Triple J disqualifies Taylor Swift from Hottest 100 because Buzzfeed tried to ‘troll the poll’
Radio station Triple J has confirmed that it has disqualified Taylor Swift’s song Shake It Off from its annual Australia Day Hottest 100, claiming viral site Buzzfeed tried to “troll the poll” with its campaign to get the song onto the list.
The ABC’s 40-year-old youth station tweeted a link headed “8 Hilarious But Totally True Reasons You Won’t Hear ‘Shake It off'”. The link went to a spoof website Triple J Feed, designed to look like Buzzfeed.
The #tay4hottest100 campaign was started last week by Buzzfeed News reporter Mark Di Stefano. But Triple J article claimed: “Whilst their advertisers enjoyed the sweet page views, it’s not legit for other media to try and troll the poll.”
The posting from Triple J also claimed that many of those voting were doing so simply poke fun at the station’s non-pop “hipster” audience. It said: “it became pretty clear, pretty quick that a lot of people just wanted to prod some ‘hipsters’ for the lulz.”
The message also took aim at last week’s attempt by KFC to get Swift onto the list. It said: “The Hottest 100’s an opportunity for individuals everywhere to cast their votes for their legit favourite songs of the year.
“The invitation doesn’t extend to Fried Chicken companies eager to wrap their greasy fingers around a freshly-minted hashtag … we’d prefer if people voted for the love of music, not the love of cholesterol.”
Last week KFC posted the message to its Facebook page endorsing the campaign before apologising when it became clear that Triple J might use the commercial endorsement as a reason to remove the song from contention.
Triple J claims that if the song had not been disqualified, it would still only have got to number 12 on the list. Chet Faker’s Talk Is Cheap topped the list, with Triple J saying there were nearly 2.1m votes, excluding the disqualified Taylor Swift votes.
Buzzfeed did not respond to requests for comment.
Nic Christensen
Praise be Triple J!
User ID not verified.
What a disgrace, JJJ can shove it up their arse.
User ID not verified.
Tried this morning and tonight, haven’t been able to access the site. Why not just put it on the ABC site which actually works
User ID not verified.
The voting for the Hottest 100 was open for about a month (maybe?) before the hash tag began. That would be enough time to get a gauge of how the voting would’ve continued. I’d be very interested to see how that song was tracking before the hype boosted the votes.
User ID not verified.
What’s wrong with ‘prodding hipsters for the lulz?’
User ID not verified.
Triple J is an alternative music radio station and Taylor Swift is mainstream pop. It’s no loss for anyone when they banned her songs from being put on the list. People who prodded the ‘hipsters’ for the ‘lulz’ need to stop being so pathetic and attention seeking.
User ID not verified.
I never realised there was the equivalent of the Alan Jones anti-bike league out there in the music world until this. I couldn’t believe the Anti J League (perhaps the offspring of the original anti J zealots like the rev fred) got so fired up. It’s opened my eyes to how important some people see JJJ. For example, I don’t like 2Day FM, but I don’t actively go out and troll them, I just listen to the music I like instead. Why don’t all those in the AJL do the same? Or is this a deeper issue, based on breaking down the ABC on many fronts…
User ID not verified.
Come on Lauren, its not about the lulz, its definitely the prodding of hipsters!
User ID not verified.