It was the 20th countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J.

[1] Over 1.5 million votes were cast in this countdown, beating the record set in 2011.

[2] In the week prior to the countdown, Nick Drewe, a Brisbane statistician and marketer, analysed the votes that had been published on social media and determined the possible top 100, naming it the Warmest 100.

[3][4] The ABC have announced that it would likely make changes to the voting system to prevent "spoiler attempts" in future countdowns.

[6][7] A smaller poll of Triple J listeners' favourite albums of the year was held in December 2012.