Facts for 2003

The 2003 Hottest 100 was the eleventh 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 2004 and featured a mixture of 63 different artists, which is currently the third least variety in a Hottest 100, being beaten by the 2002 and 2005 countdowns.

The countdown is notable for having Powderfinger become the first band to have three tracks reach the top 10, with '(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind', 'Sunsets' and 'Love Your Way' reaching numbers 4, 7 and 10 respectively. This record would later be matched by Chet Faker in 2013, and gang Of Youths in 2017.

Jack White is notable as having 6 tracks of his reach the countdown. Five came from his usual work with The White Stripes, one coming from his collaboration with Electric Six with their track 'Danger! High Voltage', and another coming from a very brief vocal collaboration to Electric Six's 'Gay Bar'. However, Jack White's participation in these tracks was met with speculation.
Officially, the name of the performer of the secondary vocals in the credits for the song is John S. O'Leary, and White's appearance was denied by both the band and White himself. However, in addition to numerous professional music critics suspecting John S. O'Leary was a pseudonym for White, Dick Valentine, lead singer for Electric Six, confirmed in interviews that Jack White did indeed perform on the track.

Frenzal Rhomb's track 'Russell Crowe's Band', at #26, is currently the shortest song to ever appear in a Hottest 100. The band which Frenzal Rhomb are referring to in the song, 'TOFOG' ('30 Odd Foot Of Grunt', but now called 'The Ordinary Fear Of God'), have never placed in a Hottest 100.

At #65, the band Andromeda featured with their track 'Something White & Sigmund'. At the time of the countdown, the band were simply known as 'Andromeda', however, after aiming to avoid confusion with a Swedish band of the same name, the band lengthened their name in 2004 to 'Love Outside Andromeda'.

At #75, The Roots featured with their track 'The Seed (2.0)', which features musician Cody ChesnuTT. This track is a cover of the song 'The Seed' from Cody ChesnuTT's album 'The Headphone Masterpiece'. Cody ChesnuTT also appears at #74 with his song 'Look Good In Leather' from the same album.

At #96, Skeewiff featured with their track 'Man Of Constant Sorrow'. It is a remix of a track from the 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' soundtrack, and was originally titled 'O Skeewiff Where Art Thou'. Many sources, such as the Hottest 100 CD release for 2003, refer to the track as 'Man Of Constant Sorrow (Skeewiff Remix)', by The Soggy Bottom Boys, the name of the band who perform the song in the film.

At #100, The Cat Empire's 'The Chariot' marks the 1st time that the band has made it to number 100 in a countdown. They again reached this minor milestone in 2005 and the 2011 Australian Albums countdown.

Yet again, the countdown ended with a comical finish when Adam Spencer and Wil Anderson announced that the winning track was 'What About Me?', by 'Australian Idol' runner-up Shannon Noll. After playing a portion of the song, the announcers stopped the song and announced the real winner.
Ironically in 2008, 'Neopolitan Dreams', a track by Australian Idol runner-up Lisa Mitchell, charted at #91. Then, in 2016, Paces featured with a cover of L D R U's 'Keeping Score', which featured vocals from Guy Sebastian. Guy Sebastian was in fact the winner of the inaugural Australian Idol season, and was the artist to whom Shannon Noll lost to.

Artists Featured

The most successful artist of the year was Jack White, who managed to appear in 6 tracks with The White Stripes and Electric Six, his best reaching #3. The White Stripes and Powderfinger also appeared 5 times, with Powderfinger performing the best, their highest reaching #4.
The Cat Empire, Jack Johnson, Muse and Placebo each managed 3 tracks, while 24 other artists managed to get 2 tracks.

Artists With Multiple Entries

6 Tracks

5 Tracks

3 Tracks

2 Tracks

Countries Featured

The 2003 Hottest 100 featured artists from 7 countries, including 47 from Australia, 35 from the USA and 14 from England.

A Couple Of Notes

‘The Golden Path'', at #81, was a collaboration between The Chemical Brothers and The Flaming Lips, who are English and American, respectively. However, the track is counted as an English entry for simplicity.

‘Good Luck'', at #82, was a collaboration between Baement Jaxx and Lisa Kekaula, who are English and American, respectively. However, the track is counted as an English entry for simplicity.

‘We Don't Play Guitars'', at #84, was a collaboration between Chicks On Speed and Peaches, who are German and Canadian, respectively. However, the track is counted as a German entry for simplicity.
Chicks On Speed are in fact a band made of 7 members from 5 countries, including Australia, Estonia, Israel, Germany and the United States. However, since the band was formed in Germany, it is counted a German band.

Countries Represented in the 2003 Countdown

Flag	Country	Entries
	Australia	47
	Denmark	1
	England	13
	Germany	1
	Italy	1
	Scotland	1
	USA	36