In what proved to be a bumper year for Australian artists, local Gamilaraay woman, Thelma Plum, has claimed not one, but two places in Triple J’s Hottest 100 Countdown.
The countdown featured the most popular songs of 2022 all decided by votes from radio station Triple J’s listeners. The annual music event aired yesterday, Saturday the 29th of January, and compiled votes from over 2.4 million listeners. This is the 30th Hottest 100 countdown to be aired by Triple J.
The countdown continues to be a very popular national tradition, with many listeners holding Hottest 100 day parties, or attending organised listening events around the country.
Thelma Plum’s music career has gone from strength to strength since she first burst onto the scene in 2012 via Triple J’s National Indigenous Unearthed music condition. This is her second year featuring in the countdown. Her songs “The Brown Snake” and “Backseat of My Mind” ranked at number sixty-six and number twenty-one in the countdown respectively.
She also added to the tally of ten First Nations artists appearing in the countdown. This beats 2020’s previous record of six.
Ms. Plum was born in Brisbane but has proud Indigenous family ties to the New England region. She is a Gamilaraay woman and often speaks very fondly of her childhood memories spent on her Grandparent’s farm in Delungra. Her father, Paul Spearim Winanga-li Gii is well-known locally and nationally for his passionate and dedicated sharing of culture and language. He currently runs the KINDIgenous program, which aims to engage and educate kindergarten-aged children about Indigenous history and culture.
On the day of the Countdown, Ms. Plum was performing live as part of the Australian Open Finals Festival.
Australian artists accounted for fifty-seven of the total one-hundred songs this year. They also made up for half of the top ten overall. The number one spot this year was claimed by Sydney-based producer Flume with his song “Say Nothing”. The track features fellow Sydney singer MAY-A and is Flume’s second time taking the top spot in a Hottest 100 Countdown.
Note on spelling of Indigenous names: Kamilaroi, Gamilaraay, and Gomeroi, are all different spellings of the same people whose traditional lands stretch across the North West Plains and into southern Queensland and form one of the largest Aboriginal Nations in the country. They are all English transliterations and there is no correct spelling. Where possible, the New England Times will use the spelling the individual in the story prefers or has used elsewhere. Where a preference is not indicated or known, we use Kamilaroi.
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