Seven songs by one artist in a single countdown had never happened before. On 27 January 2024, G Flip made it happen in Triple J’s Hottest 100, and still finished second.
The winner was American rapper and singer Doja Cat, whose song “Paint The Town Red” took the top spot in the 31st edition of the annual poll. More than 2.3 million votes were cast, the Australian Associated Press reported, on listeners’ favourite songs of 2023. Doja Cat became the first female rapper and the first woman of colour to win the countdown. Triple J’s own message to followers read: “With this win, Doja Cat created #hottest100 history.”
The top five
“Paint The Town Red” comes from Doja Cat’s fourth studio album, Scarlet, and has topped charts in more than a dozen countries, Australia among them. Triple J music director Nick Findlay said he was confident it would make the list from the moment he heard it in August. He described it as Doja Cat “effortlessly shaking off the haters” over a sample of Dionne Warwick’s “Walk On By”.
The top five, in order: “Paint The Town Red” by Doja Cat, “The Worst Person Alive” by G Flip, “Saving Up” by Dom Dolla, “Rhyme Dust” by MK and Dom Dolla, and “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe.
G Flip’s record night
The Melbourne-born G Flip placed songs at numbers 2, 22, 24, 26, 50, 65 and 80. Spacey Jane and Wolfmother had shared the old record of six entries each. G Flip was celebrating with the band crew and managers in the UK, where it was 8am, and got emotional on air. “I never thought I’d get so high,” they said. “I just put out music that I personally liked and I hope others did as well.”
Dom Dolla also did well, with two songs in the top five and “Eat Your Man” at 18. Troye Sivan landed three entries, his international hit “Rush” the highest at number eight, with the other two at 31 and 33.
Debuts and a long wait
Fifty-two of the songs were by Australian acts, and 35 artists made their first appearance in the countdown. Kylie Minogue came back after the longest gap between Hottest 100 appearances. “Padam Padam” reached number 48, and her previous entry was “Did It Again” in 1997, 26 years earlier. Hilltop Hoods pushed their own record for most entries across all countdowns to 24 songs.
The 100 songs that just missed out were played in Triple J’s Top 200 the next day.
Sources
- Doja Cat wins Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
- Doja Cat takes out top spot on triple j's Hottest 100
