Flume Wins Triple J Hottest 100 Of 2016

Flume has taken the #1 spot in the 2016/17 triple j Hottest 100 with his impossibly popular track Never Be Like You, featuring Kai.

The victory is perhaps unsurprising — the Sydney musician had been strongly favoured in the lead-up to this year's countdown — but no less deserving for that fact, marking the first of four appearances for the 25-year-old artist in this year's Hottest 100.

Flume also picked up entries for Say It, ft. Tove Lo (#8), Smoke & Retribution ft. Vince Staples & Kuçka (#37), and Lose It, ft. Vic Mensa (#95).

Coming in just behind Flume's winning track, emergent Gold Coast musician Amy Shark sees the fruits of a massively meteoric rise over the past 12 months or so by taking #2 with her hugely evocative track Adore. Completing an all-Australian top three, Tash Sultana earns some serious recognition for her hugely successful earworm Jungle, coming in at #3 for the first of her two appearances — and both inside the top 50 (Notion came in at #32).

Completing the top five, Hilltop Hoods (1955, ft. Montaigne and Tom Thum) and Childish Gambino (Redbone, the first of two entries) take the #4 and #5 spots, respectively. And, rounding out the top 10, DMA's make the first (well, second, but you know what we mean) of their two appearances with their Like A Version … version … of Believe, coming in at #6 — they also landed at #39 with Step Up The Morphine — with Illy's highest result, Papercuts ft. Vera Blue, just behind at #7.

There's also a late-countdown entrance from Aussie dance lords Peking Duk with Stranger, ft. Elliphant (#9), and the first of a couple appearances for velvet-voiced US act The Weeknd, whose Starboy, ft. Daft Punk, which takes the #10 spot.

Overall, the year's list was arguably one of the most sonically diverse in recent memory, and notably even featured the debut appearance of Beyonce — one of 26 first-timers in the countdown — who came in at #66 with Hold Up, from her celebrated full-length Lemonade.

It was a dominant countdown for local acts in 2017, with Australian artists making up more than half the list: this year, musical wonders from Down Under filled 66 spots across 43 unique artists.

Things were a little less balanced on the gender scale, with female solo artists and bands featuring female members comprising only 22 spots across 20 unique acts. That number rises by a further 10 taking into account the featured spots from artists such as Natalie Foster (who appeared on Elk Road's #96 track, Hanging By A Thread) and Rihanna (the featured artist on Drake's #99 placer, Too Good), and a further 12 if you allow for doubling up, taking the overall total to 34.

However, it is worth noting that seven of the top 10 entrants either were or featured female artists, as well as that the split was generally more balanced in the voter stakes, where women made up 47% of the field.

Speaking of doubling up, several acts were multiple entrants — chief among them being Queensland's own Violent Soho, who scored a seriously impressive five placings, for How To Taste (#92), No Shade (#73), So Sentimental (#69), Blanket (#53) and Viceroy (#14). Catfish & The Bottlemen, SAFIA, The Avalanches, Sticky Fingers, Glass Animals and The Amity Affliction all picked up three entries apiece, while dual entries were in the cards for Dope Lemon, Frank Ocean, D.D. Dumbo, Broods, Sticky Fingers, Dune Rats (back-to-back!), Drake, RUFUS, Kanye West, A.B. Original (January 26 took #16), and, as mentioned, The Weeknd, Illy, DMA's, Childish Gambino, Hilltop Hoods and Tash Sultana.

Triple j's popular Like A Version segment also represented nicely, with four live tracks popping up throughout the countdown: Paces' Keeping Score, ft. Guy Sebastian (#56), Halsey's Love Yourself (#52), A.B. Original's Dumb Things, ft. Paul Kelly (#45), and DMA's' Believe.

There were plenty of Unearthed alum scattered throughout, too, including in-demand songstress and Splendour In The Grass Unearthed stage opener Alex Lahey, who slid in at #98 with You Don't Think You Like People Like Me, Unearthed High prodigy Gretta Ray, who picked up #27 with Drive, and Unearthed High finalist Montaigne, just ahead of her at #25 with Because I Love You.

See the full countdown below.

Triple J Hottest 100 of 2016