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| Fuck Trevor indeed. |
Anyway, here are several profound (and not so profound) takeaways from Saturday's countdown.
Where are the women?
The past decade has seen a huge increase in the number of female artists appearing at the pointy end of Hottest 100s. In the top 10s of Hottest 100s in the last decade, there were a total of 16 solo female artists and 40 tracks featuring female vocalists. Compare that with the top 10s of the '00s - a total of five solo women, and 13 female vocalists. With all that in mind, the Hottest 100 of the Decade feels like a backwards step.
The top 10 was devoid of female solo artists and featured just three women vocalists - the lowest figures since 2015. Triple j's own figures state "63 songs were from male artists or all-male groups, 11 from female artists or all-female groups, and 26 songs involving both male and female artists". Compare this with 2019: "57 songs were from male artists or all-male groups; 29 from female artists or all-female groups, and 14 songs involved both male and female artists".
The temporary uncancelling of Sticky Fingers
Sydney band Sticky Fingers went from triple j darlings to blacklisted in a short space of time due to allegations of sexist and racial abuse made against their lead singer. As a result, they went on hiatus in 2016, but came back in 2018 with a disastrous and unapologetic interview on triple j's Hack. Venues and festivals dropped them, and StiFi haven't been played on triple j since.
That was until last week, when they had two songs between 200 and 101, with a further three songs in the Hottest 100, including Australia Street at #15. Each song was back-announced with zero comment from the presenters, and you could almost hear the bitten tongues and gritted teeth. If you want comments, just check out Twitter.
Triple J listeners like to pretend to be woke until it becomes a choice between standing up against abuse or voting for sticky fingers #Hottest100ofthedecade— Savannah Benson (@SavvyBeeBen) March 14, 2020
3% of The Hottest 100 are known racist, violent, sexual abusers aka the band Sticky Fingers. https://t.co/yHDfbGvkSQ— nina oyama (@ninaoyama) March 14, 2020
Hello, it's me....
If you look up "slowburn" in the dictionary there's a picture of the single artwork for Rufus Du Sol's Innerbloom. Not only is the tune a nine-minute ride to the top of a rave wave but its success is equally slow on the burn. It failed to make the Hottest 100 in 2015, but What So Not's remix landed at #30 the very next year. Finally, its moment in the sun came on Saturday, when both the nine-minute original and the What So Not remix made the countdown at #5 and #64 respectively - the first time a song and its remix have appeared in the same countdown.
Rushing back (again and again)
Here's a list of the acts with the most appearances in Hottest 100s over the past decade:
16 appearances - Flume
12 - Kanye West, The Wombats
11 - Hilltop Hoods, Illy, Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala
10 - Flight Facilities, Florence Welch (Florence & The Machine), Lorde, RÜFÜS/Rufus Du Sol, Scarlett Stevens (San Cisco), Thundamentals
9 - Ball Park Music, Billie Eilish, DMA’s, Florence And The Machine, Peking Duk, San Cisco, Sticky Fingers, The Amity Affliction, Vance Joy
Now here's a list of the acts with the most appearances in Saturday's Hottest 100 of the Decade:
7 appearances - Flume
5 - Kanye West
4 - Tame Impala, Kendrick Lamar
3 - Arctic Monkeys, Gang of Youths, Sticky Fingers, Hilltop Hoods, Childish Gambino,
2 - Rüfüs Du Sol, Angus & Julia Stone, Matt Corby, Chet Faker, Lorde, DMA's, Jay-Z, Flight Facilities, The Wombats, Frank Ocean, Disclosure, Hermitude, Sia, Bon Iver, Ruel.
See any similarities?
Let's expand it out to appearances in the Hottest 200 for the sake of completeness:
9 appearances - Flume
7 - Kanye West
6 - Kendrick Lamar
5 - Gang of Youths, Sticky Fingers, Frank Ocean, Ruel
4 - Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys, Childish Gambino, Lana Del Rey,
3 - Hilltop Hoods, Rufus Du Sol, Lorde, Thundamentals, Florence Welch/Florence & The Machine, Ocean Alley
Turns out the best way to do well in a decade-long countdown is have lots of entries in countdowns of the decade. Who knew?
