pull it off. There are moments of brilliance here. But getting Orwell's cautionary tale to work for all-ages on the big screen just ends up being a mismatch of dark tone and kidsy japes, with the political message lost in the scraps.

Hoppers

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on April 2, 2026.

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Daniel Chong.

Cast: (voices of) Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Karen Huie.

"Wanna lick me? Parts of me are hallucinogenic."

Hoppers is bonkers. It has the most insane plot of a Pixar movie since Up, but it's also the best film the animation house has produced since Soul in 2020.

Part-eco-warrior fantasy, part-love letter to the good in people, part-animals-go-wild comedy, Hoppers has a lot to say, which it says in between manic bursts of hyperactive insanity. In other words, it's exactly the kind of film that Pixar does so well, dialled up to 11 in some places.

Hoppers is the story of Mabel (Curda), a teen desperate to save a small glade from destruction to make way for a freeway. While trying to protect the patch of woodland from the evil hands of City Hall, she stumbles on a piece of secret technology that will allow her to mentally inhabit a small robotic beaver - a move she hopes will save the glade and have no horrible repercussions whatsoever.

Like I said, the plot is bonkers. The only criticism is that its key plot point - the ability to transfer your consciousness into a realistic animal avatar - comes out of nowhere. There's no real set-up for it, no suggestion this is set in a world with far-out tech, or that the inventors of this tech are anything more than run-of-the-mill college professors. It means Hoppers' script asks for a massive leap of faith - it doesn't just want you to suspend your disbelief, but set it on fire and throw it in the river. If you're on board for this potential shark-jumping moment then you can properly strap in for the literal shark-jumping moments that come later.

This very, very important plot point is dealt with efficiently though, and getting it out of the way quickly helps because it means the film can get on with what it has to say, which is a lot. Yes, it's funny and it's madcap, but in that classic Pixar way it's about a hundred other things - it's about the environment, feelings of inadequacy, trust, the potential for goodness in people, biodiversity, the power of nature, the importance of place, working together, and the absolute shitshow of destruction humanity is raining down on the planet one glade at a time.

Yeah, there are preachy moments, but the script by Jesse Andrews delivers most of them with eloquence and poignance. Hoppers wears its heart on its beaver fur sleeve, and it's all the better for it. The emotional notes are big, but so are the laughs and the lessons.

As I've said a billion times in reviews about family films, the best ones are the films you can go back to at any age and get something out of. While this skews older than some Pixar movies due to the villainous escalation in the third act and its hefty environmental themes, it has most-ages appeal that ensure it will grow with its junior audience.

Like the beavers it stars, Hoppers is a fascinating beast - it's cute and interesting and strange, and the world is a better place for its existence.

Listening to 500 albums in one year

 

Updated: April 19, 2026

Back at the start of the year, my colleague Olivia Sanders mentioned one of her New Year's resolutions was to listen to a different album every day. 

A lightbulb went off in my head - that was exactly the kind of resolution I needed to shake me out of my musical malaise and to focus my erratic listening habits. I asked if she minded if I did it too, and Olivia said 'go for it'. We then went on my regular music segment with ABC South West Victoria's Jeremy Lee and talked about our musical quest of 2026.

I'm using this resolution as a way to stop myself from listening to the same old records (as pictured above) and make myself listen to different things - new albums, the old albums I've always meant to listen to, the gems friends recommend, the classic albums I should know better, the deep cuts I've missed over the years, the albums I need to be reacquainted with. I listen to each album at least twice, I jot a note or two in a spreadsheet and move on.

But as time has gone on, I've started to think, why stop at 365 records? I started going through two or three albums a day quite easily some days. I did some quick maths - 500 records in a year seemed vaguely achieveable. 

So here we are. And here's what I've listened to so far.

