The 2004 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on 26 January 2005. It was the twelfth such countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J.

Voters were limited to 20 votes each: 10 via SMS (charged at 30c each) and 10 via the Internet (no charge).

Triple J presenter Craig Reucassel encouraged voters to vote for the Media Watch theme music on the condition that his counterpart Chris Taylor would do a nude run through the Big Day Out if it made the Hottest 100. While announcing the count, Reucassel called number 7 for the Media Watch theme, initiating Taylor on a streak through the music festival. Upon Taylor's return, Reucassel explained that Media Watch was ineligible due to not being recorded in 2004 and announced the real number 7. Missy Higgins was also in the studio and Reucassel goaded her into accepting a similar challenge should she win the Hottest 100.

From early in the countdown, it became obvious that Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" would be the clear winner of the Hottest 100. Throughout the countdown, numerous references were made to this well-established fact, including announcers sarcastically claiming "Ha-ha! You thought they'd be #1" when "The Dark of the Matinée" was played at #50 as well a mock promotional piece heard in between in which votes for other bands such as Placebo and Jet were ignored in favour of Franz Ferdinand. When "Take Me Out" was officially announced as #1, it was reported that it had received more than double the votes of any other song. As with receiving more than double the votes, the presenters felt it sensible to also play a live version of "Take Me Out" directly after the studio version played at #1.

There were a record 475,000 voters that participated in the poll.

As in previous years, a CD featuring 40 (not necessarily the top 40) songs was released. A DVD, containing film clips of songs from the Hottest 100 was also released. A countdown of the videos of each song was shown on the ABC music series Rage in March.

Full list Note: Australian artists

# Song Artist Country of origin 1 Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand United Kingdom 2 Scar Missy Higgins Australia 3 From the Sea Eskimo Joe Australia 4 Somebody Told Me The Killers United States 5 Black Betty Spiderbait Australia 6 Ten Days Missy Higgins Australia 7 Something's Gotta Give John Butler Trio Australia 8 Beautiful to Me Little Birdy Australia 9 Bless My Soul Powderfinger Australia 10 Jolene (Live) The White Stripes United States 11 Float On Modest Mouse United States 12 Coin-Operated Boy The Dresden Dolls United States 13 Mr. Brightside The Killers United States 14 It's Too Late Evermore New Zealand 15 Gamble Everything for Love Ben Lee Australia 16 Hard Act to Follow Grinspoon Australia 17 Yo Mama Butterfingers Australia 18 Fit but You Know It The Streets United Kingdom 19 Dry Your Eyes The Streets United Kingdom 20 Fucken Awesome Spiderbait Australia 21 Common People William Shatner Canada 22 American Idiot Green Day United States 23 Take Your Mama Scissor Sisters United States 24 Look What You've Done Jet Australia 25 Treat Yo Mama John Butler Trio Australia 26 Better Off Alone Grinspoon Australia 27 Don't U Eva Sarah Blasko Australia 28 Ch-Check It Out Beastie Boys United States 29 This Fire Franz Ferdinand United Kingdom 30 Girl Anachronism The Dresden Dolls United States 31 The Bucket Kings of Leon United States 32 Older Than You Eskimo Joe Australia 33 Chicken Payback The Bees United Kingdom 34 What the Fuck Machine Gun Fellatio Australia 35 Not Many – The Remix! Scribe featuring Savage and Con Psy New Zealand 36 Forget Her Jeff Buckley United States 37 Adelaide Ben Folds United States 38 Vertigo U2 Ireland 39 Smile Like You Mean It The Killers United States 40 This Is a Love Song Little Birdy Australia 41 Mass Destruction Faithless United Kingdom 42 This Old Love Lior Australia 43 Godhopping Dogs Die in Hot Cars United Kingdom 44 Take Me Out Scissor Sisters United States 45 Woman Wolfmother Australia 46 Amerika Rammstein Germany 47 I Can't Give You What I Haven't Got The Living End Australia 48 Memory Lane Elliott Smith United States 49 Casualty Missy Higgins Australia 50 The Dark of the Matinée Franz Ferdinand United Kingdom 51 What You Want John Butler Trio Australia 52 My Friend Robot Regurgitator Australia 53 English Summer Rain Placebo United Kingdom 54 Bridal Train The Waifs Australia 55 Walk Idiot Walk The Hives Sweden 56 Shelter Xavier Rudd Australia 57 For One Day Evermore New Zealand 58 Laura Scissor Sisters United States 59 Solace Xavier Rudd Australia 60 L-A-C-H-L-A-N Your Wedding Night Australia 61 Flashdance Deep Dish United States 62 Smoke Eskimo Joe Australia 63 She Wants to Move N.E.R.D United States 64 Self Destruct in 5 Epicure Australia 65 Galvanize The Chemical Brothers United Kingdom 66 Little Yellow Spider Devendra Banhart United States 67 10 A.M. Automatic The Black Keys United States 68 Process This Powderfinger Australia 69 Push Up Freestylers United Kingdom 70 Four to the Floor (Thin White Duke Remix) Starsailor United Kingdom 71 C'mon C'mon The Von Bondies United States 72 Section 12 (Hold Me Now) The Polyphonic Spree United States 73 Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town The Panda Band Australia 74 Slow Hands Interpol United States 75 Paco Doesn't Love Me Spazzys Australia 76 Evil Interpol United States 77 Run Snow Patrol United Kingdom 78 Tonight's the Night Little Birdy Australia 79 Dirty Hearts Dallas Crane Australia 80 Young Man, Old Man (You Ain't Better Than the Rest) The Dissociatives Australia 81 Rough Diamonds End of Fashion Australia 82 Drop the Pressure Mylo United Kingdom 83 Numb All Over Dallas Crane Australia 84 I Love You 'Cause I Have To Dogs Die in Hot Cars United Kingdom 85 The Drop Regurgitator Australia 86 I Was Born (A Unicorn) The Unicorns Canada 87 Breathe Me Sia Australia 88 Imagine A Perfect Circle United States 89 Get What You Need Jet Australia 90 Lotion Greenskeepers United States 91 Somersault Decoder Ring Australia 92 Comfortably Numb Scissor Sisters United States 93 Hello John Butler Trio Australia 94 Ride The Vines Australia 95 Twenty Years Placebo United Kingdom 96 Mirror Mirror After the Fall Australia 97 Safe Forever Gyroscope Australia 98 Catch Me Up Gomez United Kingdom 99 Always The Butterfly Effect Australia 100 I'm Gonna Haunt You Fabienne Delsol France

