January 27, 2015
Was 2014 the best single year for music in the last 30 years?
The answer may very well be a resounding yes, as soul, avant-garde and Top 40 converged in ways not seen in quite a while. Influential hipster stations like KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif. introduced the world to Hozier nearly 12 months ago. Today, he’s on Top 40 stations across the U.S. and central Europe.
Meanwhile,Alternative evolved in ways not even KYSR and KROQ could imagine, as Cox MediaGroup’s Florida stations 97X in Tampa and WXXJ 102.9 in Jacksonville paced the entire nation in what “Alternative” means today. At the same time, Toronto’s newest radio station – Indie 88 – may very well be the “Power Pig” of Alternative, as it successfully attacked stalwart 102.1 The Edge at its then-unknowingly most vulnerable point.
Meanwhile, it was the year of Sam Smith, and of Robin Schulz. A wave of German alt-dance paced by Milky Chance flooded the airwaves, mixed in with a pop effort from Taylor Swift that sealed her place as the queen of the airwaves.
Still, there were many under-the-radar songs and acts worthy of greater exposure in 2015, including all of the saints (Saint Motel, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and St. Paul and the Broken Bones), Frank Turner and Tove Lo, perhaps the biggest surprise pop star of the year.
And now, with Australia Day on January 26, we have the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2014. Always a bit avant-garde, this year’s list puts a Chet Faker song at the top with Australian EDM act Peking Duk — an incredible act I’m in love with after not hearing any of their music prior to three hours ago — at No. 2.
It was a great year. So, without further ado, I present THE ARJ HOTTEST 100. These top 100 songs aren’t based on airplay, sales or likes to the act’s Facebook page. It’s a strictly opinionated look at what’s been playing on my iTunes all year, along with my personal preferences. You’ll see some songs released in 2013 that didn’t make it to my corner South Florida until well into 2014.You’ll see some songs released only overseas. You also won’t see Ariana Grande or 1D. No Maroon 5 or One Republic?Sorry … Just because it’s a hit doesn’t mean I like it.
Don’t know some of these songs? Go to YouTube or SoundCloud to hear the song in question.
THE ARJ HOTTEST 100 – 2014
1 MAGIC! Rude
2 MILKY CHANCE Stolen Dance
3 SAM SMITH Stay With Me
4 TOVE LO Habits(Stay High)
5 HOZIER Take Me To Church
6 BIG DATA f/JOYWAVE Dangerous
7 LILLYWOOD & THE PRICK f/ROBIN SCHULZ Prayer In C
8 SPOON Do You
9 MR. PROBZ f/ROBIN SCHULZ Waves
10 CLEAN BANDIT f/JESS GLYNNE Rather Be
11 ST. LUCIA Elevate
12 NICO & VINZ Am I Wrong?
13 TAYLOR SWIFT Shake It Off
14 GEORGE EZRA Budapest
15 SIA Chandelier
16 SAM SMITH I’m Not The Only One
17 FOSTER THE PEOPLE Best Friend
18 NEW PORNOGRAPHERS Brill Bruisers
19 PHANTOGRAM Fall In Love
20 ED SHEERAN Don’t
21 COMMON LINNETS Calm After The Storm
22 ALT-J Left Hand Free
23 SOMEKINDAWONDERFUL Reverse
24 ST. VINCENT Digital Witness
25 BANKS Beggin’ For Thread
26 ST. PAUL& THE BROKEN BONES Call Me
27 VANCE JOY Riptide
28 ARCTIC MONKEYS Do I Wanna Know?
29 BLEACHERS I Wanna Get Better
30 BLACK KEYS Fever
31 JUNGLE Busy Earnin’
32 MARLON ROUDETTE When The Beat Drops Out
33 SAINT MOTEL My Type
34 TENNIS I’m Callin’
35 ENO + HYDE Daddy’s Car
36 BASTILLE Bad Blood
37 MR. LITTLE JEANS Good Mistake
38 INTERPOL All The Rage (Back Home)
39 LANA DEL REY West Coast
40 JACK WHITE Alone In My Home
41 CAPITAL CITIES One Minute More
42 LADY ANTEBELLUM Bartender
43 TAYLOR SWIFT Blank Space
44 GEORGE EZRA Blame It On Me
45 ANNIE LENNOX I Put A Spell On You
46 ALLE FARBEN f/GRAHAM CANDY She Moves (Far Away)
47 DISCLOSURE f/SAM SMITH Latch
48 MEGHAN TRAINOR All About That Bass
49 ZHU Faded
50 AMERICAN AUTHORS Best Day of My Life
51 BASTILLE Pompeii
52 ELLA HENDERSON Ghost
53 SHEPPARD Geronimo
54 ECHOSMITH Cool Kids
55 ARCTIC MONKEYS Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High
56 SIGMA Nobody To Love
57 KASABIAN Eez-eh
58 KONGOS Come With Me Now
59 JOHN LEGEND All Of Me
60 NAUGHTYBOY f/SAM SMITH La La La
61 DJ SNAKE AND LIL JON Turn Down For What
62 JACK WHITE Lazaretto
63 BASTILLE Flaws
64 ASEGIR King And Cross
65 IGGY AZALEA f/CHARLI XCX Fancy
66 “WEIRD AL”YANKOVIC Word Crimes
67 JAMES BAY Let It Go
68 CHARLI XCX Boom Clap
69 RAY LAMONTAGNE Supernova
70 RIXTON Me And My Broken Heart
71 ED SHEERAN Sing
72 KLINGANDE Jubel
73 LP Night Like This
74 MIKKY ECHO Smile
75 TV ON THE RADIO Happy Idiot
76 THE WAR ON DRUGS Red Eyes
77 KNOX HAMILTON Work It Out
78 COLDPLAY A Sky Full Of Stars
79 FAUL & WAD AD & PNAU Changes
80 BIRDY Wings
81 ENRIQUE IGLESIAS f/SEAN PAUL Bailando
82 LONDON GRAMMAR Hey Now
83 KIESZA Hideaway
84 sElf Runaway
85 TODD TERJE f/BRYAN FERRY Johnny and Mary
86 CHROMEO Jealous (I Ain’t With It)
87 BEA MILLER Young Blood
88 GRISWOLDS Beware The Dog
89 WATERMǺT Bullit
90 BLEACHERS Rollercoaster
91 TIZIANO FERRO Senza Scappare Mai Più
92 NICK MULVEY Cucurucu
93 THE AVENER Fade Out Lines
94 ARCADE FIRE Afterlife
95 PARRA FOR CUVA f/ANNA NAKLAB Wicked Games
96 PHARRELL WILLIAMS Happy
97 AVICII Hey Brother
98 SAM SMITH Money On My Mind
99 ED SHEERAN Thinking Out Loud
100 THE MAGICIAN f/YEARS & YEARS Sunlight
Originally posted to followers on Facebook in late November 2015.
POST-SCRIPT: The choice of “Rude” by Magic! as the No. 1 song of 2014 was based on early exposure to the track on San Diego radio stations, which gave the song massive airplay and helped spread the story well before mainstream radio in South Florida began to play the record. Hence, iTunes spins of the song outnumbered all other songs for 2014. Additionally, “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea f/Charli XCX was debated for its inclusion but appears as it was a “night out” track. Absent is Future Islands’ “Seasons (Waiting On You),” which has built in airplay thanks to a remix featured on KCRW in January 2015 and is a potential low entry into the 2015 list.
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