156 The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (1976)

155 Ramones - Ramones (1976)

154 Blondie - Blondie (1976)

153 Camel - Moonmadness (1976)

152 Genesis - A Trick Of The Tail (1976)

151 Rush - 2112 (1976)

150 AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)

149 Peter Tosh - Legalize It (1976)

148 Jorge Ben - Africa/Brasil (1976)

147 Bob Seger - Night Moves (1976)

146 Joan Armatrading - Joan Armatrading (1976)

145 Joni Mitchell - Hejira (1976)

144 Tom Waits - Small Change (1976)

143 David Bowie - Station To Station (1976)

142 Laura Nyro - Smile (1976)

141 Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks (1975)

140 Bob Dylan - Desire (1976)

139 Eagles - Hotel California (1976)

138 Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record (1976)

137 Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen (2022)

136 Waak Waak Djungi - Waak Waak Ga Min Min (1997)

135 ABBA - Arrival (1976)

134 Wings - Wings At The Speed Of Sound (1976)

133 Queen - A Day At The Races (1976)

132 Boston - Boston (1976)

131 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1976)

130 Taylor Swift - Folklore (2020)

129 Karnivool - Themata (2005)

128 Norah Jones - The Fall (2009)

127 Aerosmith - Rocks (1976)

126 The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000)

125 Karnivool - Sound Awake (2009)

124 Dry Cleaning - Secret Love (2026)

123 Archie Roach - Looking For Butter Boy (1997)

122 Blood Orange - Essex Honey (2025)

121 Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production Of Eggs (2005)

120 Gary Moore - Dark Days In Paradise (1997)

119 Various Artists - War Child 2 (2026)

118 The Rolling Stones - Black & Blue (1976)

117 Rose Peak - Brothers (2026)

116 Led Zeppelin - Presence (1976)

115 Taylor Swift - Evermore (2021)

114 Kiss - Destroyer (1976)

113 Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive! (1976)

112 Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)

111 Travis - The Man Who (1999)

110 Saya Gray - Saya (2025)

109 Bruce Springsteen - The River (1980)

108 Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (2023)

107 The Pigram Brothers - Saltwater Country (1997)

106 Tangerine Dream - Sorceror (1977)

105 Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See (1993)

104 Real Estate - Daniel (2024)

103 Real Estate - Atlas (2014)

102 Mitski - Nothing's About To Happen To Me (2026)

101 The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (1969)

100 Roxy Music - Avalon (1982)

99 Miles Davis - In A Silent Way (1969)

98 Air - Moon Safari (1998)

97 Lana Del Rey - Born To Die (2012)

96 Miles Davis - Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968)

95 Miles Davis - ESP (1965)

94 Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977)

93 Laurie Anderson - Mr Heartbreak (1984)

92 Mannfred Mann - Mighty Garvey! (1968)

91 The Rolling Stones - Goat's Head Soup (1973)

90 Pixies - Trompe Le Monde (1991)

89 Pixies - Bossanova (1990)

88 Kylie Minogue - Impossible Princess (1997)

87 Hilary Duff - Metamorphosis (2003)

86 Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)

85 The Bees - Sunshine Hit Me (2001)

84 CB Ghost - Mayhemic (2025)

83 Boards Of Canada - The Campfire Headphase (2005)

82 The Jackets - Queen Of The Pill (2019)

81 Madonna - Ray Of Light (1998)

80 Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (1967)

79 Balu Brigada - Portal (2025)

78 Nathan Cavaleri - Miracles (2023)

77 Yungblud - Idols (Complete) (2026)

76 The Underground Lovers - Dream It Down (1994)

75 Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (1996)

74 Brian Eno - Another Green World (1975)

73 The Beatles - Help! (1965)

72 Steely Dan - Aja (1977)

71 Keli Holiday - Capital Fiction (2026)

70 Add N To (X) - Avant Hard (1999)

69 Cold Chisel - East (1980)

68 Hunters & Collectors - Human Frailty (1986)

67 Bring Me The Horizon - Amo (2019)

66 Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)

65 Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)

64 Beyonce - Lemonade (2016)

63 The 1975 - The 1975 (2013)

62 Bring Me The Horizon - That's The Spirit (2015)

61 Angine de Poitrine - Vol.1 (2024)

60 Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998)

59 Rob - Make It Fast, Make It Slow (1978)

58 David Bowie - The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars (1972)

57 Rocket Juice & The Moon - Rocket Juice & The Moon (2012)

56 Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene (1976)

55 Diana Ross - Diana (1980)

54 Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal (2013)

53 MGMT - Congratulations (2010)

52 Djo - The Crux (2025)

51 Blur - Parklife (1994)

50 Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)

