The '90s reigned supreme as over half a million Triple J listeners voted for their favourite songs of all time.

The hot flush of Gen X-era Triple J remains strong if the station's recent radio poll is any indication. The voting to determine the 100 best songs of all time attracted over half a million entries for a total of 13,000 songs. But it was the '90s guitar-heavy alternative rock that accounted for nearly half the polls entries. 

Forty-four songs from the '90s were in the final list, including seven in the top 10. Eight of the top 100 songs were from the ‘60s, eleven from the ‘70s, fifteen from the ‘80s and rounded out by twenty-two songs from the '00s.

Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', arguably the station's flagship track, came in at number one on the poll by an "overwhelming" majority. It beat out Rage Against the Machine's anthem 'Killing in the Name', Jeff Buckley's haunting take on Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', Joy Division's template for post-punk 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' and Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android' from their classic Ok Computer album, which rounded out the top 5.

Other observations: Female artists were nowhere to seen on the list. The only tenuous blips on the radar were a handful bands with a sole female member - The Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Dandy Warhols, Pulp and The White Stripes - and Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' which features Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on guest vocals. Radiohead and Jeff Buckley were the artists with the most songs in the list with 4 apiece, Bon Iver was the newest artist with 'Skinny Love' at 92, while the Hilltop Hoods were the highest ranking Australian artists at 17 with 'The Nosebleed Section'.

Here's the final list below.

1 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit


Nevermind producer Butch Vig discussing the recording of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

2 Rage Against the Machine - Killing In The Name
3 Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
4 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
5 Radiohead - Paranoid Android
6 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
7 Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
8 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge
9 Foo Fighters - Everlong
10 Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
11 John Lennon - Imagine
12 Oasis - Wonderwall
13 Radiohead - Creep
14 The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
15 Radiohead - Karma Police
16 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
17 Hilltop Hoods - The Nosebleed Section
18 Muse - Knights Of Cydonia
19 Metallica - One
20 White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
21 Powderfinger - These Days
22 Massive Attack - Teardrop
23 Hunters & Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me
24 The Beatles - A Day in the Life
25 Pearl Jam - Alive
26 Michael Jackson - Thriller
27 Powderfinger - My Happiness
28 Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
29 Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
30 Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
31 Metallica - Enter Sandman
32 New Order - Blue Monday
33 Silverchair - Tomorrow
34 The Living End - Prisoner Of Society
35 Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
36 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
37 Tool - Stinkfist 
38 The Killers - Mr Brightside
39 Pearl Jam - Better Man
40 Nirvana - Come As You Are
41 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
42 Bloc Party - Banquet
43 The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
44 The Beatles - Hey Jude
45 Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
46 Faith No More - Epic
47 John Butler Trio - Betterman
48 Beastie Boys - Sabotage
49 Guns 'N Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
50 Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
51 Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings
52 You Am I - Berlin Chair
53 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
54 The Cure - Close To Me
55 Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
56 Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should Have Come Over
57 Tool - Forty Six & 2
58 Daft Punk - Around The World
59 Augie March - One Crowded Hour
60 Johnny Cash - Hurt
61 Blur - Song 2
62 Nine Inch Nails - Closer
63 AC/DC - Thunderstruck
64 Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
65 Underworld - Born Slippy
66 Elton John - Tiny Dancer
67 Ben Folds Five - Brick
68 Blink 182 - Dammit
69 Jeff Buckley - Grace
70 The Prodigy - Breathe
71 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
72 The Shins - New Slang
73 The Clash - London Calling
74 Nirvana - Lithium
75 Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
76 The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
77 Gotye - Hearts A Mess
78 Smashing Pumpkins - Today
79 David Bowie - Life on Mars
80 The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
81 Pulp - Common People
82 System Of A Down - Chop Suey!
83 Placebo - Every You Every Me
84 Bob Marley & The Wailers - No Woman, No Cry
85 The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You
86 The Beatles - Come Together
87 Coldplay - Yellow
88 The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
89 Rage Against the Machine - Bulls On Parade
90 Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
91 AC/DC - Back In Black
92 Bon Iver - Skinny Love
93 Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
94 Modest Mouse - Float On
95 Stevie Wonder - Superstition
96 Daft Punk - One More Time
97 Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
98 Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
99 TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
100 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Read the expanded version of the entire list over at Triple J. 

The entire list will be screened on the ABC's Rage on August 8th and presented by Richard Kingsmill and Zan Rowe. Fingers crossed they play this version of Metallica's 'One':


Metallica (Shreds) - 'One'

UPDATE: We erroneously linked to an old list of 101-200 songs suggesting they were the leftovers from this years countdown. We were wrong, tangled up in our own web of lies, lies, lies...