This may work for some sites like big newspapers like the NYT), sites like TechCrunch, or big announcements like a new Apple product. Without any evidence, I'm sure that most (80%/90%?) of the post that reach the front page get there accumulating votes or by the "second chance" [1]

[1] I don't remember the official name. The explanation by dang was linked in other comment. I'll copy it here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11662380 The details are part of the secret sauce, so the details may have changed.