No doubt you’ve heard by now of the social media campaign recently launched by BuzzFeed to see Taylor Swift top this year’s Triple J Hottest 100 poll. While news of the campaign, which is slowly gaining traction on Twitter and Instagram, elicited plenty of chuckles, the question on the minds of many is if Swift actually has a chance.
Opinion seems to be divided of the matter. While BuzzFeed write that they’ve been informed by a Triple J representative that only songs that have been played on the station during 2014 would be eligible for the official shortlist, there is a precedent for songs that have received no airplay charting in the Hottest 100.
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As The Music notes, Alanis Morissette managed to place three times in the 1995 Hottest 100 despite receiving no airplay, according to J Play. Meanwhile, Green Day’s Good Riddance and U2’s Elevation also managed to place despite not receiving airplay during their years of eligibility.
Furthermore, Triple J station manager Chris Scaddan reportedly told News Corp that the Swift action is completely within the rules of the annual poll, which is frequently cited as the largest public vote in Australia besides the federal election. “We supply a list of over 2000 songs that have been played on Triple J in 2014,” Scaddan said.
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“People are welcome to add songs manually to their voting shortlist and those votes count exactly the same as anything voted from the Triple J list,” he added, though his comments seemingly contradict what Triple J representatives have told BuzzFeed.
Rather unsurprisingly, betting agencies have already opened the odds for ‘Shake It Off’ to top the Hottest 100. Presumably bookmakers would first want to clarify whether or not a bet actually has some chance of success before opening odds, or this would effectively be a bet on a scratched horse.
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Meanwhile, Tone Deaf has reached out to Triple J to clarify whether or not Taylor Swift would be eligible to place in the official Hottest 100 shortlist. According to a Triple J representative, “We don’t comment on voting campaigns whilst Hottest 100 voting is open. It draws attention to them and may influence the results of the poll.”
However, this begs the question, if Swift is not even eligible to place in the Hottest 100, since none of her music was played during 2014, why would the station avoid drawing attention to a campaign that is effectively null and void? Furthermore, a comment from Triple J would seemingly only influence poll results if Swift was eligible.
