Triple J Hottest 100, 2008 Explained

The 2008 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day, 26 January 2009. It was the sixteenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station, Triple J.

2008 was also the first year of the countdown where Triple J made public the full list of songs that did not make the list proper. Coined as the "Hottest 200", the list was released online the day after the main countdown.^[1]

Voting commenced on Boxing Day, 26 December 2008, and closed on 18 January 2009.^[2] The second half of the countdown was broadcast live from Parramatta Park in New South Wales, with live crosses to the Big Day Out, held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria.^[3]

Over 800,000 votes were received, a record number.^[4]

Full list

Note: Australian artists

	Song	Artist	Country of origin
1			United States
2			United States
3		Kings of Leon	United States
4			Australia
5		MGMT	United States
6			Australia
7	The Festival Song		Australia
8		The Presets	Australia
9			United Kingdom
10			Australia
11			New Zealand
12	Embrace	Pnau featuring Ladyhawke	Australia/New Zealand
13	The King Is Dead		Australia
14			United States
15			Australia
16			United States
17			United Kingdom
18		MGMT	United States
19			New Zealand
20	Broken Bones		Australia
21			United States
22	Silhouettic	Birds of Tokyo	Australia
23			Australia
24	Closer	Kings of Leon	United States
25			United Kingdom
26		Ladyhawke	New Zealand
27	The Lighthouse Song		Australia
28			Australia
29	Make You Happy	Josh Pyke	Australia
30			United States
31	Bird of Feather		Australia
32		Vampire Weekend	United States
33			United Kingdom
34	Burn Bridges		Australia
35			Australia
36			United States
37			Australia
38			United States
39			Norway
40	Eye of the Storm^[5]		Australia
41	I Will Never Love You More		France
42			Iceland
43			United Kingdom
44	Flippers		Australia
45	Ice Cream (Triple J live acoustic version)^[6]		Australia
46			United Kingdom
47	Coca-Cola		Australia
48			Australia
49		Mystery Jets featuring Laura Marling	United Kingdom
50	Breakout		Australia
51	Wild Eyed Boy	Birds of Tokyo	Australia
52			United States
53	Window and the Watcher		Australia
54		Pnau	Australia
55	Your Party		United States
56		The Presets	Australia
57			United States
58		Vampire Weekend	United States
59			Australia
60	The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)	Flight of the Conchords	New Zealand
61		Bliss n Eso	Australia
62	Sleepwalking		Australia
63	2020	The Herd	Australia
64			United Kingdom
65			United States
66	Farewell Rocketship		Australia
67		Flight of the Conchords	New Zealand
68		Empire of the Sun	Australia
69			United Kingdom
70		Kings of Leon	United States
71	One (Blake's Got a New Face)	Vampire Weekend	United States
72			United States
73		The Killers	United States
74			United States
75			Australia
76	Polka		Australia
77	Falling	Drapht	Australia
78		The Ting Tings	United Kingdom
79			Australia
80	Aw Yeah	The Grates	Australia
81			United States
82			United Kingdom
83	Carve Your Name	The Grates	Australia
84			United States
85			Australia
86	Beautiful Ugly		Australia
87	Another Way to Die^[7]		United States
88			United States
89			United States
90	Fuck You^[8]	Lily Allen	United Kingdom
91			Australia
92			Australia
93			Iceland
94	Woodstock 2008	Bliss n Eso	Australia
95			United Kingdom
96	Flex (Dave Spoon Reflex)	Dizzee Rascal	United Kingdom
97	Are You Interested?	Cog	Australia
98	I Like It, I Love It		United States
99	Don't Worry About Nothin'	Muph & Plutonic	Australia
100			Australia

#101–#200 List

For the first time since the 1991 countdown, on 27 January 2009, Richard Kingsmill published the #101–#200 list on his blog.^[9]

