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Anthony Albanese’s personal ballot for Triple J’s 2025 Hottest 100 of Australian Songs included “Beds Are Burning,” “Flame Trees” and “How to Make Gravy.” He named these ten songs on July 3, 2025; they were his picks, not a ranked list or the poll’s final result.
Albanese’s ten Australian song picks
PerthNow reported Albanese’s choices in no particular order. The sequence below is for readability, not a ranking.
![I Remember When I Was Young: Songs from The Great Australian Songbook [Import]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51sXpczvGrL._SL160_.jpg)
- The Angels — “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again”
- Cold Chisel — “Flame Trees”
- The Fauves — “Dogs Are The Best People”
- The Go-Betweens — “Cattle and Cane”
- You Am I — “Purple Sneakers”
- Hunters & Collectors — “Throw Your Arms Around Me”
- The Triffids — “Wide Open Road”
- Spiderbait — “Buy Me a Pony”
- Midnight Oil — “Beds Are Burning”
- Paul Kelly — “How To Make Gravy”
PerthNow quoted Albanese’s social-media caption: “Hard to narrow down to just 10.” (PerthNow, July 3, 2025)
Why his ballot took days
In a July 28 interview on Triple J Breakfast, Albanese said he had a shortlist of about 25 songs and kept changing his mind before submitting his ten. “It took me days to press the submit button because I kept changing my mind,” he said. He considered INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart,” moving it on and off his list, but ultimately left it out. (Prime Minister of Australia, interview transcript, July 28, 2025)
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Albanese also recalled seeing Australian bands at Sydney live music venues, including INXS, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Spiderbait, Hoodoo Gurus, The Hummingbirds, Skyhooks, Hush, Ol’ 55 and The Angels. He described songs such as “How to Make Gravy” and “Beds Are Burning” as stories that help people tell Australian stories.
His picks versus the Hottest 100 result
The Hottest 100 of Australian Songs brought together Australian releases from across the years, with the special countdown broadcast on July 26, 2025. INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart”—the song Albanese had debated but omitted—won the poll. Albanese said five of his ten selections appeared in the countdown. (The Guardian, July 26, 2025)
The Guardian reported that Triple J received more than 2.65 million votes, more than in each of the preceding four years of the annual song poll; it described the event as the fourth-biggest Hottest 100 run by the broadcaster. The figure is Triple J’s reported vote total as covered by The Guardian, not an independently audited count.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the list says—and what it leaves out
The Guardian’s July 4 commentary characterized the selections as guitar-based and noted that all the songs were written by men, while three women—Lindy Morrison, Jill Birt and Janet English—were among the listed artists. The writer also argued that the ballot was entirely white and, apart from “Beds Are Burning,” did not speak from Indigenous experience. These are the Guardian writer’s observations and interpretation, not the findings of a formal demographic study. (The Guardian, July 4, 2025)
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The same commentary identified The Angels’ “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again,” first released in 1976, as the oldest pick and Paul Kelly’s “How to Make Gravy” as the newest. It called The Fauves’ “Dogs Are The Best People” a wildcard, and described “Cattle and Cane,” “Wide Open Road,” “Throw Your Arms Around Me” and “Buy Me a Pony” as less obvious choices.
The ballot is therefore best read as one listener’s selection shaped by personal memory and taste—not as a definitive ranking of Australian music. For Albanese, the songs connect to live shows he remembers and to stories he believes Australians tell through music.
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