The 2016 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day, 26 January 2017. It is the 24th countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J.
Triple J's Hottest 100 lets members of the public vote online for their top ten songs of the year, with these votes used to identify the year's 100 most popular songs. Any song that premiered between December 2015 and November 2016 was eligible for 2016's Hottest 100. Triple J published a list of 1,909 eligible songs on their 2016 Voting List.[2] Voting commenced on 12 December 2016, as announced by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in a naturemockumentary depicting a live music event. The short film featured cameo appearances from many musicians,[3] along with Dr Karl doing a shoey.[4][5]
Several artists and presenters made their Hottest 100 votes public.[6][7][8][9] The artists most often voted for by Triple J presenters were: D.D Dumbo; Kanye West; Julia Jacklin, who was not ultimately featured in the countdown; and A.B. Original, who are vocal critics of Australia Day (in 2016, Triple J announced a review of the countdown's date in response to criticism from the group and others).[10][11] On 12 December, bookmakers Sportsbet.com.au and William Hill placed Flume's "Never Be like You" as the song most likely to take out first place by a significant margin, with a Sportsbet representative stating that they have "never seen such a short favourite at this stage".
Voting closed on 23 January 2017. By 25 January, the day before the countdown, bookmakers and media reports identified Flume's "Never Be like You" and Amy Shark's "Adore" as the clear frontrunners for first place.[12][13][14]
The four highest-ranked tracks in the 2016 Hottest 100 were all by Australian artists (excluding the vocal feature of Canadian singer Kai on "Never Be like You"), which marks the longest continuous streak of Australians at the countdown's top, and the first time that the top four songs were by artists from the same country.
This countdown also marks the first time the top three tracks have featured female vocalists. The top three artists in the countdown were all Unearthed artists.[16]
Kai is the first Canadian artist to feature in the #1 song of a Hottest 100.
The song "Keeping Score" by L D R U made the countdown for the second consecutive year with a cover by Paces and Guy Sebastian.
Nine songs in a row were by Australian artists in 2016, between positions #97 and #89, breaking the longest run of eight consecutive Australian songs set in 1999, 2012, and 2014.
Paul Kelly's feature on the A.B. Original cover of "Dumb Things" set the record for the longest absence between countdowns; Kelly last appeared in the 2000 countdown.
Earlier in the same countdown, The Avalanches' "Subways" broke the prior record of 13 years for the longest absence between countdowns; they last appeared in 2001.
The 2016 list features 11 different nationalities, equaling the record set in 1994 and 2015.
Wizkid's feature on "One Dance" made him Nigeria's first artist to appear in a Hottest 100, and the Hottest 100's first artist representing an African nation since Angélique Kidjo in 1996.
Rihanna's appearance on "Too Good" allowed for the first ever appearance of the established pop star, and of an artist from Barbados, in a Hottest 100.
Five of Violent Soho's tracks feature in the countdown, making them the first artist with over four tracks in one countdown since Hilltop Hoods in 2006.
Gretta Ray's entry in the countdown with her song "Drive" at #27 marks the best Hottest 100 performance by an Unearthed High winner.
For the first time since 2011 no previous Hottest 100 winners featured in the countdown.
The annual Triple J album poll was held in December and announced on 18 December.[17]J Award winner D.D Dumbo missed out on the top 10, with his album Utopia Defeated coming in 11th place.
