• Fourth consecutive year Australian artist ranks #1
• 34 songs were from acts with at least one woman
• 14 artists in the countdown don’t have an album out
2016’s Hottest 100 saw a record number of votes placed. At over 2.2 million it was up a whopping 7.6% on last year. Of those staggering votes, there was one song which rose above the rest to claim the top spot – Flume’s “Never Be Like You (feat Kai)”.
triple j’s music director Richard Kingsmill says of the song: “It’s rare that a song released back in January will end up in the Hottest 100, let alone at the very top, but ‘Never Be Like You’ just kept growing. Collaborating with Canadian singer Kai, Flume (pictured) could have crafted a fairly straight love song. The melody line alone was strong and the lyrics were heartfelt without being clichéd. But by adding that surprising rhythm track with some pretty abrasive percussion, then throwing those swirling synths on top, he produced a song that only got more powerful over repeated listens.”
If one act musically dominated 2016, it was Flume. He’s had a blockbuster 2016 and it all started with the lead single from his highly anticipated second album, “Skin”. Released in January, “Never Be Like You” not only kicked off the Aussie producer’s banner year but sustained his success throughout it.
Chart highlights
• Fourth consecutive year an Australian artist has taken out #1. That’s the longest streak of Aussie artists at the top.
• The success of women in the business end of the Hottest 100 is worth celebrating. Ladies appeared in seven songs in the Top 10, including solo artists Amy Shark and Tash Sultana, joined by feature artists Kai, Montaigne, Vera Blue, Tove Lo and Elliphant all contributing key vocals to their tracks.
• 34 songs were from acts with at least one woman: 14 female solo artists, 12 female guest vocals, seven bands with female members and one all-female band.
• Violent Soho have the most songs in the countdown, with five entries. Flume follows close behind with four songs.
• Give it up for Illy, this is his eighth consecutive appearance in a Hottest 100, just behind record holders Dave Grohl (various bands over nine years) and The Living End‘s decade-long streak lasting from 1997 to 2006.
• 14 artists in the countdown don’t even have an album out, including Amy Shark, Tash Sultana, Peking Duk, Mura Masa, Gretta Ray, Ali Barter, Sofi Tukker, Maggie Rogers, L D R U, Golden Features, Vera Blue, Elk Road, plus Chance The Rapper and Desiigner (who’ve only released mixtapes).
• Radiohead are the only artists to appear both in this year’s countdown (#79 “Burn The Witch”) and the first ever annual Hottest 100 in 1993 (#2 “Creep”).
