Peninsula Records and Books

We’ve pulled together a Hottest 100 Vinyl Collection to celebrate the albums that feature songs from this iconic list but really I want to talk about my reaction when the number 1 was announced... I love INXS. I grew up with INXS. I remember exactly where I was the day I heard Michael Hutchence had passed... I remember when Kylie and Michael were a thing... I remember my cousins and I playing Kick over and over like it was a religion. But when I heard that Never Tear Us Apart had taken out number 1 in the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs? I just sat there in my car yelling noooooooooooo at the radio. It wasn’t that it didn’t deserve the spot – of course it did. That song is a masterpiece. For me, it was the timing. The symbolism. That weird superstition that applies to football games in Adelaide. The Night of Number 1 It was Saturday night. About 7.34pm. Pouring with rain. I’d been listening all day as the countdown rolled on... but this was it. The top spot. I’d just dropped my...

Every few years, Triple J throws out the ultimate challenge-slash-emotional-spiral: name your top ten Australian songs of all time . Like, ever. In June 2025 , they reopened voting for the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs , and just like that, I was in. No choice really. The countdown airs on 26 July 2025 and if you’ve ever tried to pick just ten songs that define your life? Good luck. You can read the full explainer on what it is and how it works here. I love a list. But this? This was chaos. Absolute beautiful, nostalgic chaos. I could’ve picked ten songs per decade . Actually, per genre per decade. INXS or Midnight Oil? How do you choose between Kylie and The Church? Australian Crawl or Icehouse? That’s just the 80s and I haven’t even gotten to the Big Day Out era. Why It Was So Hard I started out all very logical and curated. You know... songs that shaped the culture, meant something nationally. But then it turned into a game of memories. The first car. The first heartbreak. The f...