The UK singer-songwriter’s single was the most downloaded song of 2017 and the video has been viewed 3.2 billion times.
Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know was voted ninth in the Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years poll. What makes some songs endure as a classic and others fade away?
Number crunching the Hottest 100 votes produces fascinating insights into shifting musical tastes and poses the question: why was 1997 such a great year for music?
The search for the ‘ideal’ Christmas song crosses a very broad range of genres and artists.
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Kasey Chambers was one of the six women who won awards at the ARIAs this year. Women had no nominations at all in Best Group, Dance, Adult Contemporary or Hard Rock/Heavy Metal.
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David Bowie was the tasteful thief and practised faker, and his 1974 album Diamond Dogs borrowed from everything to create a sublime post-apocalyptic soundscape.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote Give Peace a Chance in a ‘bed-in’ in Montreal.
Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia
Ahead of International Peace Day celebrity musicians like Yoko Ono have released music for peace. But the same qualities that bring us together around music can also inflame conflict, from the Yugoslav civil wars to Northern Ireland.
Kurt Cobain killed himself a week before this album was due to come out. It became a perfect soundtrack to Gen X’s grief and with its raw, angry, feminist-inspired, grunge sound, remains a classic.
Beyoncé in the music video for Sorry, from Lemonade.
Screenshot from Youtube
Audiences of a certain age still gush about Countdown, the ABC’s music show that ran between 1974 and 1987. The ritual of sitting down to watch the ABC at 6pm on a Sunday (and maybe again for the Saturday…
Yothu Yindi performing in 2000. Their songs offered hope and strength to generations of Yolŋu people.
Dean Lewins/AAP
The songs of Tribal Voice offered hope and strength to generations of Yolŋu people and gave audiences elsewhere a rare insight into the resolve and aspirations of Indigenous Australia.
The Beastie Boys in the music video for Sure Shot.
Screenshot from Youtube
The Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication closed out hip-hop’s Golden Age with a kaleidoscope of jazz-infused beats, bratty punk interludes and a deeper appreciation for storytelling.