The results of the 2025 Triple J Hottest 100 have revealed that UK soul artist Olivia Dean has taken the top position with her hit song “Man I Need.” This annual music countdown, which has been a staple of Australian summer culture since 1989, has seen a significant decline in local representation. Only 27 Australian artists made it onto the list this year, marking the lowest level of Australian presence since 1994.
The traditional countdown has often been a source of pride for Australian musicians, especially in years like 2014 to 2022, when Australian acts comprised over 50 percent of the playlist. This year, however, local artists faced stiff competition from international names. Following Dean in the rankings, Keli Holiday, a solo project of Adam Hyde from the Australian duo Peking Duk, secured the second position with “Dancing2.” The renowned Australian band Tame Impala placed third with their party anthem “Dracula,” while the Melbourne group Playlunch came in fourth with their track “Keith.” Raye, another UK artist, rounded out the top five with “Where Is My Husband,” a song that achieved notable success in the UK charts.
As the countdown results were announced, an analysis by the Australia Institute highlighted a troubling trend for Australian music. The decline in local representation within the Hottest 100 reflects a broader issue of diminishing visibility for Australian artists on global streaming platforms. According to Rod Campbell from the Australia Institute, the situation has “fallen off a cliff” in recent years. He noted that streaming algorithms prioritize music based on language rather than geographical considerations, which disadvantages Australian musicians competing against larger markets like the United States and the United Kingdom.
“It’s not that Australians don’t want to listen to Australian music, or that Australian music is not as good as it was three or four years ago,” Campbell explained. “It’s really the increasing dominance of streaming and social media like TikTok. That’s how people are getting their new music, but the algorithms are not giving them Australian music to sample.”
In an effort to celebrate local talent, Triple J hosted a mid-year poll, the Hottest 100 Australian Songs, which received more than 2.5 million votes. The poll, held in 2025, saw INXS’s classic “Never Tear Us Apart” take the top spot, giving some hope for an increase in Australian representation moving forward. Notable contenders included Tame Impala, Ball Park Music, Keli Holiday, and Spacey Jane.
Despite these efforts, Campbell warned that Australian music will continue to face challenges without increased government support. “We’re far below countries like Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany in terms of the funding we put into culture in general, and music in particular,” he said. Unlike radio stations, streaming services are not mandated to promote Australian music, lacking any quotas that might benefit local artists.
Ben Eltham, a lecturer in media and communications at Monash University, remarked that the decline in Australian representation has been a long time coming. He highlighted that the regulatory framework for cultural content has not adapted to the realities of the digital age. “The entire architecture of cultural regulation in this country was written for the 80s for an analogue world,” Eltham stated. “Regulators and politicians have done nothing, even as the internet’s completely upended our cultural life.”
As the music industry continues to evolve, the future of Australian artists remains uncertain, with calls for a more robust framework to support local talent in a global marketplace.
