loading . . . INXS Takes Out Triple J's Hottest 100 Of Australian Songs The eyes of Australian music fans are firmly set upon INXS today, who have topped triple j's Hottest 100 Of Australian Songs with their enduring classic Never Tear Us Apart.
Originally released in 1987 as the fourth single from the band's Kick album, the track peaked at #14 in Australia – ironically being their lowest-charting single from the album (overlooking those which didn't chart).
INXS also placed a second time in the countdown as part of their Hottest 100 debut, with Need You Tonight – Kick's best-charting single – hitting #59.
Never Tear Us Apart beat out a strong showing of Aussie names in the top ten, including Adelaide hip hop icons the Hilltop Hoods, who reached #2 with The Nosebleed Section.
For the Hilltop Hoods, it's a massive showing given that they've peaked at #3 on three separate times over the years. Impressively, The Nosebleed Section wasn't one of those times, with the track peaking at #9 in 2003.
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The rest of the top ten was a strong showing of debuts and favourites, including The Veronicas' Untouched at #3, and Missy Higgins' Scar at #4. Crowded House's Don't Dream It's Over caps the top five, while 2000 countdown winner Powderfinger hit #6 with My Happiness.
Cold Chisel scored the only back-to-back with Flame Trees and Khe Sanh, while Paul Kelly's perennial favourite How To Make Gravy and Gotye's Kimbra-featuring Somebody That I Used To Know caps off an impressive top ten.
triple j first announced the launch of their countdown just last month, giving lovers of local tunes the chance to have their say about the country's rich musical history. It was fine timing, too, given that this year's annual Hottest 100 featured the lowest number of Aussie acts since 1996.
It also coincided with triple j's 50th birthday celebrations in January, with the station explaining that any Aussie song (save for Like A Version covers) were eligible, as long as they were released prior to the station's anniversary.
It wasn't the first countdown to change the rules from the standard calendar-year format.
The station previously held All Time polls in 1989 to 1991, and again in 1998 and 2009. In 2011, they counted down the Hottest 100 Australian Albums; in 2013 they celebrated the annual countdown's 20th birthday by allowing songs released in the past two decades; in 2020 they counted down the best songs of the past ten years; and in 2023 they polled listeners as to their favourite Like A Version songs.
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So how did this one go?
Firstly, the countdown has been one of the most popular in years. This poll drew in a total of 2,655,826 votes, making it the most votes counted since the 2020 poll attracted almost 2.8 million. The record still belongs to the 2019 poll, however, which counted 3.21 million votes in total.
Any fears that the vast majority of tracks would be entirely representative of triple j's modern youth demographic seem to have been significantly misguided, with the average year of the countdown being 1999. Even more impressive given that triple j noted that the 18-29 age group were the biggest voters.
Breaking those years down further, while the earliest song included in the countdown belongs to Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock from 1971, the most recent track is Amyl And The Sniffers' Hertz from 2021 – indicating that a harsh recency bias didn't quite come into play.
On a decade-by-decade basis, we can see that the '70s featured five tracks, the '80s offered up 21, and the '90s brought in 23. While the first decade of the millennium brought in 26, the '10s featured 23 songs, and the first half of the '20s featured a meagre two songs.
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Meanwhile, there were a number of artists in the countdown with multiple tracks, though it was Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning who made the best showing, with his band featuring three times alongside his own 2005 poll-winner, Wish You Well.
Hilltop Hoods, Crowded House, Silverchair, Midnight Oil, and Gang Of Youths all placed three times, as did AC/DC, who hold the honour of being the only group to feature with different vocalists, thanks to the work of the late Bon Scott and his successor Brian Johnson.
Additionally, the Hottest 100 Of Australian Songs also brought with it a number of artists who had never appeared in a countdown before, along with plenty who had only made it into an all-time countdown and not the annual poll.
The Angels, The Church, Daryl Braithwaite, Divinyls, Goanna, Icehouse, INXS, John Farnham, Men At Work, Natalie Imbruglia, Redgum, Savage Garden, Stevie Wright, and The Veronicas all made it into the countdown for the first time, while a total of 13 tracks also made it in after having previously charted in a previous special edition countdown.
On that note, Stevie Wright's Evie also became the longest song in the countdown with a total runtime of 11:12, beating its closest competitor – RÜFÜS DU SOL's Innerbloom – by 1:36, and bringing the average track length to 4:14.
