No One Has Even Voted Yet, But Here's The Winner Of The 2016 Hottest 100, Apparently

A self-proclaimed “Hottest 100 enthusiast” has pored through two decades of statistics to uncover the eventual winner of the 2016 poll.

Never mind that voting is yet to even commence.

In 3,860 words, ‘CompletePatrick’ deduces “Lean On”, by Major Lazer, DJ Snake and MØ, will take the number one spot.

He reaches that conclusion based on the track’s chart success (it topped the ARIA chart earlier in the year), the “swarm effect” (that artists with multiple tracks in a Hottest 100 are likely to take the top spot) and, slightly more anecdotally, a sense that voters might “overcorrect” years of male domination by prioritising a female-led track.

(Of 22 winning songs, only one – “Zombie” by The Cranberries – was sung in full by a woman; two others – “Big Jet Plane” by Angus and Julia Stone and “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye and Kimbra - feature a female co-singer.)

Despite there not being that much science or math at work here, CompletePatrick's very-early predictions don’t seem so off the mark. (Sportsbet similarly have "Lean On" as the favourite.) In fact, his entire suspected Top 10 might wind up coming true, albeit in slightly different order.

1. Lean On — Major Lazer, DJ Snake & MØ
2. Downtown — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis et al
3. The Trouble With Us — Marcus Marr & Chet Faker
4. Do You Remember — Jarryd James
5. Hoops — The Rubens
6. Let It Happen — Tame Impala
7. Can’t Feel My Face — The Weeknd
8. Say My Name — Peking Duk & Benjamin Joseph
9. Hotline Bling — Drake
10. King Kunta — Kendrick Lamar

Though, if populist ARIA chart-toppers “Lean On”, “Downtown” or “Can’t Feel My Face” take the Hottest 100 prize, Triple J has even less of an argument for excluding Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” from the 2014 countdown. And if Ryan Adams' covers make the Top 100, expect a full on revolution.