49 Blur - Leisure (1991)

48 Geese - 3D Country (2023)

47 Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Zombie (1976)

46 Orquestra Afrosinfonica - Orin, A Lingua Dos Anjos (2020)

45 Wet Leg - Moisturizer (2025)

44 David Bowie - Low (1977)

43 Garbage - Garbage (1995)

42 Tom Waits - Bone Machine (1992)

41 Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime (2026)

40 The Divine Comedy - Liberation (1993)

39 Prince - Purple Rain (1984)

38 Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World (2001)

37 Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA (1984)

36 Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)

35 Beck - Mutations (1998)

34 Sombr - I Barely Know Her (2025)

33 Tame Impala - Currents (2015)

32 Lorde - Pure Heroine (2013)

31 Olivia Dean - The Art Of Loving (2025)

30 Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City (2007)

29 Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining (1990)

28 Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different (1974)

27 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)

26 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970)

25 Frank Ocean - Channel Orange (2012)

24 Bill Withers - Just As I Am (1971)

23 MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (2007)

22 Billy Joel - Turnstiles (1976)

21 The Music - The Music (2002)

20 PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2000)

19 Kate Bush - The Red Shoes (1993)

18 Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love (1985)

17 Florence & The Machine - Lungs (2009)

16 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run (1975)

15 Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal (2024)

14 Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

13 Ed Sheeran - + (2011)

12 Carole King - Tapestry (1971)

11 The Beatles - Yellow Submarine Songtrack (1999)

10 Huey Lewis & The News - Sports (1983)

9 Huey Lewis & The News - Fore! (1986)

8 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)

7 mclusky - The Difference Between You And Me Is I'm Not On Fire (2004)

6 mclusky - The World Is Still Here And So Are We (2025)

5 Billy Joel - Glass Houses (1980)

4 Mike Keneally - Wing Beat Fantastic: Songs Written By Andy Partridge & Mike Keneally (2012)

3 Blondshell - If You Asked For A Picture (2025)

2 Gang Of Youths - Go Farther In Lightness (2017)

1 Grant Hart  - Insurrection (1989)

TV review: The Muppet Show (2026)

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Alex Timbers.

Cast: Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, Sabrina Carpenter, Maya Rudolph, Seth Rogen.

Spot the human.

There were three reasons Jim Henson subtitled the first episode of The Muppet Show "Sex & Violence" back in 1976.

Firstly, it got your attention. Secondly, it's a wonderfully absurd joke - a family-friendly puppet show wasn't going to feature the kind of sex and violence you think of when you hear the phrase "sex and violence".

But thirdly, the OG series (1976-1981) did actually feature sex and violence, albeit in a very Muppet kind of way. The endless slapstick of Mad Harry's explosions and Miss Piggy's karate chop is hilarious and, well, violent. And if you don't think there's any sex in the Muppets, rewatch the original series and report back.

This 50th anniversary TV special definitely nails the sex and violence - having Sabrina Carpenter sing Manchild amid a bar brawl is vintage Muppets. And that's just the opening number.

But this was the moment in the show when I knew this reboot, spearheaded by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, understood The Muppets and got the brief. The tone is spot-on, but it goes beyond imitation. It understands the mix of song and show that was the Muppets' stock in trade - that wondrous mix of absurdism and vaudevillian humour and pure performance. It's a type of program from a bygone era, and thankfully they don't try to update the formula here. They just lean into it.

And just as the original series isn't flawless, neither is this anniversary show. A segment where Rizzo and his fellow rats sing The Weeknd's Blinding Lights falls very flat, but that wasn't unusual for some of the musical numbers on the show back in the day, so I guess that's in keeping with the original tone.

The gang couldn't have asked for a better guest star than Sabrina Carpenter. Aside from being "so hot right now", her playfulness and willingness to do the silly things is endearing and fun to watch, and she seems right at home in the Muppet Theatre.

Back in the early '80s, I watched the original series religiously with my parents, every Saturday evening. Mum and Dad laughed at different jokes to the ones I laughed it, but we all loved it, evidently for different reasons. 

This time around, I watched it with my 10-year-old, and we both laughed at different jokes and we both loved it. I can't think of a more fitting way to say this is the perfect way to celebrate 50 years of The Muppets. 

