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BY RadioToday Network June 13, 2026
What's New July 18, 2025
Ben Lee clarifies his comments on triple j’s Hottest 100 and Kyle & Jackie O
Reporter
Australian indie musician Ben Lee has moved to clarify his comments about triple j’s Hottest 100, following reports he’d like to see it handed over to KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
Calling for an Australian-only Hottest 100 to become the standard, Lee told the Sydney Morning Herald (subscription required) he felt commercial radio was a better fit for the chart.
Lee took to Instagram to address any confusion over the resulting headlines about K & J potentially taking over the Hottest 100, saying “I’m not suggesting handing them the keys to the kingdom, lol.”
“What I’m saying is let commercial radio handle servicing multi-national major labels – that’s their job. triple j is taxpayer funded and I think those funds would be better used almost exclusively supporting Australian artists and culture.”
“Anyway, I hope all of this conversation is taken with the passion and love for Australian music and for triple j that I am intending it with.”
Lee – whose 2005 song Catch My Disease was a local hit and gained international recognition after being featured in the American TV series Grey’s Anatomy – is quick to add that triple j was instrumental in shaping his own career.
“As a public utility only benefits when we get around, get opinionated and get debating!”
“Long live Aussie music.”
*Ben Lee image: Instagram
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BY Sarah Patterson June 12, 2026
Agree wholeheartedly that triple j should continue to champion Australian music (as it has done so for the entirety of its existence); but to ditch music from multi-national major labels and just focus almost exclusively on Australian (indie) music and culture isn’t the answer.
To promote and grow anything successfully, you need a wide audience. A triple j that only plays indie Australian music would become even more of an echo chamber for the few die hard listeners and do little to promote music to a wider audience.
If the kids aren’t hearing some songs they know, they won’t listen at all. If anything, triple j should be playing more commercially successful artists in the same way BBC Radio 1 does. It has proven that you can do both, and do it well.