Triple J Hottest 100, 1990 Explained

The 1990 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on 20 May 1990.^[1] It was the second annual poll of the most popular songs, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. From 1989 to 1991, listeners could vote for songs released in any year.

Full list

Note: Australian artists

	Song[2]	Artist	Country of Origin	Year of release	Previous Hottest 100 of all time positions
1			United Kingdom	1980	1 (1989)
2			Australia	1985	2 (1989)
3			United Kingdom	1984	7 (1989)
4	Uncertain Smile		United Kingdom	1983	3 (1989)
5			United Kingdom	1983	5 (1989)
6			United Kingdom	1989
7		The Smiths	United Kingdom	1983	13 (1989)
8			United States	1978	14 (1989)
9			United States	1987	22 (1989)
10			United Kingdom	1980	4 (1989)
11			United Kingdom	1980	10 (1989)
12			United States	1980	6 (1989)
13			Ireland	1987	41 (1989)
14			Australia	1988
15			Australia	1978	12 (1989)
16			Iceland	1987	9 (1989)
17			United Kingdom	1978	43 (1989)
18			United States	1988
19		The Cure	United Kingdom	1981	19 (1989)
20			United Kingdom	1976	17 (1989)
21		New Order	United Kingdom	1986	67 (1989)
22			United Kingdom	1985	35 (1989)
23		The Cure	United Kingdom	1980	29 (1989)
24			Italy	1989
25		The Cure	United Kingdom	1987
26	Betty's Worry or the Slab	Hunters & Collectors	Australia	1984	83 (1989)
27			Australia	1983	11 (1989)
28			United Kingdom	1979	18 (1989)
29			United States	1989
30			United Kingdom	1978	26 (1989)
31			United Kingdom	1983	15 (1989)
32	Talking to a Stranger	Hunters & Collectors	Australia	1982	8 (1989)
33			United States	1988
34		Pixies	United States	1989
35			United Kingdom	1975	33 (1989)
36			Sweden	1988	61 (1989)
37			United States	1987	37 (1989)
38			United Kingdom	1981
39		Prince	United States	1986	24 (1989)
40			United Kingdom	1989
41			United States	1983	46 (1989)
42			United States	1965	21 (1989)
43		The Cure	United Kingdom	1989
44		The Smiths	United Kingdom	1985	64 (1989)
45	Info Freako		United Kingdom	1989
46		R.E.M.	United States	1987	45 (1989)
47	Everybody Moves		Australia	1989
48			Sweden	1975
49			Australia	1986	68 (1989)
50			United Kingdom	1977	39 (1989)
51		The Stone Roses	United Kingdom	1989
52			United States	1967	50 (1989)
53		The Smiths	United Kingdom	1986	27 (1989)
54	Aloha Steve and Danno		Australia	1978	23 (1989)
55		Pixies	United States	1989
56			United Kingdom	1989
57		The Church	Australia	1981	42 (1989)
58			United Kingdom	1988	20 (1989)
59		Billy Bragg	United Kingdom	1986	38 (1989)
60			Australia	1988	70 (1989)
61			United Kingdom	1971	30 (1989)
62		The Doors	United States	1971	40 (1989)
63			United Kingdom	1977	16 (1989)
64			United Kingdom	1981	36 (1989)
65		New Order	United Kingdom	1982
66			United Kingdom	1971	31 (1989)
67		The Cure	United Kingdom	1983
68		New Order	United Kingdom	1987
69		Sinéad O'Connor	Ireland	1990
70			United Kingdom	1989
71		Hunters & Collectors	Australia	1986	97 (1989)
72		The Cure	United Kingdom	1985
73		Elvis Costello	United Kingdom	1986	58 (1989)
74			United States	1988
75			United Kingdom/Japan	1983	60 (1989)
76			United States	1989
77			United Kingdom	1968	63 (1989)
78		R.E.M.	United States	1986
79			United States	1981
80			United States	1985
81	Street Tuff (Scar Mix)		United Kingdom	1989
82		Billy Bragg	United Kingdom	1986
83			United States	1968	49 (1989)
84		Joy Division	United Kingdom	1980
85		The Go-Betweens	Australia	1987	89 (1989)
86	Eternally Yours		Australia	1984
87		Violent Femmes	United States	1983
88		The B-52's	United States	1989
89			United States	1988
90			United States	1982	62 (1989)
91			United States	1988
92		The Church	Australia	1988
93	Trust		Australia	1989
94		The The	United Kingdom	1983
95		Pink Floyd	United Kingdom	1979
96	Happy Birthday	Concrete Blonde	United States	1989
97		The B-52's	United States	1989
98			United States	1972	77 (1989)
99		R.E.M.	United States	1988
100			United Kingdom	1981

Artists with multiple entries

	Artist	Tracks
7	The Cure	11, 19, 23, 25, 43, 67, 72
6	Peter Hook	1, 5, 21, 65, 68, 84
	Stephen Morris	1, 5, 21, 65, 68, 84
	Bernard Sumner	1, 5, 21, 65, 68, 84
4	Hunters & Collectors	2, 26, 32, 71
	The Smiths	3, 7, 44, 53
	New Order	5, 21, 65, 68
	R.E.M.	9, 46, 78, 99
3	The B-52's	8, 88, 97
	The Church	14, 57, 92
	Pixies	18, 34, 55
	Billy Bragg	58, 59, 82
2	Joy Division	1, 84
	The The	4, 95
	The Stone Roses	6, 51
	Sinéad O'Connor	13, 69
	The Go-Betweens	27, 85
	Nick Cave	15, 60
	Pink Floyd	35, 95
	Prince	37, 39
	Violent Femmes	41, 87
	The Doors	52, 62
	Elvis Costello	63, 73
	Concrete Blonde	76, 96

Notes

• The Cure's seven entries is a new record for most appearances in a single countdown.
• Billy Bragg is the first artist in Hottest 100 history to have back to back entries in a countdown. His songs "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" & "Greetings to the New Brunette" came in at #58 and #59 respectively.
• Five songs maintained their positions from the previous year's countdown.
• Black Box is the first Italian artist to ever make it into the Hottest 100.
• This was the final countdown to be referred to as a "Hot 100" as Triple J was later forced to change the poll's name to 'Hottest 100' to avoid legal action with 4ZZZ.

Countries represented

Country
United Kingdom	48
United States	31
Australia	16
Ireland	2
Sweden	2
Japan	1
Iceland	1
Italy	1

Songs by Decade

Decade
1960s	4
1970s	16
1980s	79
1990s	1

See also

• 1990 in music

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2017-11-27 . 2018 Hottest 100 countdown to be held the day after Australia Day . 2024-08-23 . triple j . en-AU.
2. Web site: Hottest 100 1990 . . September 7, 2024 . live . https://archive.today/20120729134526/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/history/1990.htm . July 29, 2012.