Statistics

Artists with multiple entries #ArtistEntries4John Butler Trio7, 25, 51, 93Scissor Sisters23, 44, 58, 923Franz Ferdinand 1, 29, 50Missy Higgins2, 6, 49Eskimo Joe3, 32, 62The Killers4, 13, 39Little Birdy8, 40, 782Spiderbait 5, 20Powderfinger 9, 68The Dresden Dolls12, 30Evermore 14, 57Grinspoon16, 26The Streets18, 19Jet 24, 89Dogs Die in Hot Cars43, 84Regurgitator 52, 85Placebo53, 95Xavier Rudd56, 59Interpol74, 76Dallas Crane79, 83

Countries represented CountryEntriesAustralia47United States28United Kingdom17New Zealand3Canada1Ireland1Germany1Sweden1France1

Records U2's "Vertigo" placed at No. 38, despite having not been played on Triple J. Two versions of "Take Me Out" appeared in the countdown, the original by Franz Ferdinand at No. 1 and the Scissor Sisters' cover at No. 44; this is the first time it has happened since 1997. With their covers of "Take Me Out" and "Comfortably Numb", the Scissor Sisters are the first band to have multiple covers feature in the same countdown. The Living End made their eighth consecutive appearance in the Hottest 100, having featured in every annual countdown since 1997. Similarly, Machine Gun Fellatio made their sixth consecutive appearance, having appeared in every annual countdown since 1999. At No. 5, Spiderbait's cover of "Black Betty" ties with Björk's cover of "It's Oh So Quiet" as the highest ranked cover song in a Hottest 100.

Top 10 Albums of 2004 Bold indicates winner of the Hottest 100.

# Artist Album Country of origin Tracks in the Hottest 100 1 Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand United Kingdom 1, 29, 50 2 John Butler Trio Sunrise Over Sea Australia 25, 51, 93 (8 in 2003) 3 Missy Higgins The Sound of White Australia 2, 6, 49 (31, 74 in 2005) 4 Eskimo Joe A Song Is a City Australia 3, 32, 62 5 Little Birdy BigBigLove Australia 8, 40, 78 (16, 25 in 2003) 6 The Killers Hot Fuss United States 4, 13, 39 7 Grinspoon Thrills, Kills & Sunday Pills Australia 16, 26 8 Xavier Rudd Solace Australia 56, 59 (54 in 2003) 9 Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News United States 11 10 The Streets A Grand Don't Come for Free United Kingdom 18, 19

CD release The 2-CD set titled triple j – Hottest 100: Vol 12 Various Artists was released 6 March 2005. It is a compilation of 40 of the top 100 songs., Catalogue Number 5318135

CD 1 Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out The Killers – Somebody Told Me Spiderbait – Black Betty Kings of Leon – The Bucket Jet – Look What You've Done Little Birdy – Beautiful To Me Ben Folds – Adelaide Devendra Banhart – Little Yellow Spider Eskimo Joe – From The Sea The Streets – Fit But You Know It Modest Mouse – Float On Decoder Ring – Somersault John Butler Trio – Somethings Gotta Give The Bees – Chicken Payback The Dresden Dolls – Coin-Operated Boy Dallas Crane – Dirty Hearts Ben Lee – Gamble Everything For Love Greenskeepers – Lotion N.E.R.D – She Wants To Move Grinspoon – Hard Act To FollowCD 2 Missy Higgins – Scar Mylo – Drop The Pressure The Von Bondies – C’mon C’mon The Hives – Walk Idiot Walk Sarah Blasko – Don't U Eva Faithless – Mass Destruction William Shatner – Common People Wolfmother – Woman The Black Keys – 10 A.M. Automatic Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Godhopping Scribe – Not Many – The Remix! Butterfingers – Yo Mama Spazzys – Paco Doesn't Love Me Interpol – Slow Hands Lior – This Old Love Evermore – It's Too Late The Panda Band – Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town Freestylers – Push Up Regurgitator – My Friend Robot Elliott Smith – Memory Lane

See also 2004 in music

Notes