The year is almost over, finally! 2023 was a strange year, especially when it came to popular music. I've been hoping to see a change in the landscape of pop music as it has felt stuck in the same gear for what feels like too long now. I was also hoping to see some new artists innovate and start to change the future of pop music and see more new ideas out there and we did get that this year... just not in the way I thought? Hip-hop has dominated the charts for so long now I wasn't expecting it to have such a weak year on the top of the charts (compared to the last decade), but for the first time in forever, it actually showed signs of slowing down. The most shocking thing is what took its spot this year was a genre I wasn't expecting to see dominate. Country?!
Country music had some big names really shine for better or for worse with Morgan Wallen's latest album totally dominating and his single "Last Night" most likely taking the spot for the biggest song of the year in 2023. That alongside some politically charged country singles doing surprisingly well on the charts too due to getting tons of attention for their lyrics. But we also had a few artists return with new albums that had a lot of success too. Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Travis Scott, and Miley Cyrus were some of the artists who dropped big albums that were incredibly popular this year. That along with the continued dominance of Taylor Swift and her latest album "Midnights" paired with her Taylor's Version releases and Eras Tour are keeping her as the top artist in the US/World right now. Just recently Drake and Bad Bunny dropped new albums, but those are coming in pretty late in the year and may affect next year's charts as well as the late months of 2023. On a side note, can someone tell Drake to stop making albums that are almost an hour and a half long? He clearly doesn't have enough energy to fill out an album of that length, even though it's maybe one of his better recent releases... but not by much.
Anyway, with that out of the way, it's time for the best and worst hit songs of the year 2023. Just like previous years, this is a list of songs that were popular this year. Some of the songs were from last year but didn't become hits until this year. I'll also be keeping out songs that I already put on my list in previous years like all the Taylor Swift songs that made the charts again from old albums (Cruel Summer/Anti-Hero/August) and hits like "As It Was" and "Made You Look" that were on the list too.
STARTING WITH THE WORST
10th Worst: Oliver Anthony Music - "Rich Men North of Richmond"
I must say looking at the album artwork for this one made me nervous about what exactly this was going to be (a picture of Oliver Anothony singing)... that alongside all the arguments it started on Twitter. I actually ended up enjoying a tiny bit of this song, especially the first minute of the song where it feels a lot more relatable. At first, the song feels like a message of solidarity amongst the struggling lower to middle class and how everyone is just barely getting by these days as the rich get richer and I can feel what he was going for there. It isn't until the second verse that things start to get pretty strange. He goes on to complain about politicians and how they spend their time looking for minors on an island, which is really specific. The problem lies more with him just randomly shifting his whole message about how the poor are struggling to instead blame people on welfare for his struggles. That one small part just completely drives the song off a cliff and makes Oliver Anthony seem pretty naive. While I think his voice is pretty decent, at the end of the day the song just feels like it's missing something for me, paired with those dumb lyrics put the song on the list.
9th Worst: Oliver Tree - "Miss You" (ft. Robin Shulz)
I've known about Oliver Tree's music for a while now, but I can honestly say I never really understood his popularity. For a while, I thought that maybe I just didn't get his music, but I think over time I've come to the conclusion that his music just sucks. His big single this year "Miss You" was I think what made me realize this. The song is just so awful there's no way a person who knew anything about good music could make something this annoying. I feel like this song was designed to be annoying like those old gummy bear and crazy frog songs from back in the day. The high-pitched chipmunk vocals pretty much confirm that. You have to really try to make something this bad, so either he just hates his fans or he truly doesn't understand the concept of music. I really hope it's the second option. I don't know if maybe I just don't get this whole meme as music thing that he seems to be going for because he is incredibly popular on streaming platforms. Listening to some of his other songs just makes me question what exactly people are looking for in music these days. At the end of the day, to me, it's not funny or clever enough to make it worth listening to terrible music.
