So you’re a band/musician/producer and you’re bummed you didn’t win the triple j Hottest 100 yesterday? There, there, it’s ok. To help with your Sunday blues I’ve performed some critical analysis* and conducted some focus group discussions** to come up with the perfect formula to win this thing.

1. Get your song played across a number of commercial stations as well triple j

As much as many triple j listeners would pride themselves on the fact they don’t listen to commercial radio, others do. And if a song gets played across a number of different stations, it is more likely to be known by more people. Also the triple j Hottest 100 has become so popular, with 1.5 million people voting this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the voters didn’t even listen to triple j at all. Check the list below, most of the songs are by artists that recieve air time across Nova/2Day/MMM/Mix networks as well as triple j.

Sourced from this list.

2. Release your song in the second half of the year, preferably around October

All things going well, by November people will love the track and that love will continue up until the start of voting. This will avoid the fatigue factor some of the songs in the early half of the year suffer. For example I probably would have voted for Default by Django Django at my height of love for the song, but I was sick of it by voting time (it came in at #28). I feel that if ‘Thrift Shop’ (which triple j picked it up in October) had come out in March everyone would be so sick of it by now it wouldn’t have made the top 10 and everyone would be whinging about some other track that won.

3. Don’t have too many good tracks in the year

I know you have the music making skillz, but just hold off for a bit. Releasing a whole album of good songs may detract from the one song you could win the countdown with so don’t even try it, OK? The fans will like a variety of your splendid songs and this may split the vote as generally people only vote for one song by each artist. Looking at Frank Ocean, he was really popular this year however favourite tracks really divided the fans. Similarly, Flume had a good chance to win, but the votes were split across his album with four tunes making the top 100. So be good at music, but don’t be SO good at music..

4. Tour Australia

Nothing cements a fans love for a song more than if they’ve seen it live and loved it – or have tickets to see it performed live soon. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are touring sold out shows in Australia in February. Other recent winners (such as Gotye; Angus and Julia Stone; Mumford and Sons; and Kings of Leon) all had Australian tours around the time they won.

There you go music makers… just follow these four easy steps to make your #hottest100 dreams come true! It’s simple really.

*A few Google searches

**My immediate friends count as reliable sample, right?

You want more? Check out the 2012 wrap up by the hilarious Max Lavergne.

Bit at the end: I do work for the ABC, but I don’t work for triple j and am not involved in the countdown. I have written this purely as a listener with an avid interest and love for the countdown. My views here don’t reflect that of the ABC, actually they barely represent my own views.

For my overseas readers: The countdown is an annual music countdown on triple j radio – the national “youth” network. It’s voted by listeners and has really escalated in popularity recently. Listening to the countdown on Australia Day has become an institution.