Every Australia Day, people across the nation gather around their BBQs to listen to the 100 greatest songs of the previous calendar year in Triple J's famous Hottest 100.
This year is no different. What is different is the changing attitude taken towards the 21-year-old competition. Triple J faces new enemies in 2016: betting companies are trying to monetise the event, sections of the Australian public are growing increasingly-disenfranchised with the station's forays into EDM, and, as with every year, there are growing cries for the national broadcaster to assess the gender disparities in its annual countdown. To a certain degree, it's not Triple J's fault if women are under-represented in the list. It's a nation-wide, public vote. But the public are generally reliant on the tunes the station chooses to play in the calendar year.
So we decided to run the numbers on just how many women, or bands featuring women, have placed in the Hottest 100 since its inception in 1993 (we didn't count the "All Time" Hottest 100s). We also counted repeat acts. The stats and listings are readily available on Triple J's website, and we've just done the boring, monotonous work for you.
Since 1993, 496 female artists - or bands featuring women -have placed in the Hottest 100.
That's out of a possible 2100 entries. We counted any band or artist that features a woman in any role - not just as a vocalist or lead guitarist. So that includes artists like The Dandy Warhols' keyboardist Zia McCabe, and Smashing Pumpkins' bassist D'arcy Wretzk - as well as solo musicians: Bjork, Lisa Mitchell, Missy Higgins, to name a few.
On average, each year's countdown had 23 female artists out of a possible 100 (23%).
So, there's 1604 male artists in contrast.
This is made up of solo male artists as well as all-male bands.
Super famous female pop stars once had a place in the Hottest 100.
While recent countdowns have had the benefit of cross-over acts like Lorde and Sia, who tip-toe the line between indie darling and megastars, early editions of the list had women like Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and Alanis Morissette, who were legitimate OMG-I-can't-wait-to-see-them artists. It's hard to imagine Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, or Selena Gomez reaching the same heights on the national broadcaster's Best-Of.
The highest number of female artists in a countdown is 34 in 2012.
This is followed by the years 2014, 2009, and 1994, which all featured 28 female artists.
The lowest number of female artists in a countdown is 12 in 2002.
Yep, a decade before their biggest year, female artists were made to work hard to get a spot in the Hottest 100. Of the 12, only one was in the Top 10 - The Waifs - for their song "London Still."
The highest number of female artists in the Top 10 of the Hottest 100 is five (2004).
Franz Ferdinand may have taken out the top spot, but 2004 was all about women in the Hottest 100. There were 23 in the whole list, and five of those were in the Top 10 - Missy Higgins (twice), Spiderbait, Little Birdy, and The White Stripes.
The lowest number of female artists in the Top 10 of the Hottest 100 was zero in 1997, which only had 17 female artists in the countdown.
1997 only had 17 female artists in the entire countdown.
Out of a possible 1050 Top-50 spots from 1993-2014, 241 of them have been taken by female artists.
Which means 255 of the female artists to ever place in the Hottest 100 were in the bottom half.
Three bands featuring female artists have won the Hottest 100...
The Cranberries won in 1994 for their hit "Zombie," while Angus & Julia Stone (2010) and Spiderbait (1996) have also taken out the gold.
But no solo women have ever won.
While female artists have come close to taking out the top gong, it's never happened. Most recently Lorde can 2nd in 2013 for "Royals." Sia, Missy Higgins, Lana Del Rey, and Soko have also come close.