A new social media measuring tool, the Hottest 100 Hypometer, has been developed by Queensland university researchers to track online chatter about the songs most likely to land at the top end of triple j’s Hottest 100 and, unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift is dominating the conversation.
Queensland University of Technology social media experts Katie Prowd and Darryl Woodford have used their Hypometer to track and rank Twitter and Instagram chatter for around 20 songs and artists most likely to make it in the triple j countdown.
Taylor Swift, who has never been played on the station and whose eligibility to place in the poll remains in question, is still dominating online chatter with the researchers finding more than 7363 Hottest 100 posts relating to Swift’s 2014 track Shake It Off in the past month, nearly 10 times more than all the other artists combined.
Trailing quite a bit behind are, surprisingly, Sydney-bred indie rockers The Griswolds and their track Beware The Dog, with 206 Hottest 100 posts in the last month. Hottest 100 favourites Chet Faker and Peking Duk are next in the rankings, with Faker’s Talk Is Cheap gaining 187 mentions and Peking Duk’s High 75.
Gallery: triple j’s Hottest 100 2014 — The Frontrunners
It’s worth noting that these figures aren’t directly related to Hottest 100 votes, rather they show what people have been talking about online in the lead up to the countdown. Swift’s dominance is reflective of the #Tay4Hottest100 social media push to get Shake If Off into the annual Australia Day poll as well as various reactions to that campaign.
“I’d be interested to see if the campaign has translated into a spike in the number of people voting this year, or a spike in listeners on the day,” said researcher Katie Prowd.
“While our Hypometer isn’t a crystal ball for predicting the top 20 tracks on Australia Day, it accurately measures the hype around them, giving fans a comprehensive view of the depth of conversation around those favourites.”
She added that posts about other artists will likely ramp up closer to d-day and during the countdown itself. “Regardless of the outcome on Monday, in social media terms the controversy has proved a marketing boom for Triple J.”