	Song	Artist	Country of Origin
101	All Alone	Jackson Jackson	Australia
102	Sweet Disposition	The Temper Trap	Australia
103	Everyone's At It	Lily Allen	United Kingdom
104	Social Currency	Children Collide	Australia
105	Inner City Pressure	Flight of the Conchords	New Zealand
106	Wannabe in L.A.	Eagles of Death Metal	United States
107	Computer Love	TZU	Australia
108	Pennnywhistle	Augie March	Australia
109	Changes	Van She	Australia
110	Mercury	Bloc Party	United Kingdom
111	Too Much To Do	Sparkadia	Australia
112	Halo	Bloc Party	United Kingdom
113	Weekend Wars	MGMT	United States
114	More News From Nowhere	Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds	Australia
115	Rainbow Kraut	The John Steel Singers	Australia
116	Revelry	Kings of Leon	United States
117	Great DJ	The Ting Tings	United Kingdom
118	Nine in the Afternoon	Panic! at the Disco	United States
119	Det snurrar i min skalle	Familjen	Sweden
120	Leeds United	Amanda Palmer	United States
121	Dusk Till Dawn	Ladyhawke	New Zealand
122	Next in Line	Dead Letter Circus	Australia
123	Happiness	Goldfrapp	United Kingdom
124	Gamma Ray	Beck	United States
125	Discipline	Nine Inch Nails	United States
126	Invaders Must Die	The Prodigy	United Kingdom
127	Talons	Bloc Party	United Kingdom
128	Night Reconnaissance	The Dresden Dolls	United States
129	We Walk	The Ting Tings	United Kingdom
130	Golden Age	TV on the Radio	United States
131	Lost in the Post	The Wombats	United Kingdom
132	Pumpkin Soup	Kate Nash	United Kingdom
133	Let Me See You	Girl Talk	United States
134	Daddy's Gone	Glasvegas	United Kingdom
135	Smash the Piñata	Mammal	Australia
136	Happy In My Hoody	Bliss n Eso featuring Hyjak & Phrase	Australia
137	Skeleton Dance	Children Collide	Australia
138	Kicking & Screaming	The Presets	Australia
139	Backfire at the Disco	The Wombats	United Kingdom
140	Reaction	Dead Letter Circus	Australia
141	Cult Romance	Tom Ugly	Australia
142	Big Jumps	Emilíana Torrini	Iceland
143	Desire Be, Desire Go	Tame Impala	Australia
144	Black Sally	Funkoars featuring Maurice Greer	Australia
145	If I Know You	The Presets	Australia
146	Little Bit	Lykke Li	Sweden
147	M79	Vampire Weekend	United States
148	Your Call	Hermitude featuring Urthboy & Elana Stone	Australia
149	Out There on the Ice	Cut Copy	Australia
150	Clockwork	Phrase	Australia
151	Final Conversation	The Butterfly Effect	Australia
152	Far Away	Cut Copy	Australia
153	Hiroshima (B-B-B-Benny Hit His Head)	Ben Folds	United States
154	How Do We Know?	The Living End	Australia
155	White Witch	Birds of Tokyo	Australia
156	Manhattan	Kings of Leon	United States
157	Dark Shades of Blue	Xavier Rudd	Australia
158	Two Doors Down	Mystery Jets	United Kingdom
159	The Youth	MGMT	United States
160	The Devil Called Me A Liar	Ash Grunwald	Australia
161	Kids (Like a Version)	The Kooks	United Kingdom
162	Many Shades of Black	The Raconteurs	United States
163	Say Your Last Goodbye	Cog	Australia
164	He Doesn't Know Why	Fleet Foxes	United States
165	Violet Hill	Coldplay	United Kingdom
166	Which Way to Go	Eddy Current Suppression Ring	Australia
167	Lucid Dreams	Franz Ferdinand	United Kingdom
168	Colour Day Tours	Trial Kennedy	Australia
169	He's a Rocker	The Vines	Australia
170	This Dance is Loaded	British India	Australia
171	5 Years Time	Noah and the Whale	United Kingdom
172	Bowie	Flight of the Conchords	New Zealand
173	Mouthwash	Kate Nash	United Kingdom
174	Milk Eyes	The Grates	Australia
175	Shadows	The Getaway Plan	Australia
176	The Love Me or Die	C. W. Stoneking	Australia
177	You Will Die and I Will Take Over	British India	Australia
178	Got to Do	TZU	Australia
179	Strange Times	The Black Keys	United States
180	Ode to LRC	Band of Horses	United States
181	I Want You	Kings of Leon	United States
182	Turbo Love	Bag Raiders	Australia
183	Strangers	Van She	Australia
184	Fussy	End of Fashion	Australia
185	It's Alright	Little Red	Australia
186	Polite Dance Song	The Bird and the Bee	United States
187	Zug Zug	The Herd	Australia
188	I'm Good, I'm Gone	Lykke Li	Sweden
189	In Step	Girl Talk	United States
190	Half Mast	Empire of the Sun	Australia
191	Geraldine	Glasvegas	United Kingdom
192	Lights Out	Santigold	United States
193	Moment of Truth	Blue King Brown	Australia
194	Something Good 08 (Van She Tech Mix)	Utah Saints	United Kingdom/Australia
195	Mistress Mabel	The Fratellis	United Kingdom
196	All in on One	Gyroscope	Australia
197	Strength in Numbers	The Music	United Kingdom
198	In These Hands	The Butterfly Effect	Australia
199	Ladies of the World	Flight of the Conchords	New Zealand
200	Awkward Orchid Orchid	The Boat People	Australia

