Wrapping Up Local Produce in the Hottest 100 2021
The best day of every year has passed, and another Hottest 100 is in the books. In what was an excellent representation of this mind-melting, claustrophobic horror show of a year, the 2021 Hottest 100 was one of the wildest countdowns in recent memory.
As always, there was strong representation of the local talent (though not as strong as usual - more on that soon).
Here are the headlines:
Get Wiggly: Let's start with the elephant in the room... The Wiggles won the Hottest 100. Yep, that really happened! The legendary Aussie children’s entertainment juggernaut covered Tame Impala’s psych-rock stomper ‘Elephant’ in March, and it generated enough joy and love to carry them to one of the more unlikely victories in Hottest 100 history.
Making It Weird: It really was a bizarre countdown up and down the list. In addition to The Wiggles at #1, Justin Bieber featured at #2 alongside Indigenous rap sensation The Kid LAROI, and Hollywood actor (and aspiring future James Bond) Idris Elba appeared at #15 and #41. TikTok comedian Tom Cardy's dance bangers about butts and dicks popped up twice in the top-20! And for good measure, there was even a remix of Aussie classic ‘Land Down Under’.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: There were 55 Aussie songs in this year's list - the smallest Aussie contingent since 2015! It featured appearances by local indie favourites like Gang of Youths, Ball Park Music, The Jungle Giants, Ocean Alley, Peking Duk, G Flip, and Vera Blue, though American superstars Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Kanye West, Lil Nas X and SZA combined for a massive 20 tracks.
Something Cosmic: The best of the bunch as far as Australian acts go was probably Spacey Jane and RÜFÜS DU SOL - they combined for six of the top-30 songs, the only local acts to chart three songs in this year's list (New Zealander Lorde also scored three). Spacey Jane’s track ‘Lots Of Nothing’ came in #3, a super-impressive follow-up to their 2020 effort - four songs, and #2 finish for ‘Booster Seat’.
Hard Times: In the almost-annual battle of the melodic hardcore giants between the British Bring Me The Horizon and the Aussie Amity Affliction, this year BMTH came out on top. Their track 'Die4U' came in at #43, while Amity's awesome 'Like Love' fell to #70. Both bands made their Hottest 100 debuts in 2013, both bands now have 11 appearances overall, and they've gone head to head six times!
Plenty of great local acts made their well deserved Hottest 100 debuts this year. Here's five of the best:
#28 - 'Hertz' by Amyl & The Sniffers
A hurtling two-and-a-half-minute blast of sneering, swaggering punk rock. Lead singer Amy Taylor is a force of nature, as she dreams of (nay, demands) an escape - apparently written before the pandemic, yet no track has so perfectly captured the desperation and increasing mania of the locked down masses.
#35 - 'Josh' by Peach PRC
Is there a better opening line to a break up song than "Does you mum still buy your clothes?"? Cold blooded. The debut single by breakout TikTok star Peach PRC is scathing, hilarious, brutal, and a phenomenally catchy pop banger.
#46 - 'Get Me Out' by King Stingray
One of the best discoveries of 2021, King Stingray are a spirited, energetic surf-rock outfit. Proud Yolgnu men, related to legendary band Yothu Yindi, on 'Get Me Out' they utilise didgeridoo and traditional Indigenous language to create a unique take on one of Australia's best loved musical genres.
#51 - 'Night Light' by The Rions
The precociously talented and impressively polished winners of this year's triple j Unearthed High competition - 'Night Light' is a mature, soaring, guitar-driven indie rock anthem with a belter of a hook.
#99 - 'Little Things' by Ziggy Ramo (feat Paul Kelly)
Ziggy Ramo has been telling confronting stories and provoking deep pondering since his 2016 EP Black Thoughts. But he broke through this year with a haunting six-minute interpolation of Paul Kelly's 'From Little Things Big Things Grow', telling the history of the invasion of Australia and the systemic impact it continues to have on Indigenous Australians.
(The Buoys also made their Hottest 100 debut this year, but you can read my glowing thoughts on them and their brilliant song ‘Lie To Me Again’ here and here).