While I have yet to cross this continent/country off the list (hopefully soon!), I look forward to Australia Day (Jan 26, but right now here in Canada thanks to the time difference) each year for one reason.

Australia’s best kept secret is a yearly tradition known as triple j’s hottest 100. For a few hours, the radio station counts down the hottest 100 songs of the previous year, and weeks leading up to the event, allow anyone to listen to hundreds of nominees and vote for their top ten. Count me in.

Every year I’m impressed with the music triple j plays, and their top songs have yet to make a breakthrough in North America as they tend to be a little bit ahead of the game.

The last few years included Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide” (2013), Macklemore’s “Thriftshop” (2012), and Goyte’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” (2011) as the #1 choice, all months before our local stations gave them a play.

I’ll be keeping tabs on the the list today, but here were my top ten choices from the list of nominees. Have a listen over at 8tracks.