Also: bad luck, Illy.
The biggest losers
There were some big tunes that ended up in the 200-101 segment of the poll, including two songs that came in at #2 in their respective years (Little Red's Rockit and Flume's Rushing Back). There were also two #3s, four #4s, and three #5s sitting in the lower 100. But there were plenty of previous top 10 entries that really fell from grace, landing somewhere lower than 200. Here is a list of the songs that plummeted from 10+ to -200, as compiled by Hottest 100 guru Patrick Avenell, arranged by the number they landed in their year of release.
#5 Amy Shark - I Said Hi
#6 Marcus Marr & Chet Faker - The Trouble with Us, Dean Lewis - Be Alright
#7 Cee Lo Green - Fuck You, Chet Faker - Gold, Jarryd James - Do You Remember, Pnau - Go Bang
#8 360 & Gossling - Boys like You, Chet Faker - 1998, The Jungle Giants - Heavy Hearted
#9 The Jezabels - Endless Summer, The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face, Peking Duk feat. Elliphant - Stranger, Vance Joy - Lay It On Me
#10 Mark Ronson - Somebody To Love, The Rubens - My Gun, Asgeir - King And Cross, Disclosure feat. Lorde - Magnets, The Weeknd & Daft Punk - Starboy, Hilltop Hoods - Exit Sign
You chose... poorly
The bookies didn't get it right. 100 Warm Tunas didn't either, Patrick Avenell didn't, and I failed too. It seems no one saw Tame Impala coming. Across a couple of bookies, the top five tracks were among the favourites, all except for The Less I Know The Better. Overall it was roughly the eighth favourite, paying out about $15.
As for social media aggregator 100 Warm Tunas, here's its top 10, with the actual final position in brackets:
1. Covered In Chrome - Violent Soho (4)
2. Magnolia - Gang Of Youths (6)
3. Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys (3)
4. Innerbloom - RUFUS DU SOL (5)
5. The Less I Know The Better- Tame Impala (1)
6. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft. Kimbra (2)
7. It's Nice To Be Alive - Ball Park Music (17)
8. Breezeblocks - Alt-J (12)
9. Midnight City - M83 (22)
10. Runaway - Kanye West ft. Pusha T (14)
As you can see, it nailed the top six, just in the wrong order.
And how did I do? Not so well. There were two people at our Hottest 100 that beat me in our top 10 competition (they picked eight of the top 10!). Here's my top 20, with actual final positions in brackets (notice the lack of The Less I Know The Better - shows what I know):
1. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2)
2. Riptide - Vance Joy (13)
3. Royals - Lorde (16)
4. Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (8)
5. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol (5)
6. Covered In Chrome - Violent Soho (4)
7. Breezeblocks - Alt-J (12)
8. Lonely Boy - The Black Keys (45)
9. Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys (3)
10. King Kunta - Kendrick Lamar (23)
11. Adore - Amy Shark (51)
12. This Is America - Childish Gambino (90)
13. Big Jet Plane - Angus & Julia Stone (9)
14. Let Me Down Easy - Gang Of Youths (19)
15. Video Games - Lana Del Rey (29)
16. Holdin' On - Flume (18)
17. Let It Happen - Tame Impala (26)
18. Talk Is Cheap - Chet Faker (11)
19. Bad Guy - Billie Eilish (71)
20. Confidence - Ocean Alley (35)
Love is forever
If there's one thing that's universal, that carries on from decade to decade, it's the uncertainty of love. Just look at the top three songs in the Hottest 100. They're about watching your crush leave a party with someone else (The Less I Know The Better), a typical break-up (Somebody That I Used To Know), and being unsure whether your love is reciprocated (Do I Wanna Know?). Music may change, but the craziness of love is a constant.
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