Ranking the Hottest 100s

Hottest 100 Day is one of my favourite days of the year. The radio up loud, drink in hand, and often complaining bitterly about how the awesome songs that I voted for never made the list. The other complaint that goes hand in hand with the Hottest 100 is about how "it used to be so much better", followed by the inevitable counter-argument that "East17 or Madonna or Adam Sandler or whoever else have featured so it's always been like that".

I've decided to put this to the test. Rather than focusing just on the pointy end of the list, or by looking at my favourites from the countdown, I'll compare each song within its placing.  That is, for example, ranking all of the songs that placed at #100, all of the songs that places at #99. By looking at every song that has featured in the Hottest 100, I'll get a feel for how much (if at all) the quality has changed over time, using a few different models to compare the lists.

Top Fives - break-up songs

Okay Lloyd, since you asked for it, here's my top five break-up songs. Or at least, the top five of those that have come to mind thus far.
 

J Awards

2015 marks the 10th anniversary (11th edition) of Triple J's annual J Award. Instituted ostensibly to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Triple J, the award forms part of Triple J's recognition of Australian music.

With the benefit of hindsight, how well have winners fared? And (more egotistically), how do they compare to my favourites?

Bridge of Spies - initial thoughts

Bridge of Spies sees Spielberg reunite with Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me if You Can star Tom Hanks, in a film written by Matt Charman and Joel & Ethan Coen. 

If you want the tl;dr synopsis, it’s Spielberg doing as Spielberg often does - directing well made, intelligent yet accessible, entertaining adult drama.

Some spoilers abound, by the way.

Triple J's Hottest 100 - #Tay4Hottest100

The #Tay4Hottest100 campaign seems to be gaining momentum, and publicity, enough that it is amongst the favourites on Sportsbet. I'm not particularly convinced that Sportsbet is on the money; it'll rank closer to 100 than to top spot (if indeed Triple J don't declare votes for "Shake it Off" ineligible).

With the momentum and publicity, comes the inevitable backlash. For mine, I'd prefer it to be included if it does get enough votes, rather than discounting them, and opening a can of worms over how truly the countdown relfects votes received. Realistically, while it has no place in the Hottest 100, if the campaign does succeed, "Shake it Off" wouldn't be the first song of dubious quality (and/or fit with the station) to make the countdown, and it won't be the last.

In that vein, let's have a look back throughout the Hottest 100 history at other songs which raised an eyebrow or two (some perhaps more in hindsight than at the time), be it over inclusion in the list, or, it's actual ranking.

Ranking Disney's anmiated films (part 2)

Up next with part 2 (30-1) of my complete ranking of Disney's 54 animated feature films.Controversy awaits!

You can view Part 1 here

Ranking Disney's animated features (part 1)

Having finally seen Big Hero 6 (a pox on the fact that Australia gets so many releases week (often enough, months) after the rest of the world), I'm taking my cue from the fantastic Nighthawknews blog to rank the 54 Disney animated features. This purely takes in to account those films with Walt Disney as the animation studio - the films (for example) made by Pixar (which will be a separate list at some stage) or Studio Ghibli aren't considered for this list.