Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, 1998
The Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time was a music poll broadcast on 7 June 1998, amongst listeners of Australian youth radio network Triple J. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" collected the highest number of votes to claim the top position. Voters could submit a list of up to ten different songs as well as nominating one of these as their "all-time" favourite song. It was the fourth such poll organised by Triple J, following similar polls in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Initially, all songs were eligible for the annual Triple J Hottest 100. However, from 1993 onwards, only songs released in the previous year were permitted. Thus, the Hottest 100 of All Time is conducted via a separate vote, held irregularly to reflect listeners' favourite songs across all eras.
Full list
Bold: Previous winner of a Hottest 100- Green background: Australian artists
| # | Song | Artist | Country of origin | Year | Annual Hottest 100 position | Previous Hottest 100 of all time positions |
| 1 | Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nirvana | United States | 1991 | 1 | |
| 2 | Throw Your Arms Around Me | Hunters & Collectors | Australia | 1984 | 2, 2, 4 | |
| 3 | Alive | Pearl Jam | United States | 1991 | ||
| 4 | Last Goodbye | Jeff Buckley | United States | 1994 | 14 | |
| 5 | Creep | Radiohead | United Kingdom | 1992 | 2 | |
| 6 | Stairway to Heaven | Led Zeppelin | United Kingdom | 1971 | 30, 61, 30 | |
| 7 | One | Metallica | United States | 1988 | 89 | |
| 8 | Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen | United Kingdom | 1975 | 49 | |
| 9 | Enter Sandman | Metallica | United States | 1991 | 60 | |
| 10 | Black | Pearl Jam | United States | 1991 | ||
| 11 | One | U2 | Ireland | 1992 | ||
| 12 | The Beautiful People | Marilyn Manson | United States | 1996 | 8 | |
| 13 | Paranoid Android | Radiohead | United Kingdom | 1997 | 7 | |
| 14 | Closer | Nine Inch Nails | United States | 1994 | 2 | |
| 15 | Blister in the Sun | Violent Femmes | United States | 1982 | 46, 41, 9 | |
| 16 | Love Will Tear Us Apart | Joy Division | United Kingdom | 1980 | 1, 1, 2 | |
| 17 | Killing in the Name | Rage Against the Machine | United States | 1992 | 6 | |
| 18 | Prisoner of Society | The Living End | Australia | 1997 | 15 | |
| 19 | Epic | Faith No More | United States | 1990 | ||
| 20 | Dammit | Blink 182 | United States | 1997 | 6 | |
| 21 | Lightning Crashes | Live | United States | 1995 | 22 | |
| 22 | Better Man | Pearl Jam | United States | 1994 | 44 | |
| 23 | With or Without You | U2 | Ireland | 1987 | ||
| 24 | Stinkfist | Tool | United States | 1996 | 2 | |
| 25 | Tainted Love | Soft Cell | United Kingdom | 1981 | 38, 54 | |
| 26 | The Ship Song | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Australia | 1990 | 22 | 14 |
| 27 | Cornflake Girl | Tori Amos | United States | 1994 | 35 | |
| 28 | How Soon Is Now? | The Smiths | United Kingdom | 1985 | 7, 3, 6 | |
| 29 | Grace | Jeff Buckley | United States | 1994 | 89 | |
| 30 | Blue Monday | New Order | United Kingdom | 1983 | 5, 5, 10 | |
| 31 | Under the Bridge | Red Hot Chili Peppers | United States | 1991 | ||
| 32 | Brick | Ben Folds Five | United States | 1997 | 12 | |
| 33 | Bullet with Butterfly Wings | The Smashing Pumpkins | United States | 1995 | 2 | |
| 34 | Unfinished Sympathy | Massive Attack | United Kingdom | 1991 | 64 | |
| 35 | Ashes to Ashes | Faith No More | United States | 1997 | 31 | |
| 36 | No Aphrodisiac | The Whitlams | Australia | 1997 | 1 | |
| 37 | Love Shack | The B-52's | United States | 1989 | 88 | |
| 38 | (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) | Beastie Boys | United States | 1987 | ||
| 39 | Fools Gold | The Stone Roses | United Kingdom | 1989 | 6, 7 | |
| 40 | Today | The Smashing Pumpkins | United States | 1993 | 25 | |
| 41 | Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd | United Kingdom | 1975 | 33, 35, 58 | |
| 42 | Tomorrow Wendy | Andy Prieboy | United States | 1990 | 5 | |
| 43 | You Sound Like Louis Burdett | The Whitlams | Australia | 1997 | 53 | |
| 44 | Sabotage | Beastie Boys | United States | 1994 | 16 | |
| 45 | Lithium | Nirvana | United States | 1991 | 3 | |
| 46 | Song 2 | Blur | United Kingdom | 1997 | 2 | |