8th Worst: Morgan Wallen - "Thinkin' Bout Me"
As I said in the intro, it's been a huge year for Wallen and his career. He released a double album early in the year that's almost two hours long (there is no god) that was wildly popular and had tons of chart success. Things were looking a bit bleak for Wallen after he was caught on camera saying a racial slur, but he was somehow able to make a big comeback and become one of the biggest country artists out there. The thing is... his album wasn't very good or original. Just another country artist putting tons of hip-hop and pop elements into his music. Add generic modern bro country lyrics to the mix and you have an album that's an hour and a half too long with barely enough to keep it interesting throughout its bloated runtime. "Thinking Bout Me" is an incredibly generic song about how Wallen is wondering if his ex is thinking about him while she's moving on with her life. Something that's never been done before in the history of music. He does absolutely nothing new with this overdone idea as he half-heartedly sings the most generic lyrics possible. It's just completely overdone bullshit and Waller has absolutely no charisma on this track or even emotion to make it stand out in any way at all. Garbage.
7th Worst: Gunna - "Fukumean"
Yeah, this was a huge letdown. This song somehow became a huge hit this year and ended up being the 31st-best-performing song in the USA (2023). I guess the good thing about this song is that's not much more than 2 minutes long. Even those two minutes feel way too long for a song that really doesn't have much to offer. Typical brag raps where he talks about the tons of women he's sleeping with as he of course makes it all bout himself and how much they need to please him. That's pretty much it, not like Gunna could even be bothered to make it more interesting with his low energy unclever rapping. Well at least I wasn't expecting too much from this artist... unlike the next artist on this list.
6th Worst: Drake / 21 Savage - "Rich Flex"
From the Drake and 21 Savage collab album of late 2022 comes "Rich Flex". Drake continued his streak of mid albums, but this time bringing in another name to the mix. It's frustrating to see Drake continue to put out all these mediocre playlists and albums when we know he's capable of actually putting out some good stuff. Actually, I'm not even sure that's true anymore because it's been so long since he's put out an album that's more than mediocre. With "Rich Flex" you get the amazingly generic brag rap lyrics with the regular low-energy Drake rapping where even he sounds tired of talking about all this shit. I think I've fully given up on the idea of Drake ever going back to being interesting because it's been like six or seven years of this now. If he still has all the success without any of the innovation or creativity then what's the point of making anything more than decent?
5th Worst: HARDY - "TRUCK BED"
This guy really popped out of nowhere this year to have a handful of hits and get significant play around the USA. This guy feels straight out of the early 00s post-grunge scene, but not in a good way. It's like Puddle of Mudd had a baby with Morgan Wallen to make a very unlikable creature that makes boring music. Boring lyrics and uninteresting music all with frontman HARDY's talentless singing. Oh yeah, a country song about a truck, that's cool. In this song, Hardy wakes up in his truck bed because his girl made him sleep outside after he kept coming home late after drinking. The verses aren't interesting and the chorus isn't as clever as Hardy seems to think it is with the amount of times he repeats it in this song. Well if this is the amount of talent you need to become a hit maker in the country scene, then I guess I better drink a bottle of Jack and pick up a guitar. There's also the implication of him shooting his girlfriend because of her finally kicking him to the curb for being a drunk asshole, so that's nice... God, this guy sucks.
4th Worst: Meghan Trainor - "Mother"
"The fact that Meghan Trainor is literally mother right now." That's how the song starts so you know we're in for a good time. Yeah, this song is a continuation of her hit last year "Made You Look", but only much worse. She continues with the 1950s doo-woop style that she used to become popular when she first became a big name. The thing is, it just feels overdone by her at this point and it feels more like a safety net that she needed to use when her music started getting fewer hits. This time she samples the classic "Mr. Sandman" by the Chordettes and butchers it with annoying production. It just feels like a mess of a song that's trying desperately to become a viral hit... which it kind of did so good job on that one. Maybe try something new next time Meghan... though that hasn't really worked out for her in the past so never mind just keep doing whatever this is.
