Triple J Hottest 100, 2019 Explained

The 2019 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on 25 January 2020. It is the 27th countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by listeners of Australian radio station triple j. A record-breaking number of votes (3.21 million) were cast by listeners choosing their top ten songs of 2019. This was the first Hottest 100 countdown to reach 3 million votes.^[1]

American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish was voted into first place with her single "bad guy". In doing so, she became the first female solo artist, and the youngest act (at 18 years old) to top a Hottest 100.^[2] Eilish also achieved the second most entries in the countdown, at five, second only to Wolfmother who had 6 in 2005. Australian artists G Flip and Lime Cordiale achieved four entires each.

A number of Hottest 100 records were also broken. Denzel Curry's cover of "Bulls on Parade" became the highest ranking Like a Version (and equal highest cover) in any Hottest 100. Slipknot's single "Unsainted" broke the record for the longest absence between countdowns, having last appeared 19 years prior with "Wait and Bleed" in the 2000 countdown.

Background

The triple j Hottest 100 allows members of the public to vote online for their top ten songs of the year, which are then used to calculate the year's 100 most popular songs. Any song initially released between 1 December 2018 and 30 November 2019 was eligible for 2019's Hottest 100.^[3]

Voting opened on 16 December 2019.^[4] Many artists and presenters made their votes public—out of 23 triple j presenters, the artists they voted for most often were Julia Jacklin, Sampa the Great, and Thelma Plum.

Projections

Prior to the countdown, three favourites had emerged by a significant margin.^[5] Bookmaker Beteasy and social media analysis project 100 Warm Tunas placed "Dance Monkey" by Australian musician Tones and I, "bad guy" by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, and American rapper Denzel Curry's cover of "Bulls on Parade" for Like a Version as the three songs most likely to take out first place.^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]

Full list

Note: Australian artists

	Song	Artist	Country of origin
1			United States
2			Australia
3			Australia
4			Australia
5	Bulls on Parade (Like a Version)		United States
6			Australia
7			Australia
8			Australia
9			Australia
10			Australia
11			United States
12	By Myself		United States
13		Lime Cordiale	Australia
14	Purple Hat		Germany/United States
15		Tones and I	Australia
16		Billie Eilish	United States
17	I Touch Myself (Like a Version)	Lime Cordiale	Australia
18			Australia
19			New Zealand
20			Australia
21	Pub Feed		Australia
22			Australia
23			United States
24	Infinity		Australia
25		Benee	New Zealand
26		Tones and I	Australia
27			United Kingdom
28			United States
29			Italy/United Kingdom
30		Flume featuring Reo Cragun	Australia/United States
31	Save It for the Weekend		Australia
32		Lime Cordiale	Australia
33	San Frandisco		Australia
34	Tokyo Drifting	Glass Animals featuring Denzel Curry	United Kingdom/United States
35		Billie Eilish	United States
36		Pnau featuring Kira Divine and Marques Toliver	Australia/United States
37	Red Light Green Light		United Kingdom/United States
38		Ruel	Australia
39			United Kingdom
40			United States
41			United States
42			United States
43		Tame Impala	Australia
44			Australia
45	RICKY	Denzel Curry	United States
46			Australia
47	SUGAR		United States
48	Intentions (22)		Australia
49	Free Time	Ruel	Australia
50	Teach Me About Dying		Australia
51	Evil Spider	Benee	New Zealand
52		Tame Impala	Australia
53			Australia
54	Stained Glass	Ocean Alley	Australia
55			United States/United Kingdom
56			United States
57	Jellyfish		Australia
58	Lover	G Flip	Australia
59	Nobody's Home		Australia
60	I Missed Out		Australia
61	Maybe You Know	Holy Holy	Australia
62	Hell n Back		United Kingdom
63		Halsey	United States
64	Circles		Australia
65		Thelma Plum	Australia
66	Stupid	G Flip	Australia
67		Billie Eilish	United States
68		Illy	Australia
69	Vacation Forever		Australia
70	Talk Deep		Australia
71			Canada
72			Australia
73	Party Pill		Australia
74			Australia
75	Paradise		Australia
76	Something Tells Me		Australia
77	I Am Not Afraid	G Flip	Australia
78	Not Angry Anymore	Thelma Plum	Australia
79		Dean Lewis	Australia
80	Good for You		Australia
81			Australia/United Kingdom
82			Australia
83	Welcome to the Black Parade (Like a Version)		Australia
84	Hey You		Australia
85			United States
86			United States
87			United States
88		Meduza, Becky Hill and Goodboys	Italy/United Kingdom
89			Zambia/Australia
90	Here Comes Your Man (Like a Version)	Skegss	Australia
91		Billie Eilish	United States
92	The Real Thing		Australia
93		Post Malone	United States
94	Protection		Australia
95	A.O.K.		Australia
96	Ludens		United Kingdom
97	Skin		Australia
98		Baker Boy featuring JessB	Australia/New Zealand
99			Australia
100	No Plans		Australia

