Triple J's Hottest 100: Heat Waves by Glass Animals tops annual Australian song poll

The UK band Glass Animals have taken top spot in the Triple J Hottest 100 with their song Heat Waves.

The pop group edged out a number of hotly tipped local artists to hit No 1 in Australia’s biggest song poll, which was broadcast on Triple J on Saturday. Heat Waves was one of three tracks from the group to place in this year’s countdown.

The remainder of the top five was made up entirely of Australian artists. Perth four-piece Spacey Jane placed at No 2 with the track Booster Seat, the standout single from the group’s debut album, Sunlight. That record has been a huge success for the band – reaching No 2 on the Aria charts and winning the Triple J album of the year poll. Spacey Jane were also one of Triple J’s most played artists in 2020.

Related: Billie Eilish becomes first solo female artist to win Triple J Hottest 100

Sydney-bred electronic music producer Flume hit third place with his Toro y Moi collaboration The Difference, and Brisbane band Ball Park Music placed at No 4 with Cherub.

Glass Animals aside, there were only two other international tracks in this year’s top 10. Billie Eilish, last year’s winner, took the No 10 spot with Therefore I Am. WAP, the Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion rap collaboration that topped the Australian Aria charts, placed at No 6. The latter marks the first time a female rapper has featured in the Top 10 and the highest ranking track from a woman of colour to date.

All up, 66 songs in this year’s Hottest 100 came from local artists. Sydney pop-rock group Lime Cordiale featured four times in the countdown, while Perth’s Tame Impala had three singles in the poll, peaking at No 5 with Lost In Yesterday. Other homegrown names who made multiple appearances included Amy Shark, G Flip and the Jungle Giants. Another success story this year came from Sydney band DMA’s, who celebrated their seventh year running in the countdown.

Even the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, featured in the poll. Comments of his from a March 2020 press conference were sampled by electronic duo Mashd N Kutcher in their novelty song Get On The Beers, which placed at No 12 – perhaps due in part to a social media campaign to get the track into the Hottest 100.

A number of posthumous releases also featured in this year’s countdown. Mac Miller, whose 2018 death sent shockwaves through the rap community, featured twice with songs from his final album, Circles. The US rapper Juice WRLD, who died aged 21 in 2019, appeared four times in the countdown – three with his own songs and once as a feature artist on the Kid Laroi track Go.

This month’s Hottest 100 comes after a difficult year for Australia’s music industry. In 2020, Covid-19 shutdowns forced the widespread cancellation of music festivals and live tours, costing thousands of industry professionals their livelihood. Many musicians chose to delay album releases until 2021, which may partly explain why more songs in this year’s poll were released in January – before the pandemic altered life in Australia – than any other month.

Happy @triplej #hottest100 day to every artist who released music in a year of zero touring and limited social interaction. You’re all winners! 💪🏼

— Anna Fitzgerald (@annajfitz) January 22, 2021

This is the fourth year that Triple J has not held the Hottest 100 on 26 January, a date that marks the arrival of the First Fleet and is considered a day of mourning by many Australians. The station held the countdown on the 26 January public holiday between 2004 and 2017, but shifted the date from 2018 after a national survey in which 60% of respondents voted in favour of moving the poll.

On Sunday, Triple J will air the Hottest 200, revealing the songs that placed 200-101 in this year’s poll.