Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, 2009 explained

The Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time was a music poll conducted in 2009 amongst listeners of Australian youth radio network Triple J. Over half a million votes were compiled, with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" collecting the highest number of votes. Voters could submit a list of up to ten different songs as well as nominating one of these as their "all-time" favourite song.

It was the fifth such poll organised by Triple J, following similar polls in 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1998. Initially, all songs were eligible for annual Triple J Hottest 100s, however, from 1993 onward (after having no list in 1992), only songs released in the previous year were permitted. Thus, the Hottest 100 of All Time is conducted via a separate vote, held irregularly to reflect listeners' favourite songs across all eras.

The 2009 list was designed to reflect the twentieth anniversary of the Hottest 100's inception. The countdown was carried out from Tuesday, 7 July 2009 and finishing Sunday, 12 July 2009. The countdown was also broadcast over two nights on ABC TV's music show Rage. However, certain songs were omitted from the broadcast because they were never made into music videos.

Full list

• Bold: Previous winner of a standard Hottest 100
• Green background: Australian artists

	Song	Artist	Country of origin	Year of release	Hottest 100 of the year position (year if different from year of release)	Previous Hottest 100 of all time position/s (year/s)
1			United States	1991	NA	1 (1991), 1 (1998)
2			United States	1992	6 (1993)	17 (1998)
3			United States	1994
4			United Kingdom	1980	NA	1 (1989), 1 (1990), 2 (1991), 16 (1998)
5			United Kingdom	1997	5	13 (1998)
6			United Kingdom	1975	NA	17 (1991), 8 (1998)
7		Jeff Buckley	United States	1994	14 (1995)	4 (1998)
8			United States	1991	NA	31 (1998)
9			United States	1997	61 (2006)
10			United Kingdom	1971	NA	30 (1989), 61 (1990), 30 (1991), 6 (1998)
11			United Kingdom	1971	NA	31 (1989), 66 (1990), 121 (1991)
12	Wonderwall	Oasis	United Kingdom	1995	1
13		Radiohead	United Kingdom	1992	2 (1993)	5 (1998)
14			United Kingdom	1997	4	99 (1998)
15		Radiohead	United Kingdom	1997	9	54 (1998)
16			United Kingdom	1975	NA	33 (1989), 35 (1990), 58 (1991), 41 (1998)
17			Australia	2003	9
18	Knights of Cydonia	Muse	United Kingdom	2006	1 (2007)
19			United States	1988	NA	89 (1991), 7 (1998)
20			United States	2003	3
21	These Days	Powderfinger	Australia	1998	1 (1999)
22			United Kingdom	1998	23
23			Australia	1985	NA	2 (1989), 2 (1990), 4 (1991), 2 (1998)
24			United Kingdom	1967	NA	69 (1989), 49 (1998)
25			United States	1991	NA	3 (1998)
26			United States	1984	NA
27	My Happiness	Powderfinger	Australia	2000	1
28		Radiohead	United Kingdom	1995
29				United States	1988	NA
30			United States	1968	NA	49 (1989), 83 (1990), 61 (1991), 70 (1998)
31		Metallica	United States	1991	NA	60 (1991), 9 (1998)
32			United Kingdom	1983	NA	5 (1989), 5 (1990), 10 (1991), 30 (1998)
33			Australia	1994	5	59 (1998)
34			Australia	1997	15	18 (1998)
35			United States	1996	13	71 (1998)
36			Australia	1997	18	84 (1998)
37			United States	1996	2	24 (1998)
38			United States	2004	13
39		Pearl Jam	United States	1994	44 (1995)	22 (1998)
40		Nirvana	United States	1991	NA	76 (1991), 62 (1998)
41		Michael Jackson	United States	1983	NA
42			United Kingdom	2005
43			United States	1966	NA
44		The Beatles	United Kingdom	1968	NA
45	No One Knows	Queens of the Stone Age	United States	2002	1
46			United States	1990	NA	19 (1998)
47			Australia	2001	5
48			United States	1994	16	44 (1998)
49			United States	1988	NA	27 (1991), 77 (1998)
50			Australia	1986	NA	76 (1998)
51		The Smashing Pumpkins	United States	1995	2	33 (1998)
52			Australia	1994	23	61 (1998)
53		Pink Floyd	United Kingdom	1979	NA	95 (1990), 73 (1991), 90 (1998)
54			United Kingdom	1985	NA	89 (1998)
55			United States	1965	NA
56		Jeff Buckley	United States	1994		47 (1998)
57		Tool	United States	1997	30	57 (1998)
58			France	1997
59	One Crowded Hour	Augie March	Australia	2006	1
60			United States	2003
61			United Kingdom	1997	2	46 (1998)
62			United States	1994	2	14 (1998)
63			Australia	1990	NA
64			United States	1982	NA	46 (1989), 41 (1990), 9 (1991), 15 (1998)
65			United Kingdom	1995	12 (1996)
66			United Kingdom	1971	NA
67			United States	1997	12 (1998)	32 (1998)
68			United States	1997	6	20 (1998)
69		Jeff Buckley	United States	1994	89 (1995)	29 (1998)
70			United Kingdom	1996	7	95 (1998)
71			United Kingdom	1984	NA	7 (1989), 3 (1990), 6 (1991), 28 (1998)
72			United States	2001
73			United Kingdom	1979	na	18 (1989), 28 (1990), 97 (1991)
74		Nirvana	United States	1991	NA	3 (1991), 45 (1998)
75			United States	1997	84 (1998)
76			United Kingdom	1989	NA	6 (1990), 7 (1991), 39 (1998)
77			Australia	2006	8
78		The Smashing Pumpkins	United States	1993	25 (1994)	40 (1998)
79			United Kingdom	1971	NA
80			United Kingdom	1966	NA
81			United Kingdom	1995	38
82			United States	2001	3
83			United Kingdom	1999	5
84			Jamaica	1974	NA
85			United States	2000	10
86		The Beatles	United Kingdom	1969	NA
87			United Kingdom	2000	5
88		The Rolling Stones	United Kingdom	1969	NA
89		Rage Against the Machine	United States	1996	46
90	Sex on Fire	Kings of Leon	United States	2008	1
91		AC/DC	Australia	1980	NA
92			United States	2007	21 (2008)
93		Massive Attack	United Kingdom	1991	NA	64 (1991), 34 (1998)
94			United States	2004	11
95			United States	1972	NA
96		Daft Punk	France	2000	61 (2001)
97			Australia	1987	NA
98		Led Zeppelin	United Kingdom	1975	NA	63 (1998)
99			United States	2006	63
100	Take Me Out	Franz Ferdinand	United Kingdom	2004	1

