Six Sneaky Contenders For The Hottest 100 Of 2020
Don't count these bangers out.
Hottest 100 voting opened yesterday, so you know what that means — it’s speculation time.
Yep, although we won’t know which song tops the biggest countdown in Australian radio for weeks yet, the influx of votes that have already started hitting social media means that considering the shakedown of the list is not a matter of mere guesswork.
After all, folks are helpfully sending actual data about real votes into the world by posting them to their Twitter timeline, so a long trawl of the platform helps make it clear the kind of surprises in-store.
And surprises are there many. Once upon a time, the winner of the Hottest 100 was obvious early — no-one was going to wrench the winning spot away from Kendrick Lamar back in 2018, for instance. But this year’s countdown taught us that anything goes, and that even monoliths like ‘Dance Monkey’ can be pipped at the post.
To that end, let’s rundown the biggest potential left-field choices that seem to be growing in popularity.
Phoebe Bridgers — ‘Savior Complex’
2020 was the year that Phoebe Bridgers went from being acclaimed independent artist to something like a cultural heavy-hitter. She got nominated for a Grammy, her album Punisher broke hearts worldwide, and her songs began accumulating more radio play than ever before.
That’s not to say that she’s become successful enough to take out the top spot on a list as wide-reaching as the Hottest 100. But a song like ‘Savior Complex’ has become enough of a cult hit to rank higher than the naysayers might be expecting. Don’t count Phoebe out, is what I’m saying.
Spacey Jane — ‘Booster Seat’
Spacey Jane are an old-fashioned Australian success story, amassing a massive fanbase in a tremendously short space of time. And the key to that success is undoubtedly ‘Booster Seat’, a widened and effortlessly cool indie rock ballad that has been everywhere for the last few months.
Indeed, our friends over at Pilerats called ‘Booster Seat’ the “unexpected champ” of the countdown an entire month ago. Even Ocean Alley, a band that know a thing or two about the countdown, threw the song their support by voting for it and calling it a “masterpiece.” Prepare for this one to rank pretty damn high.
Tkay Maidza — ‘Shook’
Way back in May of this year, Tkay Maidza dropped probably the best single of her entire career, a blistering number called ‘Shook’. The impact of the track was immediately undeniable — Music Junkee’s Jules LeFevre even called it one of the best songs of the year.
The song hasn’t dulled one iota in the months and countless listens since, either; it still makes most other modern musicians sound asleep at the wheel. Sure, it hasn’t been talked about as a massive Hottest 100 frontrunner yet. But no-one talked about ‘Confidence’ like it was going to clean up, and then it did, so don’t count a sleeper hit like ‘Shook’ out.
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion — ‘WAP’
It sounds wild to call a song with the massive commercial and cross-over appeal of ‘WAP’ a surprise hit. After all, ‘WAP’ is, if anything, oversaturated in our culture; remember the literal months of covers of that song, not even to mention the seemingly unstoppable internet discourse that surrounded it.
But still, as a Hottest 100 player, the cards are slightly stacked against it. Voters tend to like to throw their support behind a homegrown hit, and sometimes an excess of mainstream crossover appeal can hurt a track (remember how many people had their knives out for Tones and I?) So yeah, consider a ‘WAP’ win something of an outside chance, if not one to be ruled out.
Mallrat — ‘Rockstar’
Mallrat’s ‘Rockstar’ is cleaning up everywhere. It’s a big hit on streaming services, massive on the radio, and even beloved by other musicians. As the ABC reports, the song has huge fans in the members of Cub Sport, who straight up just call it a “masterpiece.”
And yet for some reason, it hasn’t necessarily been talked about like a frontrunner. That seems weird. Get in on the Mallrat train early, and start expecting this one to rank in at least the top 30, if not on the higher end of the scale.
Birdz — ‘Bagi-la-m Bargan’
Birdz is something of a newcomer to the Australian pop scene — when he released ‘Bagi-la-m Bargan’ way back in August of this year, it was described as a breakout track. But don’t treat Birdz as wet behind the ears, or unable to hold his place amongst the big guns. That one song along speaks to more maturity and depth than some musicians manage to assemble over the course of an entire career.
Precisely how highly it will rank in the big countdown remains to be seen. But it has the scrappy underdog energy, not to mention the cathartic story of a local talent making it big, to boost it all the way up the rankings.
Hottest 100 voting closes at 3pm on Monday, January 18 2021.