If you’ve ever flicked on Triple M and immediately been hit with a song that feels like it’s lived in your bloodstream forever, there’s now hard data to back that feeling up.
To mark 45 years on air, Triple M has crunched the numbers across its entire broadcast history and unveiled its Most Played Songs of All Time – measured purely by airplay, not votes, hype, or recency bias. Just the songs Aussies have heard, requested, replayed and never forgotten.
“These songs raised us”
Taking out the top spot? None other than GANGgajang’s ‘Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia)’.
Six of the top ten songs are Australian, including pub-rock and radio staples like INXS’ ‘Don’t Change’, Paul Kelly & The Messengers’ ‘Dumb Things’, AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’, Choirboys’ ‘Run To Paradise’, and The Screaming Jets’ ‘Better’. Rounding out the top tier are global juggernauts like Van Halen’s ‘Jump’, Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Lenny Kravitz’s ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’.
The station says the countdown is less about ranking and more about documenting cultural muscle memory: “These songs raised us,” the Triple M team shared on socials. “They built the station.”
Unlike a traditional countdown, this list isn’t designed for debate – it’s simply a statistical reflection of what’s endured. Across nearly half a century, millions of songs were played, and for the first time, all of them were counted. The result is a 600-song monster list spanning generations, genres and eras.
From Cold Chisel’s ‘Khe Sanh’ and Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds Are Burning’, through to Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Powderfinger, Crowded House, The Cure, blink-182, John Farnham and more – it’s a living archive of Aussie rock radio faves.
Even GANGgajang frontman Mark “Cal” Callaghan sounded stunned by the result, telling the station: “What the heck!? That’s amazing. It was a song that just came – out of the ether somewhere.”
In a poetic twist, Callaghan revealed he’s currently house-sitting in Kirribilli, staring out at the same block of flats where he recorded the original demo of ‘Sounds Of Then’ back in 1982 on an 8-track recorder.
And forty-plus years later, it’s still playing.
Further Reading
Olivia Dean Takes Out triple j’s Hottest 100 Of 2025
NEWS FLASHBACK: Here Are The Songs That Made Triple M’s ‘Ozzest 100’
A.B. Original Want To “Ruin” Triple M’s ‘Ozzest 100’ By Voting For ‘January 26’
