Get Fact'd: Here's your Hottest 100 of Australian Songs in stats, trends and figures

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2 days ago

Get ready trivia heads, it's the best part of the day for you — here's your Hottest 100 of Australian Songs in stats, facts, figures and trends.
We've spent the day counting down your favourite songs from 100 to one as voted by you so it's time to dig into the meaty parts of this special countdown.
The power of the people
We received more than a whopping 2.65 million votes in the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs, which is the highest number of votes for a special countdown and the fourth-highest number of votes ever for a countdown.
Although we clocked an enormous number of votes for this special Hottest 100, things were still pretty damn tight across the countdown.
There are eight entries within the list that ended up being separated by less than 10 vote.
Only 30 votes separated the songs that placed #100 and #101.
Despite all that, there's only one act who clocked back-to-back entries — and that happened right at the pointy end of the countdown. Congrats, Cold Chisel!
Nearly the whole of Australia is represented across the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs, with almost half of the list coming from NSW. Victoria is represented by 24 artists, Queensland has 11 entries and the west coast has clocked in six times.
Tasmania, I promise we still love you even though you didn't make the list.
Here's looking at you
Votes came in from right around the country (both mainland and off!) with NSW and Victoria neck and neck at 28% and 24% of the votes respectively. Queensland gave us 19% and Western Australia contributed 10% of the votes.
Tassie, you came through with 4% of the votes and friends around the world made up 3% of the democratic process.
It's a countdown that spans generations, but it was one group that came out in full force with their votes: the 18–29-year-olds.
That's right, Gen Z (and a few Millennial cuspers) turned up in droves with their votes, putting their stamp on the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.
The nitty gritty
Casting our eyes to the list, there's some delicious facts to sink our teeth into.
The longest song in the countdown belongs to the late Stevie Wright with 'Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)', which came in at #96 and runs for a whopping 11 minutes and eight seconds.
The shortest song showed up immediately afterwards at #95 — 'CALYPSO' by Spiderbait only runs for one minute and 49 seconds! That's the beauty of a Hottest 100 countdown for you.
It's truly a capture of the deep and rich history of Australian music, with 50 years between the oldest and youngest songs in the list.
At #89, Amyl and The Sniffers' 'Hertz' was released in 2021, and at #45 the tradition-heavy 'Eagle Rock' from Daddy Cool (released in 1971) is officially the oldest track in the countdown.
And if we're looking at sheer speed, Amyl and the Sniffers are head and shoulders ahead of the rest, with an absolutely ripping BPM of 185 in 'Hertz'. No wonder it makes you wanna get up and go as fast as you can.
There seems to be some common themes running across the list, with nine songs referring to the sky, nine songs featuring travel and transport, and 10 songs going on about body parts.
From little things big things grow
triple j has been there with lot of the artists in the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs for a long time, with 24 artists across the countdown having a profile on Unearthed.
From Flume to Missy Higgins, Gang of Youths to Thelma Plum, the green drum has been there to back them in. Who could be the next Hottest 100 icon to kick off their career on Unearthed?
And finally — if you would you believe it — 100% of songs on this very special countdown are from Australian artists.