Artists with multiple entries

	Artist	Tracks
5	Dave Grohl	1, 9, 40, 45, 74
4	Jeff Buckley	3, 7, 56, 69
	Radiohead	5, 13, 15, 28
	John Lennon	11, 24, 44, 86
3	Nirvana	1, 40, 74
	The Smashing Pumpkins	24, 44, 86
	The Beatles	35, 51, 78
2	Rage Against the Machine	2, 89
	Peter Hook	4, 32
	Stephen Morris	4, 32
	Bernard Sumner	4, 32
	Led Zeppelin	10, 98
	Pink Floyd	16, 53
	Metallica	19, 31
	Pearl Jam	21, 27
	Massive Attack	22, 93
	Michael Jackson	26, 41
	Tool	37, 57
	Daft Punk	58, 96
	AC/DC	63, 91
	The Rolling Stones	80, 88

Countries represented

Country	Count
United States	46
United Kingdom	36
Australia	16
France	2
Jamaica	1

Songs by decade

Decade	Song Count
1960s	8
1970s	11
1980s	15
1990s	44
2000s	22

Trivia

• News of Michael Jackson's death surfaced during the final week of voting. Triple J announcers pointed out that both "Thriller" and "Billie Jean" were already polling enough votes to feature in the top 100, but that the final week of voting pushed both songs further up the list.
• This is the first Hottest 100 of All Time where The Cure did not achieve more than one track. This is also the first time where The Cure did not have the most songs in a Hottest 100 Of All Time.
• This is the first Hottest 100 of All Time where R.E.M. did not achieve any tracks. In all other years, they had achieved at least two.
• Only one vote separated "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age from "Hey Jude" by The Beatles.
• Radiohead swapped the number 5 and 13 positions they had held in the 1998 Of All Time countdown with "Creep" and "Paranoid Android".
• Franz Ferdinand are the second band behind Powderfinger to come 1st and 100th in a Hottest 100. "Take Me Out" is also the first song in the Hottest 100 to have reached both ends of the countdown.
• This is the first Hottest 100 of All Time countdown to not feature any songs from the year of the countdown.
• This countdown also is the first to not feature any Australian artists in the Top 10. The highest Australian entry was #17, a record low in any Hottest 100.
• With sixteen entries coming from Australian artists, the 2009 Of All Time list equals the record set in the 1990 Of All Time countdown for the fewest entries from Australian artists in a countdown.
• It was announced at the beginning of the countdown that #101 was "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana. This is the first known instance where the same artist held both the 1st and 101st positions in a Hottest 100.
• Only two songs in the entire Hottest 100 featured a female lead vocalist: Shara Nelson and Elizabeth Fraser, both of whom were guest vocalists on songs by Massive Attack ("Unfinished Sympathy" and "Teardrop" respectively). As such, there were no female artists or bands with permanent female vocalists who reached the countdown.
  • Overall, six bands with songs on the countdown included female instrumentalists. These were The Dandy Warhols, New Order, Pixies, Pulp, The Smashing Pumpkins and The White Stripes, accounting for eight songs between them, the only other songs which featured contributions from a female musician were "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio, which featured backing vocals from musician Katrina Ford, and "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, which featured backing vocals from singer Merry Clayton.