Artists with multiple entries

	Artist	Tracks
4	Kings of Leon	1, 3, 24, 70
	Nick Littlemore^[10]	4, 12, 54, 68
	Vampire Weekend	30, 32, 58, 71
3		2, 5, 18
	The Presets	6, 8, 56
	Ladyhawke^[11]	11, 12, 26
	Flight of the Conchords	19, 60, 67
	Birds of Tokyo	20, 22, 51
	Lily Allen^[12]	25, 46, 90
		34, 80, 83
		40, 61, 94
2	Empire of the Sun	4, 68
	The Ting Tings	9, 78
	Drapht	10, 77
		12, 54
		17, 96
	The Herd	13, 63
		31, 97
	Josh Pyke	27, 29
	Laura Marling^[13]	43, 49
	The Killers	52, 73
	Muph and Plutonic	86, 99

Countries represented

Country
Australia	48
United States	29
United kingdom	14
New Zealand^[14]	6
Iceland	2
France	1
Norway	1

2008 Triple J Album Poll

Bold indicates winner of the Hottest 100. The Presets won the J Award for Apocalypso.

	Artist	Album	Country of Origin	Tracks in the Hottest 100
1	Kings of Leon	Only by the Night^[15]	United States	1, 3, 24, 70
2		Apocalypso	Australia	6, 8, 56 (18 in 2007)
3		Oracular Spectacular	United States	2, 5, 18
4		Vampire Weekend	United States	30, 32, 58, 71
5		Universes	Australia	20, 22, 51
6		In Ghost Colours	Australia	15 (39 in 2007)
7		Intimacy	United Kingdom	DNC (110, 112, 127 in Hottest 200)
8		Teeth Lost, Hearts Won	Australia	34, 80, 83
9		Walking on a Dream		Australia	4, 68
10		Chimney's Afire	Australia	27, 29

CD release

Triple J's Hottest 100 Volume 16 is the compilation featuring the best of the Top 100 voted tracks on two CDs. It went on sale on 6 March 2009.

CD 1 Kings of Leon – "Sex On Fire" (#1) MGMT – "Kids" (#5) Empire of the Sun – "Walking On A Dream" (#4) The Presets – "Talk Like That" (#6) The Living End – "White Noise" (#23) Kaiser Chiefs – "Never Miss A Beat" (#25) Emiliana Torrini – "Jungle Drum" (#42) Drapht – "Jimmy Recard" (#10) Cut Copy – Lights & Music (#15) Bon Iver – "Skinny Love" (#21) Mystery Jets feat. Laura Marling – "Young Love" (#49) Ladyhawke – "My Delirium" (#11) Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris and Chrome – "Dance Wiv Me" (#17) Cold War Kids – "Something Is Not Right With Me" (#38) Ida Maria – "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" (#39) Art vs. Science – "Flippers" (#44) Little Red – "Coca-Cola" (#47) Bliss n Eso – "Eye of the Storm" (#40) Sigur Rós – "Gobbledigook" (#93) Soko – "I Will Never Love You More" (#41) Santigold – "L.E.S. Artistes" (#57) Children Collide – "Farewell Rocketship" (#66) Cog – "Bird of Feather" (#31)	CD 2 The Ting Tings – "That's Not My Name" (#9) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!	" (#35) Birds of Tokyo – "Broken Bones" (#20) Architecture In Helsinki – "That Beep" (#28) Vampire Weekend – "Oxford Comma" (#30) Death Cab forCutie – "I Will Possess Your Heart" (#36) Pnau feat. Ladyhawke – "Embrace" (#12) Does It Offend You, Yeah – "Dawn of the Dead" (#64) The Getaway Plan – "Where the City Meets the Sea" (#59) The Grates – "Burn Bridges" (#34) Josh Pyke – "The Lighthouse Song" (#27) Pez feat. 360 & Hailey Cramer – "The Festival Song" (#7) Tame Impala – "Half Full Glass of Wine" (#75) British India – "I Said I'm Sorry" (#37) Lily Allen – "The Fear" (#46) Pendulum – "Propane Nightmares" (#92) Ash Grunwald – "Breakout" (#50) The Herd – "The King Is Dead" (#13) Laura Marling – "Ghosts" (#43) The Butterfly Effect – "Window and the Watcher" (#53) Something With Numbers – "Stay With Me Bright Eyes" (#48)

DVD Release

The 2008 Hottest 100 DVD compilation was released on 10 April 2009.

