Alex Guinman

Hottest 100 of 2025

I skipped voting in the hottest 100 last year (the 2024 countdown, but not the Australian one) for the first time since I first voted back in (I think) 2003 or 2004. Similar to 2010 where I only voted for 5 instead of 10 as I found it too hard to come up with a strong shortlist. But for 2024 I skipped it altogether.

Over the last few years , we've been more influenced by what the kids want to listen to which has now progressed from the Wiggles to pop songs. So less new music in general and more oldies. This year the kids have started watching the rage countdown which suprisingly has coincided with triple J changing their rotation (and what is on the voting list) such that there is a lot of overlap. It feels weird to see so many Top 50 songs on the voting list.

In hindsight I probably also struggled last year as I try to bias my votes to Australian bands if I can, and last year was apparently the weakest hottest 100 result in that regard in ages.

Anyways - this year we've been listening to more new music again and I managed to get some votes in. I definitely put less thought into it this year, and the votes are partially influenced by what the kids like as that's what we hear more of. But here are my votes.