CD release

Triple J released a compilation disc including 36 of the tracks.

CD 1 Nirvana – "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (#1) Radiohead – "Paranoid Android" (#5) Muse – "Knights of Cydonia" (#18) Hilltop Hoods – "The Nosebleed Section" (#17) Daft Punk – "Around the World" (#58) Joy Division – "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (#4) Oasis – "Wonderwall" (#12) Faith No More – "Epic" (#46) The Living End – "Prisoner of Society" (#34) The John Butler Trio – "Betterman" (#47) Pixies – "Where Is My Mind?" (#29) Massive Attack – "Teardrop" (#22) The Stone Roses – "Fools Gold (#76) Violent Femmes – "Blister in the Sun" (#64) The White Stripes – "Seven Nation Army" (#20) Powderfinger – "These Days" (#21) David Bowie – "Life on Mars?" (#79) Augie March – "One Crowded Hour" (#59)

CD 2 Rage Against the Machine – "Killing in the Name" (#2) Bloc Party – "Banquet" (#42) New Order – "Blue Monday" (#32) Queens of the Stone Age – "No One Knows" (#45) You Am I – "Berlin Chair" (#52) The Killers – "Mr. Brightside" (#38) The Shins – "New Slang" (#72) The Beach Boys – "God Only Knows" (#43) The Cure – "Close to Me" (#54) Franz Ferdinand– "Take Me Out" (#100) The Prodigy – "Breathe" (#70) Midnight Oil – "Beds Are Burning" (#97) Gotye – "Hearts a Mess" (#77) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – "Into My Arms" (#36) Silverchair – "Tomorrow" (#33) Pulp – "Common People" (#81) Hunters & Collectors – "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (#23) Jeff Buckley – "Hallelujah" (#3)

DVD

1. Radiohead – "Paranoid Android" (#5)
2. Rage Against the Machine – "Killing in the Name" (#2)
3. Muse – "Knights of Cydonia" (#18)
4. Jeff Buckley – "Hallelujah" (#3)
5. Joy Division – "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (#4)
6. Oasis – "Wonderwall" (#12)
7. Hilltop Hoods – "The Nosebleed Section" (#17)
8. The White Stripes – "Seven Nation Army" (#20)
9. Massive Attack – "Teardrop" (#22)
10. Powderfinger – "My Happiness" (#27)
11. Hunters & Collectors – "Throw Your Arms Around Me" (#23)
12. New Order – "Blue Monday" (#32)
13. The Killers – "Mr. Brightside" (#38)
14. The Living End – "Prisoner of Society" (#34)
15. Silverchair – "Tomorrow" (#33)
16. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – "Into My Arms" (#36)
17. Bloc Party – "Banquet" (#42)
18. Faith No More – "Epic" (#46)
19. You Am I – "Berlin Chair" (#52)
20. The John Butler Trio – "Betterman" (#47)
21. The Cure – "Close to Me" (#54)
22. Augie March – "One Crowded Hour" (#59)
23. Violent Femmes – "Blister in the Sun" (#64)
24. Blink-182 – "Dammit (Growing Up)" (#68)
25. The Prodigy – "Breathe" (#70)
26. The Stone Roses – "Fools Gold (#76)
27. The Shins – "New Slang" (#72)
28. Ben Folds Five – "Brick" (#67)
29. Gotye – "Hearts a Mess" (#77)
30. David Bowie – "Life on Mars?" (#79)
31. Pulp – "Common People" (#81)
32. The Dandy Warhols – "Bohemian Like You" (#85)
33. System of a Down – "Chop Suey!" (#82)
34. Modest Mouse – "Float On" (#94)
35. Coldplay – "Yellow" (#87)
36. TV On The Radio – "Wolf Like Me" (#99)
37. Midnight Oil – "Beds Are Burning" (#97)
38. Franz Ferdinand– "Take Me Out" (#100)
39. Radiohead – "Fake Plastic Trees" (#28)

External links

• Triple J Hottest 100 of all time