The Hottest 100 is an annual public-voted music countdown run by Australian youth radio station triple j, where listeners vote for their favorite songs of the year and the top 100 are played in a marathon broadcast.

Quick Scoop: What Is the Hottest 100?

  • It is a yearly poll of listeners’ favorite songs, organized by triple j (part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
  • Fans vote online for tracks released or popular in the previous year, then triple j counts down the 100 most-voted songs on a single day, usually in January.
  • It is often called “Australia’s biggest music countdown” because of its huge participation, media coverage, and influence on artists’ exposure.

In simple terms: it’s a big, once-a-year, fan-powered playlist that becomes a national event.

How It Works (In Practice)

  1. triple j opens voting on its website for a set period (typically late December to early January).
  1. Listeners pick and submit their favorite songs from the year (often with a cap on number of votes per person).
  1. Votes are tallied and ranked from 1 to 100.
  1. On “Hottest 100 Day,” triple j broadcasts the entire list from #100 up to #1.

An example: in the Hottest 100 of 2024, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan took the #1 spot after receiving a record-breaking number of votes.

Why It’s a Big Deal

  • Cultural event: Bars, house parties, beaches, and festivals across Australia tune in and play the countdown all day.
  • Artist boost: Scoring a high position—or especially #1—can significantly lift streams, sales, and recognition for an artist.
  • Snapshot of a year: The list acts as a time capsule of what younger audiences in Australia were listening to and talking about that year.

For example, when a new artist wins or multiple tracks by the same act chart, it often drives discussion on forums, social media, and music sites about shifting tastes and trends.

Related “Top 100” Confusion

If you’ve seen “Hot 100” or other “Top 100” charts, you might be mixing them up:

  • Billboard Hot 100: A U.S. chart ranking the most popular songs each week using streaming, airplay, and sales data.
  • triple j Hottest 100: A once-a-year listener-voted Australian countdown.

Both are “100-song” lists, but one is data/industry-driven (Billboard) and weekly, while the other is fan-voted and yearly.

Latest / Trending Context

  • The Hottest 100 remains a major fixture each Australian summer and continues to spark debate about which songs “deserved” to rank higher or lower.
  • Recent countdowns have featured a mix of international pop stars and rising alternative or indie acts, reflecting both global hits and local favorites.

TL;DR

The Hottest 100 is triple j’s annual, fan-voted music countdown of the year’s favorite songs, broadcast as a single-day event and widely treated as a cultural moment in Australia.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.