Artists with multiple entries

	Artist	Tracks
5	Billie Eilish	1, 16, 35, 67, 91
4	G Flip	6, 58, 66, 77
4	Lime Cordiale	7, 13, 17, 32
3	Flume	2, 30, 81
	Tones and I	4, 15, 26
	Denzel Curry	5, 34, 45
	Thelma Plum	9, 65, 78
	Tame Impala	18, 43, 52
		19, 25, 51
		22, 38, 49
2	Mallrat	3, 59
	Illy	10, 68
	Post Malone	11, 93
	Ocean Alley	24, 54
	Meduza	29, 88
	Goodboys	(29, 88
	Skegss	31, 90
	Halsey	40, 63
	Baker Boy	44, 98
	Dean Lewis	46, 79
	Holy Holy	50, 61

Countries represented

Country
Australia	65
United States	27
United Kingdom	10
New Zealand	4
Italy	2
Canada	1
Germany	1
Zambia	1

Notes

Billie Eilish became the first artist to land more than four tracks in a countdown since Violent Soho in the 2016 countdown. With "bad guy" voted in at #1, she also became the first solo female artist ever to top a Hottest 100.
With his cover of "Bulls on Parade" at #5, Denzel Curry became the artist with the highest ranking Like a Version to enter a Hottest 100, narrowly overtaking DMA's' #6-placed Like a Version in 2016. This is also tied as the highest ranking cover overall in Hottest 100 history. It joins Spiderbait's cover of "Black Betty" and Boy & Bear's cover of "Fall At Your Feet", which each ranked at #5 in 2004 and 2010, respectively.
With "Better in Blak" at #9, Thelma Plum became the highest ranking Indigenous Australian artist in Hottest 100 history, overtaking A.B. Original's 16th-placed "January 26" from 2016.
With "Exit Sign", Hilltop Hoods marked their 21st entry in an annual Hottest 100, placing them only one song behind the all-time record of 22 entries shared by Powderfinger and the Foo Fighters.
With "Unsainted", Slipknot broke the record for the longest absence between countdowns, having last appeared 19 years prior with "Wait and Bleed" in the 2000 countdown. Previously, Paul Kelly held the record with an absence between 2000 and 2016.
The countdown featured 13 songs in a row by Australian artists, between positions 84 and 72, beating the record of nine consecutive Australian artists set in 2016.
With "Rushing Back", Flume became the second artist to achieve both the #1 and #2 spots in separate countdowns, after Kendrick Lamar achieved this in 2017.
Skeggs' cover of "Here Comes Your Man" marked the first time a Pixies song has ever featured in an annual Hottest 100. The band's songs have only ever previously featured in all-time lists in 1990, 1991 and 2009.

2019 Triple J Album Poll

The annual triple j album poll was held across November and December and was announced on 15 December.^[10] Bold indicates Hottest 100 Winner.

Note: Australian artists

	Artist	Album	Country of origin	Tracks in the Hottest 100
1	Billie Eilish	WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?	United States	1, 16, 35, 67, 91 (8, 46 in 2018)
2	G Flip	About Us	Australia	6, 58, 66, 77, (38, 62 in 2018)
3	Thelma Plum	Better in Blak	Australia	9, 65, 78, (79 in 2018)
4	Tyler, the Creator	IGOR	United States	23
5	Holy Holy	My Own Pool of Light	Australia	50, 61
6	Stella Donnelly	Beware of the Dogs	Australia	DNC (127, 180 in Hottest 200)
7	Catfish and the Bottlemen	The Balance	United Kingdom	39
8	Lana Del Rey	Norman Fucking Rockwell!	United States	85
9	Hilltop Hoods	The Great Expanse	Australia	10, (24, 44 in 2018)
10	Angie McMahon	Salt	Australia	72, (33 in 2017, 49 in 2018)
11	Brockhampton	Ginger	United States	47
12	Flume	Hi This Is Flume	Australia	DNC
13	Methyl Ethel	Triage	Australia	(65 in 2018)
14	Rex Orange County	Pony	United Kingdom	DNC
15	Waax	Big Grief	Australia	(88 in 2018)
16	Maggie Rogers	Heard It in a Past Life	United States	(64 in 2016)
17	Cub Sport	Cub Sport	Australia	73, (30 in 2018)
18	King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard	Infest the Rats' Nest	Australia	DNC
19	Hayden James	Between Us	Australia	74, (32 in 2017), (15, 78 in 2018)
20	Foals	Part 1: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost	United Kingdom	DNC

Notes and References

Web site: Over THREE million votes have been cast in the 2019 Hottest 100!. 2020-01-22.
Web site: Hottest 100 blog now live. 2020-01-24. news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site. en. 2020-01-25.
Web site: Hottest 100 By The Numbers. Newstead. Al. 2019-01-27. triple j. 2019-08-18.
Web site: triple j's Hottest 100, here's all the dates and details. 2019-12-12. triple j. 2019-12-15.
Web site: This year's Hottest 100 winner is likely out by now, so who's it going to be?. PILERATS. 2019-10-13.
Web site: Hottest 100 2020 [sic] Countdown]. 2019-12-08.
Web site: Triple J Hottest 100 Sat 25 Jan 12:00. 2019-12-08.
Web site: Triple J Hottest 100 Futures. 2019-12-08.
Web site: 100 Warm Tunas - Triple J Hottest 100 Predictions.
Web site: Billie Eilish tops the 2019 triple j Album Poll. 2019-12-15. triple j. 2019-12-15.