I finally watched Zack Snyder's Justice League

Zack Snyder's Justice League

(MA15+) ★★★★

Director: Zack Snyder

Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Ciaran Hinds, Amy Adams, Connie Nielsen, Diane Lane, Joe Morton, Ray Porter, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, JK Simmons, Zheng Kai, Peter Guinness.

"So we'll all get our own spin-off movies, right?"

I realise I'm very late to the party with this one, but my 10-year-old and I have been doing the DC thing lately, and we just did Justice League. Once again, it's a massive disappointment of a film, but it made me realise I couldn't put off watching The Snyder Cut any longer.

And it's coming up on the fifth Snyderversary of the Snyderest version, so let's pretend that's a good reason to do this.

Many millions of column inches and YouTube minutes have been dedicated to comparing Whedon's OG version with Snyder's troll-satisfying director's cut, so what I'm saying is probably not new. 

Except to say, it's a bit unfair to compare the pair.

There are plenty of reasons to hate Whedon, but his version of Justice League isn't one of them. It should instead be seen as more reason to hate the idiots at Warner Bros. Whedon was hired to do a job under very trying circumstances and delivered a film that, while not great (I gave it two and a half stars, it's 39 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes), did what Warner Bros asked - it clocked in at two hours, and it had a lighter tone.

That the film bombed commercially and artistically is on Warner Bros, not Whedon, because of the restraints placed on the last-minute fill-in director, and the evidence can be found in Snyder's cut.

But, as I said, the two versions are apples and oranges in terms of context.

Whedon had to meet a deadline, under very clear instructions. Snyder had years to tinker, and was basically given carte blanche to deliver the film he wanted to deliver. Whedon took someone else's work, hacked and slashed at it, and delivered a film that was probably as good as it was ever going to be in that abridged format (which was not very good).

And as I said, the evidence is there in the fact the first two thirds of the film are essentially the same. The difference is that Snyder's version, unimpinged by studio meddling, is allowed to breathe, and given time to run. Whedon's version trims and trims while ensuring it still makes sense, and little more.

As a result, in Snyder's cut, character motivations are fleshed out and make more sense, or, at the very least, make the characters resonate more. The motives of Batman, Flash, Aquaman and even Steppenwolf become clearer, but it's Cyborg who truly wins in this version. He gets an arc, a backstory, goals, and a goddamn reason to exist in this film beyond "because he's in the comics". Yes, Whedon did Cyborg dirty, but it was at the bidding of Warner Bros, and if you're going to cut stuff, then you cut the stuff that should've been it's own origin movie that Warner Bros should've made first before making a goddamn Justice League movie.

This has always been a problem with the DCEU. Rather than proceed in a logical fashion and introduce characters film by film before doing a big team-up, like Marvel did, Warner Bros seemingly threw darts at a wall and made movies in an order decided almost by chance, as a seemingly deliberate move to NOT do things the way Marvel did.

As a result of this fuckwittery, Cyborg never got his own film, and Snyder instead wedged Cyborg's origin story into Justice League. In Whedon's version, it doesn't work, but when you have four hours to mess around with, it does work. Cyborg becomes the emotional core of the film - he has the most heartfelt arc as he tries to deal with a father he never understood; a father who gets a chance to be a "father twice over", but who is initially rejected by Cyborg because he doesn't understand himself, let alone his redemption-seeking father. It's a rich thread, sewn somewhat awkwardly by either Chris Terrio's script or Snyder's direction, but it's far richer than it was in Whedon's cut.

Aside from giving the first two acts room to breathe, the biggest difference between the versions is the entire third act, which is markedly different, and way better in Snyder's cut. The plotting that Warner Bros considered too complicated is fairly straightforward actually, although that's because we've had three hours to warm up to it, to be honest.

I also feel weirdly vindicated. Here's a snippet from my review of Justice League:

"... a mini subplot involving a family holed up in the vicinity of Steppenwolf's base (is) most likely a direct response to the impersonal carnage of Man Of Steel, but it doesn't work and feels completely tacked on."

That subplot was indeed tacked on by Whedon, who was trying to up the stakes of the finale, and failing. Oddly, Snyder's version of the ending is more direct - the world is going to end, and that's all that matters; not saving a Russian family living near an old nuclear power plant. No one cared about that family - it was bad writing. 

