Following the mixed reaction to the Hottest 100, after a number of notable artists were missing and two young Brisbane-based IT experts managed to use social media algorithms to crack the Hottest 100, Triple J decided to broadcast the following 100 songs over the weekend, revealing live for the first time the Hottest 200.
Why the decision to officially air the bottom rankings of the list? It’s pure speculation, but it may be a way of treating some of the perceived backlash over the Hottest 100. Some factions were disgruntled that much of the list was given over to remixes, ‘indie-fied’ club music, and electropop fads, in a list that’s typically dominated by rock and alternative music – or at least perceived to be.
Others were unhappy with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ ‘Thrift Shop’ taking out the top spot, the first time a hip hop song has achieved such a feat in the Hottest 100′s nearly 30 year history (but not the first time a novelty tune has, here’s looking at you ‘Pretty Fly For A White Guy’).
Others thought that the Warmest 100 prediction ruined the list. The Brisbane IT experts used the stats from 35,000 Hottest 100 votes submitted to Triple J via Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, and nailed five rankings in the Top 10 correctly, including the Top 3 positions (as this handy graph demonstrates).
As always, there were many big name favourites that missed out on reaching the Hottest 100. Cloud Nothings, Grizzly Bear, Cat Power, Japandroids, and Something For Kate were all notably absent from the list in a year where they all had strong album releases.
Even many Triple J Unearthed favourites failed to make a showing in the Top 100, including many of the digital radio station’s Top 50 most played artists of 2012. Though there were a handful on Unearthed entrants (Asta, Chance Waters, Sticky Fingers etc.) and successful ‘graduates’ (The Rubens, San Cisco, Loon Lake, Ball Park Music), there was still some glaring omissions like Kingswood, Courtney Barnett, and Collarbones.
Of course, a popularity vote is always going to polarise and cause some dissent for the general public, but it was hoped that the Hottest 200 might have gone some way to validate the tastes of those dissatisfied with the ‘official’ list.
So did it?
Cloud Nothings, Cat Power, and Grizzly Bear are still missing from the list, but Something For Kate managed to score #103 for their single ‘Survival Expert’ and #197 for ‘Miracle Cure’, along with Japandroids’ ‘The House That Heaven Built’ at #123. Kingswood scored #146 and #143 for ‘Medusa’ and ‘Shes My Baby’ respectively.
Still, the ABC are keen to avoid another Warmest 100 incident and have already flagged changes to the way voting will work next year.
“With 51 per cent of voters posting their results on social media platforms, it resulted in a huge number of people talking about the Hottest 100 online,” an ABC spokesman said last week. “That interaction drove the greatest number of votes yet.”
“While it does open up the poll to speculation and analysis, there are always going to be surprises and a lot of fun on the day. We may make a few changes to the system to avoid spoiler attempts in the future though.”
You can see the Hottest 200-100 below.
2012 Hottest 200-100
#200: Knife Party – Centipede
#199: Shockone – Chaos Theory
#198: The Weeknd – Wicked Games
#197: Something For Kate – Miracle Cure
#196: St Lucia – September
#195: Dead Letter Circus – Wake Up
#194: Alpine – Seeing Red
#193: Hungry Kids of Hungary – Sharp Shooter
#192: The Amity Affliction – Open Letter
#191: Pez – The Game
#190: TZU – Beautiful
#189: Cub Scouts – Told You So
#188: Tyler Touché – Baguette?
#187: Alt-J – Fitzpleasure
#186: Emperors – Be Ready When I Say Go
#185: Lana Del Rey – Ride
#184: Grizzly Bear – Yet Again
#183: YesYou – Frivolous Life {Ft. Marcus Azon}
#182: Afrojack & Steve Aoki – No Beef {Ft. Miss Palmer}
#181: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Can’t Hold Us {Ft. Ray Dalton}
#180: Art of Sleeping – Empty Hands
#179: Beach House – Myth
#178: Mystery Jets – Someone Purer
#177: Best Coast – The Only Place
#176: Bluejuice – Video Games {Like A Version}
#175: Bob Evans – Don’t Wanna Grow Up Anymore
#174: Santigold – The Keepers
#173: Sticky Fingers – Clouds & Cream
#172: Bloc Party – Truth
#171: Alabama Shakes – Hang Loose
#170: Violent Soho – Tinder Box
#169: Spit Syndicate – Beauty In the Bricks
#168: Bat For Lashes – All Your Gold
#167: Miike Snow – The Wave
#166: Gypsy & the Cat – Bloom
#165: Angus Stone – Broken Brights
#164: Electric Guest – The Head I Hold
#163: Twinsy – Water Bombs
#162: The Rubens – Don’t Ever Want To Be Found
#161: Art of Sleeping – Above the Water
#160: Flume – Left Alone {Ft. Chet Faker}
#159: Vydamo – Gonna Make It
#158: Lana Del Rey – Off To the Races
#157: Clubfeet – Heartbreak {Ft. Chela}
#156: Angus Stone – Bird On the Buffalo
#155: Ben Folds Five – Do It Anyway
#154: Dappled Cities – Born At the Right Time
#153: Urthboy – Knee Length Socks
#152: Bloody Beetroots – Rocksteady
#151: Van She – Jamaica
#150: Bloc Party – Octopus
#149: Amanda Palmer – Do It With a Rockstar
#148: Father John Misty – Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings
#147: Violent Soho – Neighbour Neighbour
#146: Kingswood – Medusa
#145: Plan B – Playing With Fire {Ft. Labrinth}
#144: Lana Del Rey – National Anthem
#143: Kingswood – She’s My Baby
#142: Gossling – Wild Love
#141: The Griswolds – Heart Of a Lion
#140: Band of Skulls – Sweet Sour
#139: Missy Higgins – Hearts A Mess {Like A Version}
#138: Eagle & the Worm – Give Me Time
#137: Asta – Escape
#136: The Killers – Runaways
#135: Parkway Drive – Dark Days
#134: Plan B – Ill Manors
#133: Die Antwoord – I Fink You Freeky
#132: Edward Sharpe – That’s What’s Up
#131: Matt Corby – Souls A’Fire
#130: Bombay Bicycle Club – How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep
#129: The Presets – Youth In Trouble
#128: Major Lazer – Jah No Partial {Ft. Flux Pavilion}
#127: Hermitude – HyperParadise
#126: DCUP – I’m Corrupt
#125: Frank Ocean – Pyramids
#124: Lisa Mitchell – Bless This Mess
#123: Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built
#122: Tame Impala – Apocalypse Dream
#121: Foals – Inhaler
#120: Grinspoon – Passerby
#119: Hilltop Hoods – Speaking In Tongues {Ft. Chali 2na}
#118: Hermitude – Get In My Life
#117: Missy Higgins – Unashamed Desire
#116: Tuka – Die A Happy Man {Ft. Jane Tyrrell}
#115: Hilltop Hoods – Drinking From The Sun
#114: Emma Louise – Boy
#113: Illy – Where Ya Been {Ft. Pez}
#112: The xx – Chained
#111: Kanye West – Mercy {Ft. Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz}
#110: Seth Sentry – My Scene
#109: Abbe May – Karmageddon
#108: The Temper Trap – Need Your Love
#107: The Amity Affliction – Chasing Ghosts
#106: Haim – Forever
#105: Van She – Idea of Happiness
#104: Porter Robinson – Language
#103: Something For Kate – Survival Expert
#102: The Temper Trap – Rabbit Hole
#101: Haim – Don’t Save Me