| 47 | Lover, You Should've Come Over | Jeff Buckley | United States | 1994 | ||
| 48 | Sober | Tool | United States | 1993 | 27 | |
| 49 | A Day in the Life | The Beatles | United Kingdom | 1967 | 69 | |
| 50 | Leaving Home | Jebediah | Australia | 1997 | 10 | |
| 51 | Everybody Hurts | R.E.M. | United States | 1992 | 11 | - |
| 52 | Underground | Ben Folds Five | United States | 1996 | 3 | |
| 53 | Groove Is in the Heart | Deee-Lite | United States | 1990 | ||
| 54 | Karma Police | Radiohead | United Kingdom | 1997 | 9 | |
| 55 | Come Out and Play | The Offspring | United States | 1994 | 4 | |
| 56 | Rearviewmirror | Pearl Jam | United States | 1993 | ||
| 57 | Forty-Six & 2 | Tool | United States | 1997 | 30 | |
| 58 | Black Hole Sun | Soundgarden | United States | 1994 | 22 | |
| 59 | Tomorrow | Silverchair | Australia | 1994 | 5 | |
| 60 | Bizarre Love Triangle | New Order | United Kingdom | 1986 | 67, 21, 24 | |
| 61 | Berlin Chair | You Am I | Australia | 1994 | 23 | |
| 62 | Come as You Are | Nirvana | United States | 1991 | 76 | |
| 63 | Kashmir | Led Zeppelin | United Kingdom | 1975 | ||
| 64 | I Will Survive | Cake | United States | 1996 | 20 | - |
| 65 | Hotel California | The Eagles | United States | 1977 | ||
| 66 | The Love Cats | The Cure | United Kingdom | 1983 | 67, 70 | |
| 67 | Anarchy in the UK | Sex Pistols | United Kingdom | 1976 | 17, 20, 25 | |
| 68 | Holy Grail | Hunters & Collectors | Australia | 1992 | 54 | |
| 69 | Been Caught Stealing | Jane's Addiction | United States | 1990 | 15 | |
| 70 | All Along The Watchtower | The Jimi Hendrix Experience | United Kingdom | 1968 | 49, 83, 61 | |
| 71 | 1979 | The Smashing Pumpkins | United States | 1996 | 13 | |
| 72 | The Perfect Drug | Nine Inch Nails | United States | 1997 | 26 | |
| 73 | Losing My Religion | R.E.M. | United States | 1991 | 32 | |
| 74 | A Forest | The Cure | United Kingdom | 1980 | 10, 11, 8 | |
| 75 | Glory Box | Portishead | United Kingdom | 1995 | 45 | |
| 76 | Don't Dream It's Over | Crowded House | Australia | 1986 | ||
| 77 | Sweet Child O' Mine | Guns N' Roses | United States | 1988 | 27 | |
| 78 | Birdhouse in Your Soul | They Might Be Giants | United States | 1990 | 46 | |
| 79 | Video Killed the Radio Star | The Buggles | United Kingdom | 1979 | ||
| 80 | Self Esteem | The Offspring | United States | 1994 | 3 | |
| 81 | No Rain | Blind Melon | United States | 1992 | 4 | |
| 82 | Jerks of Attention | Jebediah | Australia | 1996 | ||
| 83 | Abuse Me | Silverchair | Australia | 1997 | ||
| 84 | Into My Arms | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Australia | 1997 | 18 | |
| 85 | Just Like Heaven | The Cure | United Kingdom | 1987 | 25, 11 | |
| 86 | Buy Me a Pony | Spiderbait | Australia | 1996 | 1 | |
| 87 | Aneurysm | Nirvana | United States | 1996 | 45 | |
| 88 | Just Ace | Grinspoon | Australia | 1998 | 18 | |
| 89 | Close to Me | The Cure | United Kingdom | 1985 | 66, 37 | |
| 90 | Comfortably Numb | Pink Floyd | United Kingdom | 1979 | 95, 73 | |
| 91 | The Unforgiven | Metallica | United States | 1991 | 63 | |
| 92 | Backdoor Man | Pauline Pantsdown | Australia | 1997 | 5 | |
| 93 | I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For | U2 | Ireland | 1987 | ||
| 94 | Khe Sanh | Cold Chisel | Australia | 1978 | 95 | |
| 95 | Breathe | The Prodigy | United Kingdom | 1996 | 7 | |
| 96 | Red Right Hand | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Australia | 1994 | ||
| 97 | Loser | Beck | United States | 1993 | 45 | |
| 98 | Boys Don't Cry | The Cure | United Kingdom | 1980 | 29, 23, 43 | |
| 99 | Bitter Sweet Symphony | The Verve | United Kingdom | 1997 | 4 | |
| 100 | "Heroes" | David Bowie | United Kingdom | 1977 | 39, 50 |
Statistics
Records
- It was marked with a comical moment when Robbie Buck played the wrong Led Zeppelin song.
- Grinspoon's track "Just Ace", which reached #88 and Ben Folds Five's track "Brick" which came #32 is to date the only song to chart in an All Time countdown before an official yearly countdown.
- Grinspoon are the first Triple J Unearthed artist to appear in a Hottest 100 Of All Time countdown.
- Excluding the Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time and the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs, the appearance of only 4 countries is the lowest number of countries to appear in any countdown.