Triple J’s Hottest 100 still dominates, despite date change

Commercial radio stations would kill to have the engagement Triple J has with its audience, especially on the busiest long weekend of the year, writes Cameron Adams.

Triple J’s Hottest 100 is the countdown that brings Australia together — even if the date it airs on divides the nation.

Last year, the national broadcaster moved what is officially the world’s biggest music poll from January 26 after a majority of their listeners told them they preferred a more inclusive date.

MORE FROM CAMERON ADAMS: This could be the last Australia Day Hottest 100

It was a bold move. There’s a percentage of Triple J listeners who hate politics invading their music and just want a soundtrack to chugging beer with mates and waiting to hear the songs they voted for.

Triple J lucked out this year with the way the dates fell — airing it on Sunday from midday avoids January 26 and still takes advantage of the public holiday on Monday.

Make no mistake, the Hottest 100 is event radio. In a world where people listen more and more to podcasts than live radio and streaming services effectively let you be your own radio station, event radio is a big deal.

Commercial radio would kill to have the engagement Triple J and the Hottest 100 have with their audience.

Triple M even tried to launch a rival Hottest 100 last year on Australia Day, the “Ozzest 100”. The station stated: “The taxpayer funded (Triple J) has decided that there’ll be no soundtrack for Australia Day. Let’s face it, that’s usually full of hipster or kids making music on a Mac (computer).”

Australians love listening to Australian music, like this crowd at one of Tash Sultana’s sets. Picture: Claudia Baxter

This year, they’re playing it safer with their Ultimate Aussie BBQ Soundtrack all weekend rather than a countdown and other stations seemed to have bypassed the countdown option — Smooth FM start a Feel Good Favourites! listener-voted countdown on Monday.

The Hottest 100 is one of the most powerful brands in the country, one that’s spawned annual soundtrack CDs — less of a big deal now CDs are on the wane — and translates into national exposure on Triple J for all the artists featured.

They can tour city and regional areas, either on festivals or on their own shows. Having no corporate sponsor lends the Hottest 100 major credibility, the songs end up in the countdown through people power alone — more than 2.3 million votes last year.

Triple J released this year’s stats ahead of Sunday’s countdown and it is a demographic that is a marketer’s dream.

As well as 2.7 million votes (up 15-per-cent on last year) most voters are 18 years old, more than 60-per-cent are under 24 years old, 80-per-cent are under 30 and more women (53-per-cent) vote than men.

However Triple J doesn’t shy away from political stances, either openly (they start each Hottest 100 with a welcome to nation and promote indigenous awareness throughout the broadcast) or in a more subtle manner.

For instance, Sydney band Sticky Fingers have become the most contentious act in the country.

Embroiled in the #metoo movement, singer Dylan Frost was alleged to have committed acts of racially motivated violence and harassment against two indigenous musicians, which he’s denied.

The band issued vague statements two years ago announcing they were going on hiatus to deal with “internal issues” and Frost apologised for hurting people due to alcohol abuse and mental health issues.

When the band returned to the live scene last year, in a rather smug manner with a “guess who’s back” post on social media, the backlash was so swift they’ve since taken a guerrilla approach to publicity.

They do no interviews and now put on shows virtually off the grid — emailing their fanbase directly — while some festivals who feature them on the line-up have removed them due to the negative online response.

Triple J, who used to champion Sticky Fingers (they had three songs in the 2016 Hottest 100), didn’t play any of their three singles released last year according to the Jplay site.

That means they’re technically not eligible for this year’s Hottest 100.

Amy Shark is a favourite for this year’s Hottest 100. Picture: Tim Mosenfelder

They’re the same rules which kept Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off out of the countdown a few years ago when a viral campaign (leapt on by KFC, trying to piggyback on Hottest 100’s cred) was started to get Swift’s No. 1 hit included — listeners can vote for any song released in the eligible year, as long as Triple J played it.

They hadn’t played Swift, so even though there’s a function to vote for whatever song you like on the Hottest 100 voting form, it has to be eligible to count.

MORE FROM CAMERON ADAMS: Fyre Festival was all that’s wrong with Instagram

Triple J’s playlist has loosened in the last few years as new blood has seen the station become more open-minded — we’ve seen Beyonce, Rihanna and even Guy Sebastian played on Triple J and in the Hottest 100. Good music is good music.

When you block out all the noise, it’s remarkable the Hottest 100 unites millions of people over something so simple — new music.

And new Australian music, not golden oldies. Last year, eight of the Top 10 songs were by Australian artists.

Commercial radio, while they hate to admit it, use Triple J as a testing ground — artists like Amy Shark and Vance Joy have crossed over to mainstream radio and continue to straddle both worlds.

The favourites for this year’s Hottest 100 include plenty more locals — Shark’s up there, as well as Sydney’s Ocean Alley and Ruby Fields, Brisbane’s Wafia and Mallrat and Melbourne’s G Flip.

Because most importantly, the Hottest 100 proves year after year that Australians love to listen to Australian music.

Cameron Adams is a News Corp music writer.

@cameron_adams