With the 2021 Hottest 100 set to take place on January 22nd, 2022, we here at Tone Deaf have decided to take a stroll down memory lane, recapping the countdowns of yesteryear in the lead-up to the latest edition of musical democracy. Today, we’re taking a look back at the Hottest 100 of 1995.
Kicking off in January of 1996, the triple j Hottest of 1995 was the third annual countdown held by the station which limited votes to songs released in the last year.
Having hit its stride, the third edition of the Hottest 100 was taken out by none other than Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’, with the band becoming the first artist to have more than just one song in the countdown that year.
While The Smashing Pumpkins managed to take out second position with ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’, Coolio started to pave the way for hip-hop, placing with ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’.
This would remain the highest placing position for a hip-hop song until OutKast hit #2 with ‘Hey Ya!’ in 2003, and this remained the record until Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took out the countdown in 2012 with ‘Thrift Shop’.
Check out Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’:
While the Hottest 100 of 1995 isn’t well known for a number of shocking moments, it did feature a few notable events, including TISM’s double-placing in the top ten, Luciano Pavarotti appearing with Passengers, and the first song to chart for the second time, with Live’s ‘I Alone’ having also charted in 1994.
Grinspoon also became the first artist discovered by triple j’s Unearthed program to crack the charts, hitting #74 with ‘Sickfest’. Over the years, this number would rise, with Killing Heidi, Grinspoon, Missy Higgins, Art vs. Science, and Little Red peaking at #2 over the years, and Vance Joy finally becoming the first Unearthed artist to hit #1 in 2013.
Love Indie?
Get the latest Indie news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
The 1995 countdown did however featured a notable moment in terms of voting, with Alanis Morissette becoming the first act to chart without any airplay from triple j. See, back in the day, listeners could either vote for a track that was listed on triple j’s voting list, or they could submit their own tracks that they wanted to vote for.
However, due to the immense success of Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (which would spend ten weeks at #1 on the ARIA charts in 1996), the Canadian singer managed to get three of her tracks in the top 100.
As time went on, this phenomenon became a little bit more popular, and these days, countless voters will ‘write-in’ their pick for the number one song, in hopes that maybe it could be the dark horse of the race.
Check out Alanis Morissette’s ‘All I Really Want’:
At the end of the day, triple j’s Hottest 100 for 1995 featured songs by 78 different artists from a total of 13 countries, including 44 from the USA, 30 from Australia and 14 from England.
No specific artist ended up becoming the best-performer of the countdown, though Alanis Morrisette, Green Day, Live, Red Hot Chili Peppers, TISM and You Am I all appeared three times, as did Pearl Jam, who appeared as Neil Young’s band on ‘Downtown’.
Likewise, a number of artists also appeared twice, including Björk, Faith No More, Foo Fighters, Garbage, Jeff Buckley, Jill Sobule, Oasis, Pollyanna, and The Presidents Of The United States Of America.
Meanwhile, a handful of artists also appeared with different bands, including Neil Young (who also appeared on Pearl Jam’s ‘I Got Id’), Flea and Dave Navarro (who appeared as part of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and musicians on Alanis Morissette’ ‘You Oughta Know’), and U2, who also showed up as Passengers at #23.
Also, if you’re keen on some of the more obscure facts, the shortest track to appear in the countdown was Mindless Drug Hoover’s ‘The Reefer Song’ at 1:51, while the longest was Massive Attack’s ‘Protection’ at 7:52.
Check out the full list of songs in the triple j Hottest 100 for 1995 below. If you’re keen to learn more, head over to the Hottest 100 Database, and check out the Hottest 100 songs that didn’t make the Hottest 100.
