It’s been an interesting year in the B&T newsroom.

From Clive Palmer’s $60 million ad campaign flop that didn’t see him win a single seat, to a viral app that shows you what you look like as you age, to a royal demi chignon scandal (yeah, that one confused us too), we bring you the 10 most read B&T stories of 2019 according to Google Analytics account.

#10 “Big Boys & Their Balls!” The Time Israel Folau Starred On The Cover A Gay Mag 

This was a gloriously ironic addition to one of the biggest stories of the year in sport. Folau was sacked from the Australian national rugby team following homophobic comments on his personal Instagram account.

The saga has been written about 10 times on B&T alone this year, considering the potential ramifications for advertising campaigns and sponsorship deals. But there’s something beautifully ironic about this story that you can’t help but laugh at.

#9 The XX’s Newest Music Video Starring Millie Bobby Brown Doubles As A Calvin Klein Ad 

A campaign in the form of a music video for a huge name like The XX and starring Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown did the business for Calvin Klein. At seven minutes long, here’s the proof that an ad can certainly be longer than 15 or 30 seconds… if it’s good.

#8 The Results Are In! 30 Under 30 Shortlist Revealed

Evidence that B&T‘s 30 Under 30 Awards really do matter. Our audience is obviously keen to see who makes the shortlist! And here’s a reminder of this year’s 30 Under 30 cohort.

#7 Genius Clive Palmer IKEA Spoof Ad Goes Viral 

Who could forget the Clive Palmer billboards plastered all across the country in early 2019? This was a much-needed injection of cash for the major media owners with Palmer spending more on advertising than Sportsbet, Telstra and McDonald’s last year. Yet despite all that, he failed to win a single seat, and an Aussie creative capitalised beautifully on it (and helped IKEA out along the way).

Everyone wins, right? Except of course Clive Palmer.

#6 Newspaper Forced To Apologise Over Kate Middleton’s “Demi Chignon” Hairdo 

With little to do with advertising, all this story proves is that Australians do still care about the Royals. Whether that remains true following the Prince Andrew debacle remains to be seen.

#5 App That Shows You What You’ll Look Like As You Age Goes Viral But Raises Privacy Concerns

Back in July a light-hearted app that showed users what they would look like as they aged went viral. But it wasn’t long before rumours of security concerns around privacy plagued the app, and we haven’t heard much since.

#4 Google Pixel Billboard Cheekily Rips On iPhone For Being, Well, A Rip-Off 

Everyone loves a good rivalry between brands. In this campaign back in May, Google Pixel poked fun at rival Apple with a billboard that ripped into the fact that the iPhone X is, well, a rip-off.

#3 KIIS’ Kyle & Jackie O “Dumped” On Air This Morning 

There’s no denying that this was pure click-bait journalism. We promise to do better next year.

#2 Poor Ratings For Nine Force The Network Into Today Show Rethink 

B&T isn’t often on the nose with our predictions but let the record show that we predicted Karl would be back eight months ago! And it was confirmed two days ago that Stefanovic will indeed be back on Today in 2020 from Monday January 6.

#1 “Highly Insensitive!” Selena Gomez’s Puma Campaign Manages To Upset Entire Religion 

Who would have thought that our biggest story for 2019 would have come just three weeks ago with the launch of a print campaign for sportswear brand Puma?

The image, featuring Selena Gomez, had Gomez standing on a pile of books (which are revered in Hindu culture), managed to offend almost a billion Hindus and Indians in one go. Quite the feat.

So there you have it, that’s our most-read stories from the year.

Narrowly missing out was the 2019 B&T Women in Media shortlist, our B&T Women in Media Power List Nominees, Roy Morgan’s open letter to the media industry plus MediaCom CEO Willie Pang’s response. And too many more to mention.

Thanks for reading B&T. If you’d like to support us, one small way you can is by subscribing to our print magazine which comes out four times a year. Happy Holidays and we look forward to writing for you again in 2020!