Music

All The Winners And Losers Of The 2018 Hottest 100

Winner: The next generation. Losers: Shitty Aus music trolls.

by David James Young  31 January 2019
Hottest 100 2018 Predictions Artist Choices

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Over 2.5 million votes were counted. 100 songs were played. Reactions varied from heart-eyes emojis to as many “Who?”s as a tree full of owls.

The 2018 Hottest 100 has been and gone, and it’s now time for us to try and make sense of it all the only way we know how — another list! These, friends, are the winners and losers of the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2018. Dive in.

Winner: Ocean Alley

Not to be confused with the UNFD band, the song by Yellowcard or the guy who wants you to get in his car, Ocean Alley are a band from Sydney’s northern beaches that unexpectedly dominated the entire countdown.

They are only the second act in the history of the countdown to top and tail the thing by scoring both #1 and #100 — the first being Powderfinger all the way back in 1999. Vocalist Baden Donegal is also the second-ever POC winner, with the first being Kendrick Lamar the year prior.

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The stats are one thing – but the question remains as to whether Ocean Alley deserved it. This, naturally, all depends on which side of the narrative you play into. You can view them as a band going up against some of the giants in the music industry and coming up trumps, an unexpected and even underdog victory in the spirit of Augie March or Vance Joy.

Conversely, there’s also the framing of the band as just another slew of privileged private-school kids playing broad-stroke reggae to the lowest common denominator, and that their victory is nothing special. That, folks, is up to the public to decide.

Loser: Courtney Barnett

Perhaps the most unexpected exclusion in the countdown for 2018 was the head honcho of Milk! Records herself. After all, her debut album scored her just as many spots in the Hottest 100 of 2015 as Ocean Alley got this year, and Tell Me How You Really Feel just won the ARIA for Album Of The Year.

The closest Barnett ended up getting was ‘Nameless, Faceless’ getting in the Hottest 200 the day after, scoring number 156. So, what happened?

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Essentially, this can be narrowed down to two key factors: Vote splitting and a changing demographic. It’s worth noting that there were five singles from Tell Me How You Really Feel – and, unless you’re some sort of juggernaut like Wolfmother or Violent Soho, you’re not getting all of them in. With people voting for all five, rather than one key single, Barnett was bound to come up short.

There’s also the notion of Barnett moving into more of the Double J demographic, with a younger audience generally less interested in guitar music altogether (more on that later). It’s by no means a reflection on her own abilities, or even her popularity. If anything, it’s just a sign of the times.

Winner: Movie Soundtracks

They’re back, baby! We got two bangers from soundtracks to the big superhero movies of 2018 — Black Panther and Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-Verse — care of Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Swae Lee and Post Malone.

This marks the first time songs specifically from a movie soundtrack have been in the countdown in five years — the last was Lorde’s ‘Yellow Flicker Beat,’ which was in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1. Of course, soundtrack singles were commonplace during the 90s countdowns, so it’s awesome to see them making a return. Both the tracks absolutely rule, too.

Loser: Like a Version

Normally, the breakfast segment dominates the countdown — perhaps the greatest living example of the snake eating its tail. This year, however, only two LAVs got in — and they were both a whole heap of nothing. Ocean Alley’s rendition of the soft-rock 70s hit ‘Baby Come Back’ by Player felt more like karaoke.

Meanwhile, Nothing But Thieves decided to answer a question no-one was asking: What if you took one of Gang of Youths’ most heart-racing, life-affirming and energetic songs and then turned it into a dreary, boring funeral dirge?

Winner: Ladies Of Pop

It was a strong showing for pop music in the countdown, and a lot of it was stemming from women across the spectrum. Amy Shark and Mallrat made their presence felt in the top 10, while Kira Puru made her debut care of ‘Molotov’ and Halsey made a welcome return via current worldwide smash ‘Without Me.’

Perhaps the most surprising of all, however, was Miley Cyrus. Her Mark Ronson collab ‘Nothing Breaks Like a Heart’ marked the first time she had ever been played by the station, carrying on Ronson’s tradition as a great Trojan horse for popstars into the world of triple j. 

Loser: Dudes With Electric Guitars

As was documented, this was the lowest representation for the broad category of “rock” ever in a Hottest 100 — a far cry from 20 years ago, when such songs made up 80 percent of the countdown.

This meant that there was a lot more genre-crossing and stylistic diversity in the Hottest 100 this year, but only festival giants like Skegss and Hockey Dad were able to properly come close to the upper echelon of the list in terms of shredders. That said, it’s pretty damn cool that the only rock song in the top 10 was by a woman — good on you, Ruby Fields!

Winner: Darren Levin

The LNWY editor and former Managing Editor of Junkee is definitely out of the triple j demographic. Unlike many others his age, however, he’s entirely self-aware about this and decided to take the absolute piss out of grown men who absolutely should know better.

His tweets on the day were a hilarious takedown of hollow nostalgia and desperate attempts to be edgy, although quite a few people didn’t seem to get the very blunt and obvious sarcasm.

Loser: Lazy Trolls

“SHOULDA BEEN HIGHER” WASN’T FUNNY THE FIRST TIME YOU WROTE IT, WHY THE FUCK WOULD IT BE FUNNY THE 45TH TIME?

Winner: The Next Generation

Mallrat and Billie Eilish are two of the youngest people to ever get in the Hottest 100. Every artist in the top 20 came to prominence in the 2010s. The tide is shifting to focus more on the stars of the here and now, and truth be told that’s kind of always how the Hottest 100 has operated.

Think about it: When you first listened to the Hottest 100 as a teenager, there were almost definitely people older than you complaining that they didn’t know who any of the artists were. It’s cyclical, fam.

Loser: The Old Guard

Only a few beloved Triple J artists from the 2000s slipped through the cracks this year: Hilltop Hoods, The Presets and honorary citizens The Wombats. There was also a song by the Arctic Monkeys, but the less said about them the better.

Winner: Australian music

65 of the 100 songs were by or featured Australian artists. A lot of acts were making their debut in the Hottest 100, including WAAX, Polish Club and G Flip.

There is a remarkable group of vital, interesting and original artists in this country right now, and it’s great that so many were reflected in the list, both in the main countdown and in the Hottest 200 the very next day.

Loser: Australian Music Fans

Having said that, it’s been reported a few different places that one of the main reasons Ocean Alley took out the top spot is because of meme groups and some sort of adverse reaction to ‘This is America’ being seen as the clear favourite. Because #thisisnotamerica or some shit.

Are you kidding? Are you all really that petulant that you’d put some FruityLoops demo rubbish like Fisher’s ‘Losing It’ — quite literally a number two song — ahead of the single most important and subversive song of the year? Ahead of something as innovative as ‘Sicko Mode’? Just to maintain some sort of jingoistic Aussie pride? The date was changed for a reason, you navel-gazers. Get a life.

David James Young is a writer and podcaster. He is one of the four hosts and panellists of Hottest 100s and 1000s, a podcast that reviews every song ever voted into the countdown. Expect a hot take on Dean Lewis sometime in the late 2020s. He tweets at @DJYwrites.