The Hottest 100 Turns 30 Today: We Revisit The #1 Tracks

It was 30 years ago today that triple j’s now iconic Hottest 100 kicked off for the first time, with Joy Division’s seminal Love Will Tear Us Apart picking up #1 on the youth broadcaster’s inaugural countdown in 1989.

The first three rolled out as the Hottest 100 of All Time, with Joy Division claiming the top spot twice in a row before Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit topped the countdown upon release in ’91 (it would go on to top '98 and '09's Hottest 100 of All Time too).

The Hottest 100 took a break in ’92 and then burst back onto the scene a year later in the format Aussie music fans know and love today, with Denis Leary’s Asshole topping the countdown in '93, and The Cranberries' Zombie coming in #1 the following year.

Other notable mentions go to Oasis' Wonderwall, which appeared at #1 in '95 and 2013's 20 Years of the Hottest 100, and Gotye's hit with Kimbra, Somebody That I Used To Know, which not only topped the countdown in 2011, but became a fan favourite across the globe.

Here’s how that past 30 years have played out:

2018: Ocean Alley – Confidence

2017: Kendrick Lamar – Humble

2016: Flume feat. Kai – Never Be like You

2015: The Rubens – Hoops

2014: Chet Faker – Talk Is Cheap

2013: Vance Joy – Riptide

2013: 20 Years of the Hottest 100: Oasis – Wonderwall (1995)

2012: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz – Thrift Shop

2011: Gotye feat. Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know

2011: Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time: Powderfinger – Odyssey Number Five (2000)

2010: Angus & Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane

2009: Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man

2009: Hottest 100 of All Time: Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)

2008: Kings Of Leon – Sex On Fire

2007: Muse – Knights of Cydonia

2006: Augie March – One Crowded Hour

2005: Bernard Fanning – Wish You Well

2004: Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out

2003: Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl

2002: Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows

2001: Alex Lloyd – Amazing

2000: Powderfinger – My Happiness

1999: Powderfinger – These Days

1998: The Offspring – Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)

1998: Hottest 100 of All Time: Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)

1997: The Whitlams – No Aphrodisiac

1996: Spiderbait – Buy Me A Pony

1995: Oasis – Wonderwall

1994: The Cranberries – Zombie

1993: Denis Leary – Asshole

1992: Not held

1991: Hottest 100 of All Time: Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)

1989 AND 1990: Hottest 100 of All Time: Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (1980)