triple j’s Hottest 100 of 1995
#1. ‘Wonderwall’ – Oasis
#2. ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ – The Smashing Pumpkins
#3. ‘Gangsta’s Paradise (feat. L.V.)’ – Coolio
#4. ‘Kitty’ – The Presidents Of The United States Of America
#5. ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ – Björk
#6. ‘Heroin Girl’ – Everclear
#7. ‘Apartment’ – Custard
#8. ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow (feat. Kylie Minogue)’ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
#9. ‘(He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River’ – TISM
#10. ‘Greg! The Stop Sign!!’ – TISM
#11. ‘Lump’ – The Presidents Of The United States Of America
#12. ‘The Reefer Song’ – Mindless Drug Hoover
#13. ‘Morning Glory’ – Oasis
#14. ‘Last Goodbye’ – Jeff Buckley
#15. ‘Vow’ – Garbage
#16. ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Is Where I Hide’ – Dave Graney ‘N’ The Coral Snakes
#17. ‘Blubber Boy’ – Regurgitator
#18. ‘I Kissed A Girl’ – Jill Sobule
#19. ‘I Got A Girl’ – Tripping Daisy
#20. ‘My Friends’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
#21. ‘Queer’ – Garbage
#22. ‘Lightning Crashes’ – Live
#23. ‘Miss Sarajevo (feat. Luciano Pavarotti)’ – Passengers
#24. ‘Purple Sneakers’ – You Am I
#25. ‘Political Prisoners’ – Insurge
#26. ‘Downtown’ – Neil Young
#27. ‘Drugs’ – Ammonia
#28. ‘Aeroplane’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
#29. ‘Evidence’ – Faith No More
#30. ‘Carnival’ – Natalie Merchant
#31. ‘Time Bomb’ – Rancid
#32. ‘Apple Eyes’ – Swoop
#33. ‘Everything Zen’ – Bush
#34. ‘I Alone’ – Live
#35. ‘I Got Id’ – Pearl Jam
#36. ‘Black Steel’ – Tricky
#37. ‘This Is A Call’ – Foo Fighters
#38. ‘Common People’ – Pulp
#39. ‘You Oughta Know’ – Alanis Morissette
#40. ‘Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver’ – Primus
#41. ‘I Can Dream’ – Skunk Anansie
#42. ‘The Diamond Sea’ – Sonic Youth
#43. ‘Monty’ – Spiderbait
#44. ‘Better Man’ – Pearl Jam
#45. ‘Glory Box’ – Portishead
#46. ‘Geek Stink Breath’ – Green Day
#47. ‘Island Home’ – Christine Anu
#48. ‘I Wanna Be A Hippy (Flamman & Abraxas Mix)’ – Technohead
#49. ‘More Human Than Human’ – White Zombie
#50. ‘Summer’ – Buffalo Tom
#51. ‘Psychoactive Summer’ – Def FX
#52. ‘You Suck’ – The Murmurs
#53. ‘Country House’ – Blur
#54. ‘Who Farted?’ – The Vaughans
#55. ‘Up To Our Necks In It’ – Skunkhour
#56. ‘Chuck’ – Phunk Junkeez
#57. ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me’ – U2
#58. ‘Lemonsuck’ – Pollyanna
#59. ‘Supermodel’ – Jill Sobule
#60. ‘Sparky’s Dream’ – Teenage Fanclub
#61. ‘Sad Song’ – The Screaming Jets
#62. ‘Empty’ – Rebecca’s Empire
#63. ‘Smash It Up’ – The Offspring
#64. ‘Stayin’ Alive’ – N-Trance
#65. ‘Boombastic’ – Shaggy
#66. ‘Fire In The Head’ – The Tea Party
#67. ‘Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing’ – Chris Isaak
#68. ‘Pale Grey Eyes’ – Pollyanna
#69. ‘(Let’s Go) Smoke Some Pot’ – Dash Rip Rock
#70. ‘I’ll Stick Around’ – Foo Fighters
#71. ‘All Over You’ – Live
#72. ‘Immune Deficiency’ – Rail
#73. ‘Dredd Song’ – The Cure
#74. ‘Sickfest’ – Grinspoon
#75. ‘Warped’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
#76. ’21st Century (Digital Boy)’ – Bad Religion
#77. ‘Heart Of The Party’ – Severed Heads
#78. ‘Trick With A Knife’ – Strawpeople
#79. ‘Alright’ – Supergrass
#80. ‘Brain Stew’ – Green Day
#81. ‘Devil’s Diary’ – The Caulfields
#82. ‘Sunday’ – Mr Blonde
#83. ‘Army Of Me’ – Björk
#84. ‘Cathy’s Clown’ – You Am I
#85. ‘Hand In My Pocket’ – Alanis Morissette
#86. ‘Waterfalls’ – TLC
#87. ‘Jailbreak’ – Yothu Yindi
#88. ‘Grind’ – Alice In Chains
#89. ‘Grace’ – Jeff Buckley
#90. ‘All I Really Want’ – Alanis Morissette
#91. ‘Digging The Grave’ – Faith No More
#92. ‘Sick Of Myself’ – Matthew Sweet
#93. ‘All Homeboys Are Dickheads’ – TISM
#94. ‘Jewels And Bullets’ – You Am I
#95. ‘Protection’ – Massive Attack
#96. ‘Hang Around’ – Tumbleweed
#97. ‘Tingly (feat. Angie Hart)’ – Pop!
#98. ‘By Myself’ – Hecate
#99. ‘When I Come Around’ – Green Day
#100. ‘Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues’ – Todd Snider
Quick Facts:
Artists: 78
Most Successful Artists: Alanis Morissette, Green Day, Live, Red Hot Chili Peppers, TISM, You Am I, and Pearl Jam (3 tracks)
Number Of Countries: 9
Top Three Countries: USA (44 tracks), Australia (30 tracks), England (14 tracks)
Shortest Song: ‘The Reefer Song’ – Mindless Drug Hoover (1:51)
Longest Song: ‘Protection’ – Massive Attack (7:52)
