Triple J Hottest 100

The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music poll, based on the votes of national Australian youth radio station Triple J listeners, in order to determine their favourite song of the year. Voting is conducted by SMS and the internet and begins on the new year for the previous year's songs. The 100 most popular songs are then counted down on Australia Day weekend - usually Australia Day itself, January 26.cite web
title = Hottest 100 History
publisher = Triple J
url = http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/history/
accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

The poll had been conducted by 2JJ in Sydney starting in the 1980s, before Triple J became a national broadcaster. It was originally called the Hot 100 and ran on New Year's Day. The Brisbane independent radio Station 4ZZZ had run a survey under the same name and on the same day since 1977 and owned the rights to the name Hot 100. Triple J was legally required to change the name of its annual survey.

The poll attracts over half a million votes every year (500,000 in 2004, 600,000 in 2005, 671,024 in 2006 and 700,000 in 2007). It is the world's largest music poll. It began as a write-in poll; it then progressed to phone in, then they started listing the songs for the year so it could be done automatically via SMS and web voting. In 2003, it was only possible to vote on the Triple J web site; registration was required and limited to 10 votes. In 2004 this was expanded to 10 internet votes, and 10 SMS votes.

A compilation CD featuring about 35 of the songs in the countdown is released a few months after the count – it is a popular and effective source of income for the station. The first CD is still available over numtext|years ago|1994 years after its release in 1994.

During the poll's first few years (1989 to 1991), the eligible songs were not restricted to a particular year. The winner in the first two years (1989 and 1990) was "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, and 1991's favourite song was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. After a hiatus, the poll returned in 1993, but was limited to songs released in that year.

Hottest 100 top fives and summaries

References

External links

* [http://triplej.abc.net.au/hottest100 Hottest 100 section of the Triple J website]
* [http://users.bigpond.net.au/derz/ Hottest 100 history website]