1. Kings of Leon – "Sex On Fire" (#1)
2. MGMT – "Electric Feel" (#2)
3. Empire of the Sun – "Walking On A Dream" (#4)
4. The Presets – "Talk Like That" (#6)
5. The Ting Tings – "That's Not My Name" (#9)
6. Kaiser Chiefs – "Never Miss A Beat" (#25)
7. Birds of Tokyo – "Broken Bones" (#20)
8. Drapht – "Jimmy Recard" (#10)
9. Ladyhawke – "My Delirium" (#11)
10. Cut Copy – "Lights & Music" (#15)
11. The Herd – "The King Is Dead" (#13)
12. Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris and Chrome – "Dance Wiv Me" (#17)
13. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" (#35)
14. The Living End – "White Noise" (#23)
15. Josh Pyke – "The Lighthouse Song" (#27)
16. Lily Allen – "The Fear" (#46)
17. Architecture In Helsinki – "That Beep" (#28)
18. Vampire Weekend – "Oxford Comma" (#30)
19. The Kooks – "Always Where I Need to Be" (#33)
20. Cog – "Bird of Feather" (#31)
21. The Grates – "Burn Bridges" (#34)
22. PNAU feat. Ladyhawke – "Embrace" (#12)
23. Does It Offend You, Yeah – "Dawn of the Dead" (#64)
24. British India – "I Said I'm Sorry" (#37)
25. Cold War Kids – "Something Is Not Right With Me" (#38)
26. Ida Maria – "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" (#39)
27. Emiliana Torrini – "Jungle Drum" (#42)
28. Little Red – "Coca-Cola" (#47)
29. Something With Numbers – "Stay With Me Bright Eyes" (#48)
30. Laura Marling – "Ghosts" (#43)
31. Pez feat. 360 & Hailey Cramer – "The Festival Song" (#7)
32. Mystery Jets feat. Laura Marling – "Young Love" (#49)
33. Ash Grunwald – "Breakout" (#50)
34. The Butterfly Effect – "Window and the Watcher" (#53)
35. The Getaway Plan – "Where the City Meets the Sea" (#59)
36. Santigold – "L.E.S. Artistes" (#57)
37. Bliss n Eso – "The Sea is Rising" (#61)
38. Hot Chip – Ready for the Floor (#69)
39. Death Cab forCutie – "I Will Possess Your Heart" (#36)
40. Faker – "Sleepwalking" (#62)
41. Black Kids – "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You" (#74)
42. Tame Impala – "Half Full Glass of Wine" (#75)

Notes

1. Web site: Tone Deaf. Revisiting triple j’s Hottest 100s of years gone by: 2008. 3 February 2021. 17 January 2019.
2. Web site: ABC. Triple J Voting . 25 January 2009.
3. Web site: ABC. Triple J Countdown . 25 January 2009.
4. News: The West Australian . The Presets shine in Hottest 100 . 27 January 2009 . 27 January 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090203070927/http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=5&ContentID=121036 . 3 February 2009 .
5. Bliss n Eso's song "Eye of the Storm" (#40) uses Angus and Julia Stone's "Paper Aeroplane", which was featured in 2006 at #43
6. Muscles' song "Ice Cream" has been in the Hottest 100 for consecutive years (2007, 2008), with both the album and live acoustic versions of the song.
7. "Another Way to Die" is the first James Bond theme song to feature in a Triple J Hottest 100 playlist
8. At the time of the countdown, "Fuck You" was yet to be officially released, and was only available on Allen's MySpace page, where it was titled "Guess Who Batman". During the countdown, announcers referred to the song as "Guess Who Batman".
9. Web site: 2014-01-29 . triple j : New music with Richard Kingsmill . 2024-07-23 . web.archive.org.
10. Twice with Empire of the Sun (4, 68) and twice with Pnau (12, 54).
11. Twice solo (11, 26) and once with Pnau (12)
12. Twice solo (46, 90) and once with the Kaiser Chiefs (25)
13. Once solo (43) and once with Mystery Jets (49)
14. New Zealand contributed a record 6 entries to the 2008 Hottest 100, with Flight of the Conchords (3) and Ladyhawke (3).
15. Web site: Album Poll Archive.