Triple J Hottest 100, 2017
The 2017 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on 27 January 2018. It was the 25th countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. A record-breaking number of voters participated by choosing their top ten songs of 2017.
Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" was voted into first place, making him the first person of colour ever to top a Hottest 100. It was also the first track by a non-Australian artist, and the first hip hop song, to win since 2012's "Thrift Shop". Lamar achieved four tracks in the countdown, as did Gang of Youths, Lorde, and The Jungle Giants.
Historically, the countdown has been announced on Australia Day, but the 2017 countdown occurred on the fourth Saturday of January, due to opposition to Australia Day's celebratory commemoration of British settlement. This is the first Hottest 100 countdown to occur on a different day since the 2003 countdown.
Background
Triple J's Hottest 100 lets members of the public vote online for their top ten songs of the year, with these votes used to identify the year's 100 most popular songs. Any song that premiered between December 2016 and November 2017 was eligible for 2017's Hottest 100. Voting opened 12 December 2017, shortly after the end of the eligibility period.Several presenters made their votes public. The artists most often voted for by Triple J presenters were: Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Gang of Youths, and Baker Boy. On 12 December bookmakers Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and CrownBet placed Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" as the most likely song to take out first place, followed by Lorde's "Green Light" and Gang of Youths' "The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows". Social media measurement projects 100 Warm Tunas and The Bean Counter's 100 also predicted that "Humble" will be voted No. 1 by a significant margin. The previous highest appearance in a Hottest 100 for both Lamar and Lorde is No. 2, with "King Kunta" in 2015 and "Royals" in 2013 respectively.
Triple J reported that 1.5 million votes had been cast five days before voting closed, more than any other year at that point in the voting period. Once voting closed, they announced on 23 January that a total of 2,386,133 votes had been cast, breaking last year's record for most votes in a Hottest 100 with a 5.81% increase.
Announcement date
In mid-2016, support grew for a campaign calling on Triple J to change the date of the Hottest 100. Calls were led by Indigenous Australian activists and supporters, many of whom regard Australia Day as "Invasion Day". Australian hip hop duo A.B. Original and their anti-Australia Day single "January 26" were instrumental in drawing support to the cause. Triple J responded to the campaign in September 2016, announcing a review over whether the date of the Hottest 100 should be changed.The review of the date continued into 2017, including consultation with Reconciliation Australia, the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, and the National Australia Day Council, while 2016's Hottest 100 was held on Australia Day without change. In August 2017, Triple J launched a survey asking for public opinion on whether the date should be changed. Shortly after the survey began, former Triple J presenters Matt Okine and Kyran Wheatley came out in support of a date change.
On 27 November 2017, Triple J announced plans to move the Hottest 100 to the fourth weekend of January. This followed analysis led by Rebecca Huntley of the aforementioned survey, which attracted 64,990 responses, indicating that 60% of listeners supported moving the date. The announcement was welcomed by many musicians and the Australian Greens. Within the Liberal Party, however, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield was reportedly "bewildered" by the choice, one that MP Alex Hawke described as "disappointing" and "pathetic". As the minister responsible for the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which Triple J is part of, Fifield wrote to the ABC's board of directors on 28 November asking them to return the Hottest 100 to Australia Day.
Some organisations offered alternatives to Triple J's Hottest 100 in response to the date change. These include nationwide rock radio station Triple M broadcasting an Ozzest 100 countdown of only Australian songs on 26 January, and Senator Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives publishing an AC100 playlist of Australian music on Spotify.
Full list
# | Song | Artist | Country of origin |
1 | Humble | Kendrick Lamar | US |
2 | Let Me Down Easy | Gang of Youths | AUS |
3 | Chateau | Angus & Julia Stone | AUS |
4 | Ubu | Methyl Ethel | AUS |
5 | The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows | Gang of Youths | AUS |
6 | Green Light | Lorde | NZ |
7 | Go Bang | Pnau | AUS |
8 | Sally | Thundamentals featuring Mataya | AUS |
9 | Lay It on Me | Vance Joy | AUS |
10 | What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out? | Gang of Youths | AUS |
