Who’s predicted to top this year’s Hottest 100

It’s just days from the annual Hottest 100 countdown. And a site that has successfully predicted the past three winners has tipped an unlikely winner.

For many Australians, the days leading up to January 26 carry a different kind of significance than celebrating Australia Day.

The weeks between Christmas and the end of January are spent meticulously curating a shortlist of the 10 songs that defined the previous year, to then be voted for in triple j’s Hottest 100.

This year the countdown takes place from noon today with the Hottest 200 (the songs that just missed out) on Monday, January 27.

And by the looks of it, it’s going to be a very tight race – on January 6 triple j revealed that only a few hundred votes separate the songs at first and second spot; likewise between fourth and fifth.

Since its release in May 2019, Tones And I’s Dance Monkey has been pegged as the front runner, but in the final days leading up to the countdown, it looks like it might get beaten by an unlikely hit.

RELATED: Everything to know about the Hottest 100

American rapper Denzel Curry is a hot contender for the number one spot. Picture: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

According to 100 Warm Tunas, Denzel Curry’s Bulls on Parade will most likely be crowned this year’s winner.

The site, which updates daily, trawls the internet and collates together all of the votes that have been posted on social media, and then uses them to post its guess of the Hottest 100 positions.

Although we won’t be completely certain of how Australians have voted until January 25, the site have a pretty solid track record when it comes to predicting the winner, having gotten it spot on for the past three years.

WHO WILL WIN 2019’S HOTTEST 100?

After months of rampant speculation, there are three songs that are most likely to take out the top spot on this year’s countdown – and if any of them win, history will be made.

At the moment, 100 Warm Tunas puts American rapper Denzel Curry’s Like A Version cover of Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade in first position.

The song, which dropped in February 2019, clearly had a lasting impression on listeners.

And if Curry wins, it’ll be momentous for a number of reasons – first, he’d be the second ever person of colour to nab the highly coveted position, following after Kendrick Lamar, who won in 2018.

It would also be the very first time that a cover of a song ever topped the chart.

Giving Curry a run for his money is 18-year-old Billie Eilish and her hit bad guy, from her debut album when we all fall asleep, where do we go? which 100 Warm Tunas have currently got in second position.

Triple J listeners voted it their favourite album of the year, and while Eilish has had multiple songs find their way onto the Hottest 100 in the past, none have had the widespread success of bad guy.

If Eilish wins, she’ll be the first solo woman to ever top the countdown.

And while Tones And I’s ubiquitous Dance Monkey is currently hanging back in seventh spot on 100 Warm Tunas’ list, the song has the best chance of topping the countdown on January 25.

If there was a checklist for creating a Hottest 100 chart-topper, Tones And I has ticked all the boxes.

Hailing from Byron Bay, she originally uploaded her music to Triple J’s Unearthed before going on to create one of the biggest songs of the 2019.

The 26-year-old cleaned up at November’s ARIA awards, breaking the record for the longest-running number one single ever on the ARIA chart with Dance Monkey and launching herself into the global spotlight.

Like Eilish, if Tones And I wins she’ll also make history as the first ever solo woman to take out pole position.

WHO WILL REACH THE COUNTDOWN’S TOP TEN

While we’ll have to wait until Saturday to find out for certain, according to 100 Warm Tunas these are the artists who’ll be joining Curry, Eilish and Tones and I in the countdown’s top ten:

1. Bulls on Parade (triple j Like A Version 2019) – Denzel Curry

2. bad guy – Billie Eilish

3. Charlie – Mallrat

4. Drink Too Much – G Flip

5. Better In Blak – Thelma Plum

6. By Myself – FIDLAR

7. Dance Monkey – Tones And I

8. Rushing Back – Flume (featuring Vera Blue)

9. Heavy Hearted – The Jungle Giants

10. Purple Hat – Sofi Tukker

Originally published as Who’s predicted to top this year’s Hottest 100