The triple j Hottest 100 countdown usually finishes early on Saturday evening, typically around 7:30–8:30pm AEDT, depending on song lengths and presenter chatter.

Quick timing rundown

  • The Hottest 100 countdown starts at 12:00pm (midday) AEDT on the chosen Saturday in late January.
  • Recent guides for the 2025/2026 countdown say it kicks off at noon on Saturday 24 January 2026.
  • A recent live discussion thread for the 2024 countdown notes it was “expected to conclude by 8:30pm or possibly earlier” , which matches how previous years have run.

So for a practical answer:

  • If you’re planning your day, assume midday to about 8–8:30pm AEDT for the full Hottest 100, with the final top 10 landing in the last hour or so.

Extra context

  • triple j shifted the Hottest 100 away from 26 January and now runs it on the last or fourth weekend of January , with the countdown spread across that Saturday.
  • For the 2025 songs (airing 24 January 2026), official info confirms the start at 12pm AEDT , but the end time is described as an evening finish rather than a fixed clock time.

In forum and listener chats, people usually talk about “Hottest 100 day” as an all‑arvo‑into‑evening thing: tunes, BBQ, and the winner dropping sometime after dinner.

TL;DR: it finishes in the early evening (around 8pm AEDT) after starting at midday , but there’s no exact-to-the-minute official “finish time” published.

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