3rd Worst: Morgan Wallen - "Last Night"
Could you make a more boring song, Wallen? Actually, he likely will. This song is most likely going to be the biggest hit of the year and honestly, it kinda deserves it because this boring ass year of pop music needs a representative like this. I don't even know how Wallen qualifies as a country artist as he pretty much just uses basic hip-hop production for all his boring ass music. I guess the twangy guitar is enough to keep this in the country genre? It certainly isn't the heavy bass and finger snaps that make this a country hit. Lyrically, we get yet another overdone topic by Wallen, as he once again uses no emotion to talk about a toxic relationship. But it truly seems like he doesn't really care about anything because of how little energy he puts into these hit songs. If you have no charisma, boring production, and uninteresting lyrics then what are we supposed to remember at all from this mega-hit? Nothing... the answer is nothing. It's not even so bad it's memorable like "Mother" and "Gently". It's just a whole lot of nothing.
2nd Worst: Jason Aldean: "Try That In A Small Town"
Generic country song by a generic country artist. At any other time, this kind of song would just exist in a small space and not even come close to becoming a hit. How do you make a song with boring music and an even more boring artist a hit? You add pandering controversial lyrics at a time when that is almost guaranteed to get people talking and spreading your song around. A guy who's not from a small town pretends to be all about that life. You get all the hits here with lines like:
"Got a gun that my grandad gave me, they say one day they're gonna round them up": It wouldn't be the South without loving guns and respecting my grandad who's most likely a Vietnam vet. Also the obligatory "THEY AIN'T TAKIN' OUR GUNS!" line.
"Stomp on the flag and light it up, yeah you think you're tough": Maybe it's not so much the fact that people ARE burning USA flags, but WHY they are doing such a thing that matters?
"Full of good ol' boys, raised up right": Ready to shoot anyone who messes with the American flag! Also, what does raised up right mean to this guy? Gun-loving, trigger-happy dudes that's what. Probably the kind of guys who fall for a super pandering song by a rich country artist who doesn't actually care about them.
And yes, the music video was shot in front of a historic lynching site while splicing footage of protesters. Wonder what Jason and his team were going for there? (sigh)
Like I said when I first reviewed this song, it's just not good at all. Jason Aldean brings nothing interesting vocally and lyrically it's lazy pandering that's trying too hard to offend the left and trying too hard to appeal to the right. The thing is, it doesn't even really do that right. The most offensive thing about this song is how boring it is. Even the guitar solo sounds like it doesn't want to be in this song. So it's best to just leave this song to die over time as it's 100% going to be forgotten in a few months by most people. Please.
The WORST Song of 2023: David Guetta - "Baby Don't Hurt Me"
Two years in a row. Two years in a row with awful 90s samples turned into shit songs. Last year it was the awful "I'm Blue" sample that was somehow worse than the original because it took itself too seriously. Now we get one of the most iconic club songs of the 90s in "What is Love?" by Haddaway being butchered. David Guetta proves he has no idea what made the original song amazing by taking all the parts of it and completely shredding all the fun out of it. The original had some of the most memorable synths and catchy melodies, but all that is somehow gone in this new version.
It actually blows my mind how badly he messed this up, it can't be that hard to make a new mix of "What is Love" and put a few new elements into it. The main problem is everything Guetta changes is significantly worse than the original. The song tempo feels slightly faster which throws everything off instantly. Anne-Marie just doesn't have the voice to pull this off either, as she sings the iconic chorus it just sounds so bland and passionless. There's literally no reason for this to exist as it only makes me want to play the original every time I hear it. Please for the love of God, David Guetta, don't touch "This Is Your Night" by Amber. I beg of you.
AND NOW... the best songs of 2023
Special mention: Megan Thee Stallion - "Cobra"
A song that came out when I finished making my list and I thought about putting it on, but I think my final list is what I'm sticking to now. This does have the potential to grow on me though and maybe I'll get a chance to put it on the list next year for best songs since it's technically not on it this year. I really enjoy the use of guitars for this song as it feels totally different than anything Megan has done up to this point and a fresh sound for the charts in general. Hopefully, it sticks around in the charts long enough to become a significant hit for next year's end list.
Special Mention 2: Dua Lipa - "Houdini"
Another great song that came out too late. Pretty much the same as "Cobra" in that I can see this making the list next year. BUT Dua Lipa also has a new album coming out next year, so I can see there being even better songs than this one on that.
