Doja Cat's 'Paint The Town Red' wins Triple J's 100 Countdown

Doja Cat sent records crashing as her modern classic “Paint The Town Red” climbed to No. 1 on triple j's Hottest 100 2023 poll.

When her name was called late on Saturday, January 27, the US artist became the first female rapper and the first woman of color to headline the 31st edition of the countdown.

“Paint The Town Red” beat homegrown multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter G Flip with “The Worst Person Alive” and Aussie EDM star Dom Dolla with “Saving Up” respectively to take the title.

“When we first heard 'Paint The Town Red' back in August, there was no doubt we'd see it featured at the sharp end of this year's countdown,” explains triple j's music director Nick Findlay.

“Over an iconic sample of Dionne Warwick's 'Walk On By', 'Paint The Town Red' shows Doja Cat at her truest: effortlessly shrugging off the haters while flexing her incredible ability to perform pure pop perfection” .

During its ARIA Chart release last year, “Paint The Town Red” spent 10 weeks at No.1 and is now double platinum in those parts.

The Hottest 100 poll is an institution Down Under, one that triple j, a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), has, in the past, called “the world's biggest musical democracy”.

Although it no longer coincides with Australia Day, on January 26 — a disputed date on the minds of a growing number of Australians — 2,355,870 votes were cast for the countdown, down slightly from more than 2.4 million votes last year (the all-time record is 3.2 million votes for the 2019 edition). The annual event raised A$500,000 ($330,000) for triple j's charity partner, headspace.

Although G Flip came in second best to champion Doja Cat, the Australian artist set a new Hottest 100 record with seven titles on the countdown. This shatters the mark previously held by rock trio Wolfmother, who notched six entries in 2005.

A multiple winner at the 2023 ARIA Awards and a leader in the ARIA Albums Chart last year with Drummer (Future Classic/Universal), G Flip (real name Georgia Claire Flipo) now sits on 19 career top 100 hits, good enough for third all-time with Tame Impala and Kanye West. Adelaide hip-hop favorites Hilltop Hoods are the kings, with 24 all-time entries, while Powderfinger and Foo Fighters are tied for second with 22 each.

Australia's own pop princess, Kylie Minogue, is breaking new ground with her UK Top 10 hit 'Padam Padam' making the Hot 100. The last time she did it was in 1997, 26 year gap between entries was a new record.

This year's pool of 2.335 million-plus votes came predominantly from women (61%) and 45% of all voters came from triple j's target audience — aged 24 and under.

Also, according to representatives of triple j, part of the publicly funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 52 of those 100 hottest songs were domestic.

In total, 35 artists debuted on the triple j Hottest 100, including Troye Sivan, Kita Alexander, Dua Lipa, Budjerah, Old Mervs and Royel Otis.

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