What We Learned From Triple J’s Hottest 100 Australian Albums Of All Time: An Analysis


Now that the triple j Hottest 100 Australian Albums Of All Time poll has concluded we know that Powderfinger is very popular; but there’s many other statistics and factoids that can be ascertained from the albums voted in by over 47,000 votes – including which city boasts Australia’s hottest music scene to which gender is making more popular local music.

1. ARE TRIPLE J LISTENERS YOUNGER (OR ARE NEWER BANDS BETTER)?
The Hottest 100 was heavily skewed toward releases from the last 10 years (see Chart A below). This statistic indicates that triple j listeners are a younger demographic voting for the music that is of their time (which would make sense for a self-prescribed radio station “for young Australians… not so interested in the rest”).

The list could almost be called the Top 100 Albums Of The past 10 Years with 64% of entries having been released from the year 2000 onwards (with 10% of the albums on the list being released last year in 2010). The oldest entry was SkyhooksLiving in the 70s (#75) and the latest was Art vs ScienceThe Experiment (#68) which was the only album from the current year making it on to the list.

You could also argue that these skewed results are an indication that the last decade of Australian music and artists have produced the best albums.

Chart A: Album Release Year

2. IS BRISBANE HOME TO AUSTRALIA’S MOST HAPPENING MUSIC SCENE?
Sydney-based artists and bands contributed to 29 entries into the Hottest 100 list followed by Melbourne with 24 entries – considering the size of both cities these results are fairly accurate for their respective population splits. The big mover, however, was Brisbane who featured 20 albums in the list which, even if you were to remove the Powderfinger Factor, is much greater than their share of the Australian population (approximately 10%).

Chart B: City Of Origin

3. INDIE’S RULE
In the Hottest 100 the independent labels fared better than their major label counterparts, with 54% of albums that made the list being independent releases. This includes ‘super indie’s’ such as Mushroom as well as labels such as Modular, Eleven and Dew Process who have commercial arrangements with major labels.

Indie vs. Major label mix

4. IT’S A MAN’S WORLD?
After the noted absence of a single female-fronted artist/group in triple j’s 2009 poll results for the Hottest 100 Songs Of All Time, the Australian Albums list is still heavily skewed to male vocal chords.

Female artists or bands with at least one primary female vocalist (such as Spiderbait or Angus and Julia Stone) made up only 12% of the list.

Male vs Female mix

5. PEOPLE LIKE MUSIC THAT SELLS (THAT IS A TRUISM)
74% of the releases in the list made it in to the Top 10 of the ARIA charts. 38 of the albums were actually chart-toppers having held the number one spot at some point. Despite most dedicated music fans thinking that they have a unique perspective on what constitutes good music, it seems that good music is the music that actually sells. Voters are the ones who actually buy music so their favourites deserve to win.

Albums that made the ARIA Top 10

6. WHAT THE INDUSTRY LIKES THAT PEOPLE DON’T LIKE?
There was actually three albums that crossed over between the Top 10 as voted in by the public compared to the Industry List that was made of an aggregate compilation from “some of the country’s top musicians and industry experts”. AC/DC‘s cock rock classic Back In Black landed at #3 on both polls; Kick by INXS came at #2 on the Industry poll and #5 on the public vote; and Since I Left You by The Avalanches topped the industry list and was voted #9 by the people.

Of course, there were also several entries that made one list but didn’t register on the other. The highest-rated album among Industry voters that didn’t appear on the public Top 100 was The Triffids‘ 1986 album Born Sandy Devotional.

6. WHAT PEOPLE LIKE BUT INDUSTRY DOES NOT?
Alternatively, the highest-rated album among the public poll that didn’t make the industry Top 100 was Wolfmother‘s self-titled debut from 2005.

To see the full list head to the triple j website but have your say in the comment section.

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