I've typed all these words and haven't even mentioned Darkseid. While I understand why Whedon cut him, adding him in helps make Steppenwolf a far more interesting villain. Having said that, both baddies still fall short in Snyder's version because their motives are cliched and typically underdone. The motivations of a good villain should seem reasonable in the right light - destroying a planet to make it look like your homeworld is just dumb. Perhaps one of the biggest faults of the DCEU is its villains. Outside of Zod, I can't really think of a villain whose intentions made sense in a way that just about any Marvel baddie did - maybe Black Manta or maybe Ishmael/Sabbac, but neither of them resonate like Thanos, Namor, Whiplash, Mysterio, The High Evolutionary, or Kilmonger, to name a few.

In a different timeline - one where Snyder did not have to drop out amid horrific personal tragedy, and one where Warner Bros compromised somewhat - Snyder's cut would not have been four hours long, and as a result would've been vastly different. He would've had to pick up the pace in the first half, cut such indulgences as a random Icelandic sing-song or Martian Manhunter's foreshadowing cameo, and might've made some plot changes, such as ignoring the weirdly unneccesary subplot about getting Batman's troop carrier to fly.

But with his unfair advantage of time, Snyder's version is easily the definitive one, and it's actually an enjoyable and well-rounded four hours, even with its slow patches. There is no reason for Whedon's version to exist, except to point out the folly of a studio more concerned with money than art, as most studios are prone to do.

Some things about the triple j Hottest 100 of 2025

Congratulations to Olivia Dean, who sounded genuinely chuffed to have won triple j's Hottest 100 of 2025. While it's not surprising she won in the sense that she was the hot favourite, I'm pleasantly surprised (and kinda fascinated) that the winner was someone whose latest album is full of jazzy chords and soul melodies. 

But that's what I love about the Hottest 100 - it's a snapshot of the musical tastes of a large number of young people (and not-so-young people), and that's always interesting.

Here are some other things I learnt.

The Leaderboard

28 - Hilltop Hoods

25 - G Flip, Billie Eilish

23 - Tame Impala

22 - Powderfinger, Foo Fighters, Flume

21 - Spacey Jane, Lime Cordiale

20 - Kanye West

19 - Ocean Alley

17 - Silverchair, Muse, Kendrick Lamar, Grinspoon, Bring Me The Horizon

16 - The Wombats, The Living End, Rüfüs Du Sol, Lorde, John Butler Trio

15 - Regurgitator, Florence and the Machine, Ball Park Music, Arctic Monkeys

14 - You Am I, Something for Kate, Placebo, Pearl Jam

13 - Illy, Green Day, Fred Again

12 - Vance Joy, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cat Empire, The Amity Affliction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Peking Duk, Garbage, Fisher, Eskimo Joe, Drake, DMA's

It shits me how controversial this is (and I'm sure my colleagues over at triple j are getting increasingly annoyed at me every time I point this out), but if Billie Eilish gets a point for being a featured artist on Charli XCX's Guess (#6 in 2024), then Hilltop Hoods get a point for guesting on Thundamentals's 21 Grams (#61 in 2017). And thus the Hoodies are on 28, not 27, despite what triple j says.

So the official leaderboard looks like the above (Flume is also higher on this than on triple j's official leaderboard because this counts his remixes/collabs/features etc.). There were some big movers this year. Hilltop Hoods (three entries) leapt clear of Billie Eilish, who didn't feature in the countdown for the first time in nine years. But they weren't alone - Spacey Jane had five entries to move to equal eighth, Tame Impala and Ocean Alley had four entries, G Flip and Fred Again had three entries, and Lorde and Fisher joined the big leagues with two entries.

And the bolded acts are the ones that have had Hottest 100 entries in the past few years. It seems incredibly unlikely to me that acts such as Powderfinger or Foo Fighters, for example, will feature in the poll ever again, and the leaderboard looks particularly interesting when you delineate between the "heritage" acts and the ones still in the running.

How many artists?

One criticism of the 2024 countdown was that a small number of artists were responsible for a large portion of the countdown - Billie Eilish, Charli XCX and Gracie Abrams accounted for 20 per cent of the entire Hottest 100.

