Thanks to Kiel Egging for letting us use his write-up.
Update: 2011 Hottest 100 Countdown is here
The triple j Hottest 100: an institution that’s been blasting out of our Australia Day backyard radios for 21 years. Every year it counts down and celebrates the best 100 songs of the year that has passed by – as voted by triple j listeners.
In the past, there have been winners who have lived up to the station’s alternative nature (Queens Of The Stone Age’s No One Knows, The Cranberries’ Zombie), some local artist gems (Powderfinger’s My Happiness and These Days, Augie March’s One Crowded Hour), obvious songs which owned the year (Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out, Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl?) and some suprises (The Offspring’s Pretty Fly For A White Guy, Alex Lloyd’s Amazing and Bernard Fanning’s Wish You Well).
So who will take out the 2011 top choice?
The Obvious Choice
Wally De Backer – I hope you’ve got champagne on ice. You’re going need it around 9pm tomorrow.
Gotye (featuring Kimbra) Somebody That I Used To Know will be the clear winner.
Not since Kings Of Leon’s Sex On Fire in 2008 has there been such a hot and obvious favourite for the winner of the world’s biggest music poll. Sportingbet had a market going last month for Somebody That I Used To Know to win at $1.15 – with ‘Any Other Song’ at around $5.
Somebody That I Used To Know ticks all the boxes when it comes to being a Hottest 100 frontrunner:
– A Triple J-approved artist whose past releases got plenty of airplay on the station,
– A crossover hit which went from being played on the J’s to being flogged all over commerical radio.
– Scored industry acclaim and numerous awards (ARIA gave it Single Of The Year, while Gotye and Kimbra won Best Male and Female artists respectively).
– Recieve a whole new audience of ‘mainstream’ fans – who pack out your shows just to hear your new hit single (Gotye sold out four shows at The Forum in October).
– Had numerous people covering it on YouTube or in their live shows – (just look at Canadian band Walk Off The Earth’s cover)
Credit to Kiel Eggings’ blog write up on this. Read the full article here.
Other High Rank Picks Or Possible #1 Dark Horse
While it’s hard to decide whether any of these will actually take the top rank, here are a few that you might think would get a good placing.
– Boy and Bear’s latest album Moonfire reached #2 on the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart, and could be a shoe in with their track Feeding Line.
– Love him or hate him Skrillex’s song First of the Year (Equinox) should come in somewhere, a possible top 10.
– 22 million view YouTube sensation Lana del Ray with the track Video Games.
– Florence and The Machine’s popularity has exploded since the release of her second album Ceremonials – First single What the Water Gave mM will rank highly.
– Other Aussie artists (with exception of Kimbra) to appear on the list could include The Jezabels – Rosebud, Kimbra – Cameo lover, 360 – Killer, The Grates – Turn Me On, Ball Park Music – It’s Nice to be Alive and Bluejuice – Act Yr Age, to name a few.
What’s your picks or thoughts on this year, do you think Gotye should take out the #1 spot?
