One of the better Hottest 100 countdowns I’ve heard for a few years in terms of the quality of music.
I preferred 100 - 51 more than I did the Top 50 (though I didn’t listen to all of the countdown). A bit like the commercial FM radio ‘countdowns’!
54 songs as Australian artists made it into this year’s countdown, bouncing back from a historic low of 29 last year.
2 Likes
triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2025 crowns Olivia Dean’s ‘Man I Need’ as #1
Australian music claims huge win
The votes have been counted, the music’s been played, and the parties have peaked. It’s official: Olivia Dean has penned your favourite song of the year with ‘Man I Need’ landing at #1 in triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2025. Australian music can also claim a huge win in this year’s countdown, with 54 Australian songs making this year’s coveted list.
With 2.1 million votes submitted, it’s true Australia can’t get enough of Olivia Dean , who appeared a huge five times across the countdown, from **#**62 with ‘Lady Lady ’ all the way to #1 . The win marks a history-making hat-trick for the girls, with women now taking the top spot in the countdown three years in a row.
Landing at #2 was Keli Holiday with ‘Dancing2 ’, the euphoric anthem that took over our hearts and feeds last year. Globally-acclaimed artist and Western Australian icon Tame Impala came in at #3 with ‘Dracula’, and in a moment that’ll go down in Hottest 100 history, Melbourne-band Playlunch have scored #4 with their self-described ‘bogan-funk’ hit ‘Keith’, which catapulted straight from Unearthed to Hottest 100 glory.
Nick Findlay, triple j’s Manager of Music Programming shares*:* “It’s no secret Olivia Dean has owned 2025. When ‘Man I Need’ dropped in August, it immediately won us over and wrapped up everything we love about Olivia Dean in a neat package: dance ready soul that instantly warms your heart mixed with lyrics that uplift and empower, all driven by her stunning, flawless voice.
It’s been so great to see so much support pouring in for local artists this year. Off the back of the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs, a sold out One Night Stand, and triple j 50th gigs all around the country, we knew our music loving audience would show up and show a lot of love for their local faves. Congratulations to all of the Australian acts who made the Hottest 100 of 2025.”
Get fact’d on everything that happened across the rest of the countdown:
- 26 acts made their Hottest 100 debuts, including 8 Australian artists
- Australian hip hop royalty Hilltop Hoods reclaimed the record for the most songs featured in the Hottest 100, with 27 placements of their tracks since they debuted in 2003
- Olivia Dean & Spacey Jane tied for the most appearances (5 songs each)
- Spacey Jane’s If That Makes Sense marked the top album of the countdown
- 18–29-year-olds were the biggest voting demo
- Almost 40,000 individual tracks were voted for in this year’s Hottest 100
- Four triple j Like A Version covers landed across the Hottest 100 of 2025, and in a big flex, all of them were performances by Australian acts
That’s a wrap on triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2025. Tomorrow, we’re throwing it over to Double J as they relive the Hottest 100 from 20 years ago, starting 12pm Local Time . Then, from Tuesday-Friday, triple j will be running through the Hottest 200 , with the full Hottest 200 to be played out next Saturday 31 January from 10am Local Time.
triple j extends the biggest thank you to everyone who voted, listened and got around the Hottest 100 of 2025. We couldn’t do it without you <3
Listen to triple j on the radio , stream online or via the triple j app, and connect with us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Key Dates:
Sunday 25 January 2026, 12pm Local Time: Double J relives the Hottest 100 of 2005
Tuesday 27 January - Friday 30 January from 8am and 4pm: triple j’s Hottest 200 of 2025
Saturday 31 January 10am Local Time: triple j’s Hottest 200 of 2025 in full
1 Like
I love that Olivia Dean song, glad it was number one. Makes me think my music taste has changed though, if my number one was JJJs
2 Likes
That would be my RDS picking up the song cue in the on air system….. well I’m in the shit me thinks lol
1 Like
What happens from here? Does JJJ stay national all night and then starts delays overnight in QLD/SA/WA/NT?
1 Like
Pleased about Man I Need getting #1 because I absolutely hate Dancing2.
1 Like
I like both but Man I Need is a personal favourite, as I’ve followed Olivia dean for years on Spotify and she’s a brilliant talent
1 Like
Very mainstream pop song for a Triple J number one.
No song would be considered mainstream if commercial radio wasn’t playing it.
1 Like
Normally, a lot of tracks which top the Hottest 100 find their way to commercial radio afyer the countdown. I feel like this year, the chart has a lot more songs than usual already on commercial radio playlists: Olivia Dean, Tame Impala, Keli Holiday, Sombr, Raye, Disco Lines & Tanashe, Tate McRae, Doecchi.
Probably just more of a reflection of commercial radio reacting a bit more quickly to add those songs to their playlist which might make them seem more mainstream.
1 Like
I got the same vibes. I spent the summer in the car listening to CHR radio and most of that top 20 or so were on high rotation everywhere. It just feels like this countdown is a simple reflection of the top 40 of the last couple of months, with a couple of Js-type songs thrown in for good measure.
1 Like
My thoughts exactly.
Final program live across the network (AEDT time here).
Then onto overnight automation, which is 5 hours long in Syd/Mel, 5.5 hours long in Adelaide… and so on.
2 Likes
Yeah, I think CHR hits sound more alternative than they have ever sounded - and I think Triple J’s style has sounded more mainstream than ever so they’ve met right down the middle on artists like Olivia Dean (
).
Pretty weak year for the Top 100 all told, Spacey Jane and Ocean Alley sucking up that many positions is a testament to that.
2 Likes
Yep, and that’s the part that gets to me as a rock music fan, these boring acts make up the quota of “bands with guitars” in the countdown and I’m expected to enjoy that? You could use a Spacey Jane album as a lullaby to put the kids to bed at night, and each song sounds much like all the others.
3 Likes
To be fair I would pay good money to hear Playlunch on commercial radio.
Absolutely loved this year’s countdown, especially compared to last year’s (though Chappell Roan a very deserving #1 there too) and always gives me thought that no matter how much I feel like I’m pretty down with the current music that there’s always a lot more to discover that I missed. Thank god we’re back to more Australian music!
1 Like
In rotation on Triple M’s Homegrown… although given they have to edit the hell out of the chorus you have to ask why they’d bother.
1 Like