11 | Sweet | Brockhampton | US |
12 | Fake Magic | Peking Duk and AlunaGeorge | AUS/UK |
13 | Young Dumb & Broke | Khalid | US |
14 | Homemade Dynamite | Lorde | NZ |
15 | Regular Touch | Vera Blue | AUS |
16 | Feel the Way I Do | The Jungle Giants | AUS |
17 | Marryuna | Baker Boy featuring Yirrmal | AUS |
18 | Exactly How You Are | Ball Park Music | AUS |
19 | The Man | The Killers | US |
20 | Let You Down | Peking Duk featuring Icona Pop | AUS/SWE |
21 | Birthdays | The Smith Street Band | AUS |
22 | Lemon to a Knife Fight | The Wombats | UK |
23 | Not Worth Hiding | Alex the Astronaut | AUS |
24 | Rockstar | Post Malone featuring 21 Savage | US |
25 | Weekends | Amy Shark | AUS |
26 | Feel It Still | Portugal. The Man | US |
27 | Be About You | Winston Surfshirt | AUS |
28 | Mystik | Tash Sultana | AUS |
29 | Mended | Vera Blue | AUS |
30 | Low Blows | Meg Mac | AUS |
31 | Lay Down | Touch Sensitive | AUS |
32 | Numb | Hayden James featuring Graace | AUS |
33 | Slow Mover | Angie McMahon | AUS |
34 | DNA | Kendrick Lamar | US |
35 | Passionfruit | Drake | CAN |
36 | I Haven't Been Taking Care of Myself | Alex Lahey | AUS |
37 | Slide | Calvin Harris featuring Frank Ocean and Migos | UK/US |
38 | Bellyache | Billie Eilish | US |
39 | Got on My Skateboard | Skegss | AUS |
40 | True Lovers | Holy Holy | AUS |
41 | Blood | Gang of Youths | AUS |
42 | Cola | CamelPhat and Elderbrook | UK |
43 | Murder to the Mind | Tash Sultana | AUS |
44 | In Motion | Allday featuring Japanese Wallpaper | AUS |
45 | Every Day's the Weekend | Alex Lahey | AUS |
46 | Better | Mallrat | AUS |
47 | Want You Back | Haim | US |
48 | The Comedown | Ocean Alley | AUS |
49 | Passiona | The Smith Street Band | AUS |
50 | On Your Way Down | The Jungle Giants | AUS |
51 | Man's Not Hot | Big Shaq | UK |
52 | Glorious | Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey | US |
53 | Moments | Bliss n Eso featuring Gavin James | AUS/IRE |
54 | Homely Feeling | Hockey Dad | AUS |
55 | 6 Pack | Dune Rats | AUS |
56 | Watch Me Read You | Odette | AUS |
57 | Bad Dream | The Jungle Giants | AUS |
58 | The Opener | Camp Cope | AUS |
59 | Used to Be in Love | The Jungle Giants | AUS |
60 | Boys | Charli XCX | UK |
61 | 21 Grams | Thundamentals featuring Hilltop Hoods | AUS |
62 | Saved | Khalid | US |
63 | Life Goes On | E^ST | AUS |
64 | Fool's Gold | Jack River | AUS |
65 | Everything Now | Arcade Fire | CAN |
66 | Lemon | N.E.R.D and Rihanna | US/BAR |
67 | Shred for Summer | DZ Deathrays | AUS |
68 | Golden | Kingswood | AUS |
69 | I Love You, Will You Marry Me | Yungblud | UK |
70 | Amsterdam | Nothing But Thieves | UK |
71 | Perfect Places | Lorde | NZ |
72 | In Cold Blood | alt-J | UK |
73 | Nuclear Fusion | King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | AUS |
74 | XO Tour Llif3 | Lil Uzi Vert | US |
75 | Braindead | Dune Rats | AUS |
76 | Cloud 9 | Baker Boy featuring Kian | AUS |
77 | Million Man | The Rubens | AUS |
78 | Electric Feel | Tash Sultana | AUS |
79 | Hey, Did I Do You Wrong? | San Cisco | AUS |
80 | Say Something Loving | The xx | UK |
81 | Liability | Lorde | NZ |
82 | 1-800-273-8255 | Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid | US/CAN |
83 | Blood Brothers | Amy Shark | AUS |
84 | Oceans | Vallis Alps | AUS |
85 | Does This Last | Boo Seeka | AUS |
86 | Maybe It's My First Time | Meg Mac | AUS |
87 | The Way You Used to Do | Queens of the Stone Age | US |
88 | Edge of Town | Paul Dempsey | AUS |
89 | Dawning | DMA's | AUS |
90 | Hyperreal | Flume featuring Kučka | AUS |
91 | Big for Your Boots | Stormzy | UK |
92 | Love | Kendrick Lamar featuring Zacari | US |
93 | Do What You Want | The Presets | AUS |
94 | Second Hand Car | Kim Churchill | AUS |
95 | Mask Off | Future | US |
96 | Chasin' | Cub Sport | AUS |
97 | Loyalty | Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna | US/BAR |
98 | Snow | Angus & Julia Stone | AUS |
99 | Arty Boy | Flight Facilities featuring Emma Louise | AUS |
100 | Don't Leave | Snakehips and MØ | UK/DEN |
Artists with multiple entries
Four entries
- Kendrick Lamar
- Gang of Youths
- Lorde
- The Jungle Giants
Three entries
- Khalid
- Tash Sultana
Two entries
- Angus & Julia Stone
- Thundamentals
- Peking Duk
- Vera Blue
- Baker Boy
- The Smith Street Band
- Amy Shark
- Meg Mac
- Alex Lahey
- Dune Rats
- Rihanna
Countries represented
- – 65
- – 19
- – 12
- – 4
- – 3
- – 2
- – 1
- – 1
- – 1
Top 10 Albums of 2017
Bold indicates winner.
# | Artist | Album | Country of origin | Tracks in the Hottest 100 |
1 | Gang of Youths | Go Farther in Lightness | AUS | 2, 5, 10 |
2 | Lorde | Melodrama | NZL | 6, 14, 71, 81 |
3 | Kendrick Lamar | Damn | US | 1, 34, 92, 97 |
4 | The Smith Street Band | More Scared of You than You Are of Me | AUS | 21, 49, |
5 | Childish Gambino | "Awaken, My Love!" | US | |
6 | Alex Lahey | I Love You Like a Brother | AUS | 36, 45 |
7 | The Jungle Giants | Quiet Ferocity | AUS | 16, 50, 57, 59 |
8 | Vera Blue | Perennial | AUS | 15, 29, |
9 | King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | Flying Microtonal Banana | AUS | 73 |
10 | Meg Mac | Low Blows | AUS | 30, 86 |