BuzzFeed Thinks Taylor Swift Should Be Part Of Triple J's Hottest 100

Online-culture monolith BuzzFeed has thrown its support behind US pop star Taylor Swift as an entrant in this year's triple j Hottest 100, despite the 1989 scribe not actually being shortlisted for the annual competition.

In an article titled Why Isn't Everyone Voting For "Shake It Off" In The Hottest 100? — penned by former triple j newsreader and current BF news reporter Mark Di Stefano, so it's hopefully all pretty tongue-in-cheek — the internet hub provides a step-by-step guide for listeners wishing to right this, uh, injustice by manually adding in votes for Swift's hit single Shake It Off (or anything else the prolific pop starlet put out last year), if you feel like being deliberately contrary. They've even put together a hashtag — #Tay4Hottest100 — to help connect with the growing community of Swift fans who feel slighted by the INCREDIBLY RICH AND FAMOUS singer's omission from the list.

Still, it's worth scoffing at the notion less for the fact the site is supporting a well-known pop star than it is that they're supporting a well-known non-Australian pop star, if for no other reason than the fact that, for every "music snob" (as BuzzFeed pegs us) out there, it's worth remembering and acknowledging that songs such as The Offspring's Pretty Fly For A White Guy have previously topped the Hottest 100 list — not forgetting that we also sent Alex Lloyd and middling rock outfit Jet to the top. 

Meanwhile, big-time artists who have appeared in the top 10 over the years include U2, Oasis, Powderfinger, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (for goddamn Californication, no less), Lily "also a pop star, by the way" Allen and certified dad-rockers the Foo Fighters... which, interestingly, raises the following pro-Swift point: Di Stefano points out in his article that a triple j employee told BuzzFeed "only songs played on the radio station … can make the shortlist", but, if that's the case, how do we explain the Foos' Wheels, which is documented to have received no airplay on the j's ahead of making the list in 2009?

Or, as Fairfax reports, what about Alanis Morissette, who made it into 1995's Hottest 100 three times with a reported zero station plays to her name? Or Green Day's Good Riddance, or U2's Elevation, which similarly skated through on mainstream appeal alone?

Maybe BuzzFeed have actually uncovered something here after all. Is there a #Tay4Hottest100InPrinciple hashtag we can use?

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Editor's Note: Forget Taylor. Vote for an Aussie artist or ten.