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Notably, while Evie beats the annual countdown record of 9:08 – jointly held by Green Day's Jesus Of Suburbia in 2005 and Kanye West's Runaway in 2010 – it's not the longest ever to feature in a poll. That record belongs to The Doors' epic The End, of which all 11:39 made it into the 1989, 1990, and 1991 countdowns at #50, #52, and #59, respectively.
While Wright's original made its debut for the first time in this countdown, the track had originally featured in the 2005 countdown as a cover version by Aussie supergroup The Wrights. That version (and only Part 1 of Wrights' longer original) reached #99 in 2005.
It's not the only track in this poll to have previously made a debut by way of a cover, either. The Church's The Unguarded Moment (#75) previously appeared in 2023's Like A Version countdown when Ruby Fields took it to #64.
That same poll also featured The Herd's rendition of I Was Only 19 (A Walk In The Light Green). While the original made it #63 this year, it originally appeared back in the 2005 countdown, having just missed out on a fitting placing when it reached #18.
The Divinyls' debut placing of #54 with I Touch Myself is a far cry from Lime Cordiale's rendition which peaked at #17 back in 2019, while Cold Chisel's Flame Trees previously made it in back in 2005 thanks to Sarah Blasko, who took it to #15.
Hunters & Collectors' Throw Your Arms Around Me also got the cover treatment back in 1998 when Paul McDermott took it to #31 with his rendition originally featured on Good News Week.
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Of course, while Like A Version covers were deemed ineligible from this countdown, a handful of covers managed to make it in still. Spiderbait's version of Black Betty (originally by Lead Belly but popularised by Ram Jam in 1977) hit #90 after originally peaking at #5 in 2004.
Natalie Imbruglia's version of Ednaswap's Torn made it to #30, while Daryl Braithwaite's reimagining of Rickie Lee Jones' The Horses appeared two spots higher at #30. (However, given that the latter two are best known thanks to the versions from the Aussie acts, it's probably better just to keep the original authorship info for your next trivia night.)
A trio of tracks also did better in this countdown when compared to their original placings. This includes the Hilltop Hoods' The Nosebleed Section which jumped seven places from #9 to #2; Hunters & Collectors' Holy Grail which went from #54 in 1993 to a respectable #50 this year; and Sticky Fingers, who brought Australia Street eight places higher from #70 to #62.
Interestingly, the only previous countdown whose entire top three is represented in the countdown is 2014, with Chet Faker's Talk Is Cheap, Peking Duk's High, and the Hilltop Hoods' Cosby Sweater shuffling the winners podium to #61, #82, and #64, respectively.
Lastly, of the 15 Aussie Hottest 100 winners in the past, only three were absent from this poll. This includes Alex Lloyd's Amazing from 2001, The Rubens' Hoops from 2015, and Flume's Say Nothing from 2022 (though his 2016 winner Never Be Like You did reach #26).
It remains to be seen if those absent winners made it into the Hottest 200, but we'll be able to find out over the next week on Double J, where they'll be counting down the other 100 throughout the week before another full countdown on Saturday, August 2nd.
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triple j’s Hottest 100 of Australian Songs
With original year of release and original Hottest 100 placing, if applicable.