But the huge amount of collaborations and featurings meant that there were actually 82 unique artists last year. This year, there were only 67 unique artists - the lowest since 2005, when there was only 64 unique artists. That was the year Wolfmother, Bloc Party and The Cat Empire accounted for 14 per cent of the entire countdown, and 26 acts had multiple entries. By comparison, in the 2025 poll, there were 25 acts with multiple entries.

The lowest number of entries in a year is 64 in 2005 and 2002, giving 2025 the third least amount of unique entries.

The Hottest Number

Shout out to Tyler Jenke, who invented the idea of the Hottest Number. Basically, if you get #1 in a Hottest 100, you get 100 points. You place #100, you get one point. What this means is that you can have lots of entries in the poll, but if they're at the lower end of the chart, then your Hottest Number is low (I'm looking at you, Bring Me The Horizon).

Here's the Hottest Number leaderboard:

1. Hilltop Hoods - 1718

2. Spacey Jane - 1535

3. Billie Eilish - 1527

4. Tame Impala - 1516

5. Powderfinger - 1467

6. Flume - 1454

7. Lime Cordiale - 1340

8. G Flip - 1310

9 - Foo Fighters - 1245

10. Ocean Alley - 1123

11. John Butler Trio - 1062

12. Grinspoon - 1053

13. Lorde - 1052

14. Silverchair - 1046

15. The Living End - 1017

16. Ball Park Music - 1014

17. Regurgitator - 977

18. Rüfüs Du Sol - 972

19. The Wombats - 955

20. Fred Again - 933

When you compare this to the leaderboard, you see a couple of things. Firstly, Spacey Jane leaps up the table thanks to having had six top 10s, whereas G Flip is somewhat penalised for having seven songs in one year. John Butler Trio and Lime Cordiale are also beneficiaries of looking at polls this way.

Basically, this is the leaderboard through a slightly different lens.

The Hottest Streak

Billie Eilish didn't place in the 2025 countdown, bringing her active streak of eight consecutive Hottest 100s to an end. 

But waiting in the wings were Fisher, G Flip, and Lime Cordiale, who all polled in 2025 and now share the record for longest active hot streak, with eight consecutive Hottest 100s (Bring Me The Horizon also had an active streak of seven until 2025, but they failed to poll this year).

And should Fisher, G Flip and Cordiale fail to poll in the 2026 countdown, then Spacey Jane (current streak = 7), The Kid Laroi (6), Dom Dolla (5) and The Rions (5) are ready and waiting to take the crown for Hottest Streak.

The death of the band

As mentioned in this article, the Hottest 100 backs up the idea that bands are dying out. Up until 2004, there were, on average, more than 80 songs featuring bands per Hottest 100. That number has been steadily declining ever since. Here's what the past decade looks like for number of bands appearing on songs:

2016: 63

2017: 55

2018: 46

2019: 39

2020: 48

2021: 45

2022: 46

2023: 32

2024: 34

2025: 39

I've been asked a lot on radio recently to explain the reason for this, and I'd say the two key factors are technology and musical tastes. Changing technology means musicians no longer need a band and an expensive studio to help bring a song to life - you can do it at home by yourself on your laptop. And I don't know if it's causal or a correlation or a coincidence, but musical tastes have veered away from rock and metal (ie. music made by bands) towards pop and hip hop (ie. music typically released by solo artists) in recent years.

While bands such as Spacey Jane, Ocean Alley, Royel Otis, Hilltop Hoods, Playlunch, The Rions, The Dreggs, and Old Mervs had multiple songs in the countdown, it's hard to tell whether they are helping reverse the trend, or whether the trend is merely plateuing.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

That article also points out the decline in songs featuring Australian artists, and while the 2025 Hottest 100 reverses the huge drop-off in Aussies from 2024, there's still a long way to go to get back to the halcyon days of the 2010s. Here's the numbers of total Aussie appearances in recent years:

2016: 81

2017: 73

2018: 69

2019: 72

2020: 71

2021: 59

2022: 62

2023: 54

2024: 29

2025: 55

To its credit, triple j added an Australian tab on the voting page this year, effectively encouraging people to "vote Australian". This has potentially helped make 2024 look like a statistical blip brought on by brat summer and Billie Eilish releasing the best album of her career, rather than a nightmarish trend. 

