by Last year was strange for Australia’s largest music poll, believed to be the world’s largest music poll.
A boy band formed more than 30 years ago topped the Triple J chart with a cover of a ten-year-old song, while Olivia Rodrigo and Doja Cat made up 10% of the overall chart between them—although neither was the fare we expected. alternative youth station.
A song featuring Justin Bieber took second place as various campaigns to include/exclude Taylor Swift from the 2014 countdown were quickly erased from our collective memory. And as if drawing a line in the sand, this isn’t the first time a compilation CD has followed the countdown.
Related: Flume finally finds happiness: “I didn’t want to tour anymore. I hated my job.”
So who will top the 2022 Hottest 100? The last earworm in Harry’s House? Know Your Product? Maybe it’ll be a more obvious summer song, like the 61-second classic Southern Brooding Gastric Frog – track 55 from this year’s chart-topping Australian Frog Calls charity album.
Either that or it’ll just be a popular song by a popular band. According to Warm Tunas, a forecasting site with more than 250,000 voters and a good track record of triangulating the best songs of the year, the spiky end of the list will be populated by Australian artists. Underwear will be optional on the podium this year.
A familiar Top 10
According to preliminary figures, a local song will inevitably appear at the beginning of the countdown this year. Flume, Gang Of Youths, Ball Park Music and Spacey Jane will fight for first place.
If this particular local lineup is giving you déjà vu, just put your mind to the countdown to 2020, complete with Heat Wave by UK band Glass Animals. Spacey Jane came in at number 2 (for Booster Seat), Flume at number 3 (The Difference), and Ball Park Music at number 4 (Cherub). Gang Of Youths didn’t have a new release that year, but rose to #6 with The Angel Of 8th Ave the following year.
Among the leaders mentioned, Flume seems to be the slight favorite at this point with their February single, Say Nothing, featuring young Sydney artist Maya Cumming, which will likely earn the producer their second #1 spot.
The producer is definitely in the top five; In fact, he has already removed every slot. Flume was #1 with Never Be Like You in 2016, #2 with Rushing Back in 2019, #3 with The Fark in 2020, #4 with Holdin On in 2012, and #5 with Drop The Game in 2013. . The year he got the number 6 spot?
Fremantle foursome Spacey Jane is an outside chance to land #1 with the great Hardlight, but looks more likely to land lower in the Top 5. Sitting Up’s chances of making it to the Top 10 are also quite high, both songs come from the second song of the group, the album Here Everything Is Coming.
Spacey Jane has been in strong form lately and climbed to #3 on Lots of Nothing (behind skivvies and Bieb) and #12 on Lunchtime in 2021. Last year, Booster Seat was blocked by the aforementioned Heat Waves, reaching number 2.
Related: Spacey Jane: Here Comes Everyone review – painful sophomore indie rock
Stars In My Eyes by Ball Park Music is also a strong shot for #1. Their song hit #4 at Cherub’s 2020 remains their best performance, but the five-piece Brisbane had previously made 12 entries on the chart – an ever-changing sunscreen that hit number 21, including last year’s.
Will Gang of Youths finally hit #1?
Evangelical rockers Gang Of Youths are likely to take the #1 spot with In The Wake Of Your Leave bidding, a tearful lament over the passing of lead singer David Le’aupepe’s father.
The band left the 2017 countdown completely behind, including Let Me Down Easy, The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows (can the shadow be honest?) and What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?
Gang of Youths may have dominated 2017, but Kendrick Lamar’s not-so-subtle Humble took the wide lead that year.
Related: Gang of Youths: Angel in Realtime review – overcrowded anthems with a few special moments
For a man who released 19 songs to the world in 2022, the rapper is conspicuously absent from this year’s predictions, despite a five-year hiatus between his latest record (having four songs in the 2017 Hottest 100) and this year’s Mr. and Big Steppers.
According to Warm Tunas, only one Kendrick song will enter the 200 – N95, which is predicted to debut in the mid-30s. Maybe it’s just a matter of very thinly spread voting over a double album.
Other tunes with a chance to hit #1 on the outside include Gorillaz’s New Gold featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown; Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This), Fred Again; and BOTA from Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal.
If the recent elections have taught us anything, it’s that pre-voting is useful, but ultimately flawed. This year’s Hottest 100 can be picked up by anyone.
