Triple J says 2025 Hottest 100 vote tally exceeds 2m ahead of Saturday countdown

Triple J has confirmed the final vote tally for the 2025 Hottest 100 will exceed 2 million as the station prepares to air the countdown on Saturday; the results are kept tightly under wraps inside the broadcaster’s offices. Presenters reportedly do not see their section of the countdown until about an hour before going live, with only a select few staffers tallying votes and statistics in a private “Triple J bunker”.

Mornings host Lucy Smith says the bunker can lack windows, needs specific snacks and involves “a lot of NDAs signed, essentially.” The year has been significant for the national youth broadcaster: it marked Triple J’s 50th anniversary, reshuffled presenters, toured, and ran a mid‑year Hottest 100 of Australian Songs that drew 2.6m votes and named INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart the greatest Australian song.

In December the station reported 3% year‑on‑year growth in weekly metro listeners to 1.83 million and more than a billion views of its digital content. Discussion ahead of the countdown has focused on a pop‑leaning, smooth sound this year, with Olivia Dean’s Man I Need noted as a clear favourite and other international contenders mentioned including Raye, Sombr and Fred Again ….

A paused prediction site, a reported voter base skewed under 30 and the influence of TikTok are all part of the context.

Key Topics

Culture, Triple J, Olivia Dean, Inxs, Aria Awards, Tiktok