Hottest 100 of 1998
Email from Triple J Marketing. 19th of January, 1999

Public holiday organised for Triple J s Hottest 100!!

Yes!  The Australian Government has seen fit to decree that Tuesday January 26th will be a public holiday.  This means that people all over Australia can stay home (or visit a friend s place)  and enjoy the greatest musical poll on earth.

Offically known as Hottest 100 Day, January 26th will see Triple J play the hottest 100 songs of 1998, as elected by the people of Australia.

This year's Hottest 100 is bigger than ever.   Hey we say that every year. But this year it s truer than ever.  This year, Triple J received over 500,000 votes (518169 to be exact).  This is way more than double the number of votes received in the 1997 Hottest 100.  Not bad.  Nothing else comes close in the whole wide world.

Is it just that people love expressing their democratic right to stand by their favourite song of the year??  Or was it the chance to score double passes to every Big Day Out in the country...  We like to think it was the democratic bit...

And the resulting CD outsells every other compilation released in Australia every year too.  Volume 5 has done us all real proud by managing over 300000 sales.  That s over quadruple platinum!

But bragging isn't really our style, so here s how things will pan out on Tuesday January 26th when we stop the nation.

10am to noon
Adam Spencer and Sarah Macdonald get the list rolling from 100 to 76.
Noon to 2pm
Triple J s Mr Music Richard Kingsmill and rocking Rosie Beaton take us from 75 to 51.
2pm to 4pm
Merrick and Rosso pretending they can count from 50 to 26.
Then Michael Tunn and Caroline Tran do the honours by revealing the top 25 songs, wrapping things up at 6pm.

And what a list.  Obviously we can't give away the number one song, but here are some interesting facts.

* This year s top 10 includes 7 Australian songs. Cool.
* January 26th (or Hottest 100 Day) will not just see the unveiling of the hottest 100 songs of 1998.  We also announce the winner of the major H100 prize!  Two lucky punters will be flown to Adelaide where they ll get on the plane with every Big Day Out band and fly with them to Perth for the final Big Day Out on the tour!  They ll get to check out their favorite bands from side of stage, and we ll even throw in a genuine 80s Space Invaders (coffee table style) video game autographed by all of the bands. Bloody beauty!
* The Queen will be sending an official royal congratulatory greeting to the number one band. Not.

So be listening for the Triple J Hottest 100, from 10am on Tuesday January 26th.  Why not?  We ve given you the day off haven't we?