Triple M has explored its 45-year history, revealing its Most Played Songs measured entirely by airplay.
After more than four decades of cultural impact, GANGgajang’s beloved Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia) took the top spot. Six songs in the top ten are Australian: Don’t Change by INXS, Dumb Things by Paul Kelly and The Messengers, You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, Choirboys’ Run To Paradise, and The Screaming Jets’ Better.
Those Aussie classics are accompanied by Van Halen’s Jump, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way, and Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer.
It’s an example of the timeless tunes you can find throughout the list, from Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh and Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under The Bridge.
Upon introducing its Most Played Songs list, the Triple M team said that “These songs raised us” and “built the station.”
Millions of songs have been played across the station’s 45-year history, and for the first time, all of them have been counted to round up Triple M’s Most Played Songs.
“What emerged wasn’t just a countdown — it was a snapshot of history,” the station shared. “A living record of the songs Australians kept turning up, requesting, replaying, and returning to over nearly half a century.
“And after laying all the data out, one thing became very clear: The results aren’t quite what you think.
“This countdown isn’t a vote. It’s not a popularity contest. And it’s not built for debate. It’s the raw history of Triple M — measured entirely by airplay. A reflection of longevity, connection, and the songs that never left.”
For regular listeners, the list isn’t all that surprising: you could tune in to Triple M and hear Men At Work’s Down Under or the Divinyls’ Boys In Town on an ordinary day. Also making the list, which has gathered a mammoth 600 songs, are tracks by Goanna, Silverchair, Aerosmith, The Killers, Oasis, The Angels, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Foo Fighters, R.E.M., Split Enz, Bruce Springsteen, Blondie, U2, Dire Straits, Australian Crawl, The Living End, Fleetwood Mac, Powderfinger, Martha & The Muffins, Guns N’ Roses, ICEHOUSE, Linkin Park, The Cranberries, Green Day, Crowded House, Spiderbait, Sheryl Crow, The Cure, blink-182, John Farnham, Metallica, Pat Benatar, Elton John, the Eagles, David Bowie, Killing Heidi, Garbage, Jimmy Barnes, and many, many others.
You can check out the list in its entirety here.
GANGgajang frontman Mark “Cal” Callaghan expressed disbelief about the group’s unmistakably Australian classic, Sounds Of Then, reaching the top spot.
“What the heck!? That’s amazing,” Callaghan remarked. “It was a song that just came — out of the ether somewhere.”
“I’m house-sitting in Kirribilli, Sydney, and looking out the window at the same block of flats where, in 1982, I recorded the demo of Sounds of Then on my first 8-track recorder. How about that?”
Countrytown brings you Australia’s best country music news, interviews, charts and more every week! This post was authored by Countrytown and originally published on the Countrytown website. It has been re-published with permission.
