Facts for 1993

The 1993 Hottest 100 was the first annual Hottest 100 countdown since the change of the format which allowed only songs from the previous year to be voted for.

The Countdown

The countdown took place in January of 1994 and featured a mixture of 84 different artists, currently the third highest amount of artists in a countdown to date. According to the liner notes of the corresponding CD release, 50,000 votes were counted in the countdown.

Denis Leary becomes the first artist to achieve the #1 position with no other songs in the countdown. Other artists to achieve this feat are The Cranberries in 1994, Spiderbait in 1996, Augie March in 2006, and The Rubens in 2015. Additionally, Leary is one of the few #1 placegetters to be a solo performer. In addition to Leary, Alex Lloyd (2001), Bernard Fanning (2005), Vance Joy (2013), Chet Faker (2013), and Kendrick Lamar (2017) also topped the chart as a solo performer.

At #37, The Juliana Hatfield Three charted with their song 'My Sister'. The song includes the line "I miss my sister, why'd she go? She's the one who would have taken me to my first all-ages show. It was the Violent Femmes and The Del Fuegos, before they had a record out, before they went gold and started to grow."
The Violent Femmes charted at #14 with their re-recording of their 1986 song 'I Held Her In My Arms', and Adam Roth, bass player for The Del Fuegos, charted at #1 as the bass player on Denis Leary's 'Asshole.'

At #93, R.E.M. featured with their song 'Man On The Moon', which is an homage to the late comedian Andy Kaufman. In 1999, a biopic of Kaufman named after R.E.M.'s song was released, with R.E.M. composing the music for the soundtrack. The soundtrack features 'Man On The Moon' in addition to another song written about Kaufman called 'The Great Beyond', which also featured in the 2000 countdown, reaching #55. Near the end of 'The Great Beyond', lyrics to 'Man On The Moon' can be heard, albeit very faintly.

At #100, Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker charted with their version of 'Gloria'. The song is a partial cover due to being originally written by Morrison in 1963 and performed by his band Them in 1964.

John Lee Hooker's appearance at #100 makes him the oldest person to appear in a countdown. At the time of the countdown, he was 76 years old.

1993 is, so far, one of only 2 countdowns to not feature 2 or more entries by a single artist in the top 20. The only other countdown to do this is 2007.

The countdown also features the moderately rare distinction of having no artists reach consecutive entries. This has also happened in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

Artists Featured

The Cruel Sea were the best performing band of the countdown, achieving 3 entries, their highest reaching number 9.
16 other artists managed to achieve 2 entries.

Artists With Multiple Entries

3 Tracks

2 Tracks

Countries Featured

The 1993 Hottest 100 featured artists from 11 countries, including 43 from the USA, 24 from Australia and 18 from England.

Jamaica featured twice in the countdown, which is, to date, a record that still stands.
Ireland's 4 tracks is their equal highest achievement, alongside the 1996 countdown.

A Couple Of Notes

‘Trout’, at #19, was a collaboration between Neneh Cherry and Michael Stipe (of the band R.E.M, so who also charted), who are Swedish and American, respectively. However, the track is counted as a Swedish entry for simplicity.

‘Gloria’, at #100, was a collaboration between Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker, who are Irish and American, respectively. However, the track is counted as an Irish entry for simplicity.

Countries Represented in the 1993 Countdown

Flag	Country	Entries
	Australia	24
	Canada	1
	England	18
	Germany	1
	Iceland	1
	Ireland	4
	Jamaica	2
	New Zealand	2
	Scotland	1
	Sweden	3
	USA	43