INXS came out on top of the leaderboard, but they weren’t the only winners as triple j counted down the Hottest 100 of greatest Australian songs on Saturday.
The youth network can bang its drum with 2,655,826 total votes tallied, for triple j’s fourth biggest Hottest 100. That’s an improvement on the 2,489,446 votes submitted for the most recent, annual Hottest 100, won in January 2025 by Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe”.
The all-time high was in 2019, when the Hottest 100 gathered 3,211,596 votes, The Music Network reports, the first time the poll had passed the 3 million milestone.
The poll didn’t just drift in with the ether. Triple j pulled the levers at time when Australian artists are struggling to be seen and heard above the din of 100 million-plus songs ingested into streaming platforms, a figure that’s rising by 100,000s each week, or wrestle with the marketing muscle that powers the frontline major label artists in the US and UK.
Of course, INXS claimed the top prize on Saturday night with 1987’s ageless “Never Tear Us Apart.” INXS’ crowning moment was assisted by tireless support from Haydn & Bee’s INXS Access all Areas podcast and other fan campaigns, and a 35th anniversary project including behind-the scenes footage, with new and unearthed interviews.
Last year, INXS revisited the iconic song and its stunning music video, shot by Richard Lowenstein in the real-life fairytale city that is Prague, two years before the Velvet Revolution which led to the end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
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“Never Tear Us Apart” was the fourth single from Kick, the album that confirmed INXS’ world-class status, and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The single reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is one of four tracks from the LP crack the US top 10, including “Need You Tonight” which went all the way to No. 1. Kick was reissued in 2017 with a Dolby Atmos immersive sound mix, and came in at No. 2 on Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time.
When told of INXS’ big win, founding drummer Jon Farriss told triple j live on air: “That’s absolutely brilliant. I’m so overwhelmed.” Speaking with hosts Lucy Smith and Zan Rowe, he added, “I’m just so blessed to be amongst such beautiful people, my brothers. We dreamed of doing it, but we never really thought, being that far and isolated in Western Australia that anything would come of it. We loved music so much that we lived and breathed it. I just feel very blessed and so grateful.”
Bernard Fanning and Powderfinger can also boast entry to the winners’ circle. The Brisbane singer had the greatest number of entries with four, including three with Powderfinger (“My Happiness” at No. 6, “These Days” at No. 14 and “Baby I’ve Got You On My Mind” at No. 70) and one via his solo project (“Wish You Well” at No. 57).
The biggest voting block was the 18–29-year-old demographic, with more than 50% of their votes going to songs that were released before they reached high school.
The most celebrated decade? The 2000s.
And the surprise of the night? It’s hard to go past The Veronicas’ “Untouched” at No. 3, a stick of pop dynamite that cruised into the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 following its release back in 2007.
Relive the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs here.
