You may already have seen our Hottest 100 related music quiz but I think I’d like to talk a little further about the forthcoming Hottest 100 for 2012. Firstly, I want to say that it’s bloody hard to figure out whether or not to call it the Hottest 100 2012 or 2013. OK, glad I got that off my chest.
Next, let’s talk about what they’ll be picking this year.
Everyone thinks they can intuitively predict the Hottest 100 each year but we think we’ve got (what I like to think is) a fairly helpful criteria to help you pick what’s going to make it into the top spots. Here are some of the things that will help an artist edge closer to the coveted number one spot:
• An average album with a stand out single. An album full of winners is good in the long run but if Flume had just one particular stand out track then we’d probably see it in the top 5 but as is, fans will be voting for three or four different Flume tracks. Quality vs quantity or some shit, right? I dunno.
• Single released late in the year. It’s a scientific fact that people will vote for what they can still remember and what’s fresh in their mind. Hell, people vote in national elections based on the candidates whose names they can remember so it’s no surprise that they’ll do the same in the Hottest 100. Also, they may have once loved Mumford’s I Will Wait but now that they’ve overheard it they may be less inclined to vote for it.
• Have an animal in your band name. Last year animal bands made up 10% of the Hottest 100. That might not seem that high to you but how many bands did you see with plant names? THINK ABOUT IT. Not to be confused with just having an animal in your band, a la The Vines.
• Be Powderfinger. I’m pretty sure these dudes have taken the number one spot at least 42 times. Even when old man Fanning dropped the Powderfinger mantle and just released some fairly dis-interesting solo material we still gobbled it up like starving orphans.
• Write a novelty track. Every year there’s at least one novelty track from artists like the Beards or Denis Leary - Remember this? Thrift Shop is borderline novelty track but is probably musical enough so that it stands up straight.
So, without further comment, here are our picks for the top 20 in the forthcoming hottest 100 organised alphabetically:
Alt-J - Breezeblocks
Bertie Blackman - Boy
Django Django - Default
Flume - Holdin’ On
Frank Ocean - Pyramids
Grimes - Genesis
Icona Pop - I Love It {feat. Charli xcx}
Lumineers - Ho Hey
Macklemore & Lewis - Thrift Shop
Major Lazer - Get Free (Feat Amber Coffman)
Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait
Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks
Passion Pit - Take A Walk
Purity Ring - Fineshrine
The Rubens - My Gun
Rudimental - Feel The Love
Seth Sentry - Dear Science
Skrillex - Bangarang
Tame Impala - Feels Like We’re Only Going Backwards
The xx - Angels