Still, the graph for Aussie appearances is a mountain with 2016 as the flag at the pinnacle, and it's been all downhill since. Is this the Tik Tok influence or the rise of the Spotify algorthyhm? It's hard to say, but one fact remains - triple j is still the greatest champion of Aussie music around, and long may it reign.

The Power of #2

One of my favourite random Hottest 100 facts is that Blur's Song 2, a song that runs for two minutes and two seconds, came in at #2 in 1997 (and #22 in the Hottest 100 of the first 20 years in 2013).

This year, it was Keli Holiday's Dancing2 which landed at #2, falling victim to the power of #2. It was Holiday AKA Adam Hyde's second time placing second in the Hottest 100, having already achieved this feat with his other act Peking Duk in 2014.

It's a shame Sombr's 12 to 12 didn't come in at #12 (it was #8). But that's because Fred Again now owns that spot, having placed at #12 for three years running. 

Worship at the Church of Women

Also for the third year running, a solo female artist has won the Hottest 100. It's also the fourth year in a row where the winner has had a female vocalist, and the fifth consecutive year where the winner has featured a woman (Emma Wiggle represent). Suffice to say, this is the best streak of female and non-binary representation the Hottest 100 has had, which is something to celebrate.

The previous best run of female artists topping the Hottest 100 was Julia Stone and Kimbra in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Song Sung Blue (2025)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on January 22, 2026.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Craig Brewer.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, Mustafa Shakir, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, King Princess, Hudson Hensley.

"Jerry was a race car driver, he drove so goddamn fast..."

Music can do weird things to you. 

It can be a quiet private moment. It can soundtrack a marriage or a funeral or a romance or a workout. It can stir emotions and passions. It can make you dance or sing or do all kinds of stupid stuff.

In the case of Mike and Claire Sardina, the subjects of the 2008 doco Song Sung Blue, it got under their skin and into their blood, like a drug, becoming an addiction. It was the fuel of dreams, almost to the point of delusion.

In this vaguely fictionalised take on Greg Kohs' kooky slice-of-life documentary, that same theme of following your dream is strong (though the delusion is dialed down). This adaptation keeps so much of the reality but does a great job of fitting the facts into a biopic narrative, so that while the story changes, the heart of it shines through even stronger than in the doco. 

Song Sung Blue follows Mike and Claire through their careers as Lightning and Thunder, two singers from the nostalgia circuit who team-up to become a Neil Diamond tribute act and fall in love along the way. As their career waxes and wanes amid some incredible hardships, the musicians follow their dreams of becoming entertainers and sharing Neil Diamond's music with the world (or at the very least the Great Lakes region of America).

Fans of the doco might feel this has buffed off the original's rough edges, and Mike and Claire are certainly more sympathetic in this than in the doco, where their inadequacies and delusions are laid bare. Here, these foibles become heroic flaws to ensure we never stop cheering them on. There's a feeling of pity in the doco that is missing from the film, with this version leaning into the hope and heart, rather than making them look like low class fools.

It's also easy to cheer these two starry-eyed middle-aged lovebirds when they're inhabited by Hudson and Jackman. Indeed, Hudson in particular is magnetic as Claire AKA Thunder, impressing with her vocal chops as much as her wide-ranging performance. And we all know Jackman can sing, but his uncanny rendition of Diamond's voice is truly impressive, and matched by another workmanlike performance by the Aussie star. Also a joy to watch in this, and I never thought I'd type these words, is Jim Belushi, giving a delightfully goofy "aw shucks" turn as the duo's co-manager. 

The story wrings a lot of emotion out of the story - more than the documentary. Again, this may not be to all tastes, but for mine, this fictionalised retelling is punchier, more heartfelt, and yet still (mostly) true to its subjects. Just with fewer cigarettes, a bigger house, and less of a "white trash" overture to it all.

Both the doco and the new version are, at their heart, tales of little people dreaming big, and refusing to back down when the universe says "no". It's soulful and sad and weirdly uplifting, filled with a great soundtrack to remind you of Diamond's incredible songwriting skills.