100. The Screaming Jets – Better (1991)
99. Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mine (1990)
98. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand (1994)
97. Savage Garden – I Want You (1996)
96. Stevie Wright – Evie (1974)
95. Spiderbait – Calypso (1997) (#23)
94. Flight Facilities – Clair De Lune (feat. Christine Hoberg) (2012) (#17)
93. The Avalanches – Since I Left You (2001) (#8)
92. Icehouse – Electric Blue (1987)
91. The Whitlams – No Aphrodisiac (1997) (#1)
90. Spiderbait – Black Betty (2004) (#5)
89. Amyl And The Sniffers – Hertz (2021) (#28)
88. Angus & Julia Stone – Chateau (2017) (#3)
87. Gang Of Youths – The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows (2017) (#5)
86. Gotye – Hearts A Mess (2006) (#8)
85. DMA'S – Delete (2014) (#48)
84. The Go-Betweens – Streets Of Your Town (1988)
83. Ben Lee – Cigarettes Will Kill You (1998) (#2)
82. Peking Duk – High (feat. Nicole Millar) (2014) (#2)
81. You Am I – Berlin Chair (1994) (#23)
80. Empire Of The Sun – We Are The People (2008) (#68)
79. The Cat Empire – Hello (2003) (#6)
78. Eskimo Joe – Black Fingernails, Red Wine (2006) (#2)
77. Killing Heidi – Weir (1999) (#2)
76. The Veronicas – 4ever (2005)
75. The Church – The Unguarded Moment (1981)
74. The Waifs – London Still (2002) (#3)
73. Hilltop Hoods – 1955 (feat. Montaigne & Tom Thum) (2016) (#4)
72. Silverchair – Freak (1997) (#13)
71. Drapht – Jimmy Recard (2009) (#10)
70. Powderfinger – (Baby I've Got You) On My Mind (2003) (#4)
69. Crowded House – Weather With You (1992)
68. Grinspoon – Chemical Heart (2002) (#2)
67. Regurgitator – ! (The Song Formerly Known As) (1997) (#6)
66. Midnight Oil – Power And The Passion (1982)
65. Ocean Alley – Confidence (2018) (#1)
64. Hilltop Hoods – Cosby Sweater (2014) (#3)
63. Redgum – I Was Only 19 (A Walk In The Light Green) (1983)
62. Sticky Fingers – Australia Street (2013) (#70)
61. Chet Faker – Talk Is Cheap (2014) (#1)
60. Gang Of Youths – Let Me Down Easy (2017) (#2)
59. INXS – Need You Tonight (1987)
58. The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist (2000) (#6)
57. Bernard Fanning – Wish You Well (2005) (#1)
56. Jimmy Barnes – Working Class Man (1985)
55. The Presets – My People (2007) (#18)
54. Divinyls – I Touch Myself (1990)
53. Thelma Plum – Better In Blak (2019) (#9)
52. Missy Higgins – The Special Two (2005) (#31)
51. Matt Corby – Brother (2011) (#3)
50. Hunters & Collectors – Holy Grail (1993) (#54)
49. Ball Park Music – It's Nice To Be Alive (2011) (#31)
48. Vance Joy – Riptide (2013) (#1)
47. Goanna – Solid Rock (1982)
46. Bag Raiders – Shooting Stars (2019) (#18)
45. Daddy Cool – Eagle Rock (1971)
44. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms (1997) (#18)
43. Wolfmother – Joker & The Thief (2005) (#9)
42. Gang Of Youths – Magnolia (2015) (#21)
41. The Living End – Prisoner Of Society (1997) (#15)
40. Violent Soho – Covered In Chrome (2013) (#14)
39. Australian Crawl – Reckless (1983)
38. Crowded House – Better Be Home Soon (1988)
37. AC/DC – Back In Black (1980)
36. Yothu Yindi – Treaty (Radio Mix) (1991)
35. Icehouse – Great Southern Land (1982)
34. Spacey Jane – Booster Seat (2020) (#2)
33. Augie March – One Crowded Hour (2006) (#1)
32. Natalie Imbruglia – Torn (1997)
31. AC/DC – Highway To Hell (1979)
30. Daryl Braithwaite – The Horses (1991)
29. The Church – Under The Milky Way (1988)
28. Silverchair – Straight Lines (2007) (#2)
27. Kylie Minogue – Can't Get You Out Of My Head (2001)
26. Flume – Never Be Like You (feat. Kai) (2016) (#1)
25. Hunters & Collectors – Throw Your Arms Around Me (1986)
24. Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (2008) (#4)
23. Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl? (2003) (#1)
22. Paul Kelly & The Messengers – To Her Door (1987)
21. Men At Work – Down Under (1981)
20. Angus & Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane (2010) (#1)
19. Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better (2015) (#4)
18. Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning (1987)
17. Silverchair – Tomorrow (1994) (#5)
16. RÜFÜS DU SOL – Innerbloom (2015)
15. John Farnham – You're The Voice (1986)
14. Powderfinger – These Days (1999) (#1)
13. AC/DC – Thunderstruck (1990)
12. The Angels – Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again (1976)
11. The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (2008)
10. Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) (2011) (#1)
9. Paul Kelly – How To Make Gravy (1996)
8. Cold Chisel – Khe Sanh (1978)
7. Cold Chisel – Flame Trees (1984)
6. Powderfinger – My Happiness (2000) (#1)
5. Crowded House – Don't Dream It's Over (1986)
4. Missy Higgins – Scar (2004) (#2)
3. The Veronicas – Untouched (2007)
2. Hilltop Hoods – The Nosebleed Section (2003) (#9)
1. INXS – Never Tear Us Apart (1987) http://dlvr.it/TM7CQM