10th Best: Bailey Zimmerman - "Religiously"
After reading my worst songs you probably think I hate all pop country, but I'm here to tell you that's definitely true. Okay, not really because there are some decent songs out there and this is one of those good ones. Bailey Zimmerman reminds me more of Morgan Wallen's early albums in which they actually were pretty good. Before he became a huge pop-country star he was actually making some decent music and Bailey Zimmerman feels like the better version of what Wallen is now. That's to say this song still feels like it's actually country and not trying hard to be something else. Bailey has a good voice and the music feels a little more like traditional country here. The lyrics are also a lot more interesting than anything Wallen and Jason Aldean are putting out there right now too. The song "Religiously" is all about Bailey's past relationship that ended in heartbreak. He blames himself for not doing enough for her and even though his life is going great it feels empty without her. It feels a lot more personal and emotional than Wallen's "Thinkin' Bout Me" as you can actually feel what Bailey's going through here. A nice surprise for sure and I'll be keeping an eye on Zimmerman's new music.
9th Best: Tainy - "MOJABI GHOST" (w/ Bad Bunny)
Producer Tainy teams up again with Bad Bunny to make another great song. Tainy is a legend in the music scene, working with pretty much every big Reggeaton artist over the last 20 years. Of course, Bad Bunny doesn't need an introduction as he's one of the biggest artists in the world right now even outside of his genre. In this song, we get a more synth-heavy pop sound that sounds very cyberpunky. I think that's why I like the song so much because it sounds like something straight out of a cyberpunk movie/game soundtrack. I like the idea of Bad Bunny trying different things with his music as it keeps his sound fresh and from getting too repetitive like a lot of mainstream artists who rely on one style to stay popular. The rest of this album (Data by Tainy) is an interesting mix of this same sound and reggeaton beats with a lot of classic and modern artists.
8th Best: Beyonce - "CUFF IT"
Beyonce's fantastic album "RENAISSANCE" was a big hit last summer and it shined showing Beyonce trying some new styles with her music and was a great return after her 2016 album "Lemonade" (unless you count the Lion King album from 2020). "CUFF IT" is the second big single from that album following the big hit "BREAK MY SOUL". This one features a more disco vibe that reminds me of something out of Dua Lipa's "Future Nostalgia" album. You get that awesome bass dominating the song along with some funky guitar and horns that are all elevated by Beyonce's amazing vocals. I guess it's not surprising that her vocals are still as good if not better than ever at this point. The song is fun no doubt and the kind of song you can pretty much play over and over and not get tired of.
7th Best: Grupo Frontera/Bad Bunny - "un x100to"
The last few years on my end-of-the-year lists I've complained about how a lot of TikTok music is terrible and makes me feel old as I don't really get it. There are always exceptions to everything as this Texas-based band proves that not everything that gets popular because of TikTok is bad... in fact it can be really good. Grupo Frontera teamed up with mega-star Bad Bunny to make one of the best charting songs of the year and something that feels like a breath of fresh air in a time of repetition. The continuing rise of Latin music in America is pretty cool and seeing artists like this make a name for themselves making a cumbia-style song is encouraging. The song is about the tough times you go through when you miss someone you care about and you're sad that you're the reason it didn't work out. Add a little bit of Reggeaton flavor with Bad Bunny and you got yourself a certified hit. Everything about this just works though, and it makes me hope that more songs like this and more different genres can get some attention in the mainstream.
6th Best: Billie Eilish - "What Was I Made For?"
Billie Eilish returns to the charts with a heartbreaking song called "What Was I Made For?" The song was made for the Barbie movie that was released this summer to huge success. If the idea was to make a song that would somehow make you feel like crying no matter what mood you were currently in then it was a huge success. It's not as simple as playing a sad piano to make it all work though, it takes talent for sure and this song has plenty of that with Eilish. Her voice works perfectly for this type of song and the slow piano does well to elevate the emotion she's singing about. That and the way the song slowly builds throughout as it adds little touches like adding some strings and layering her voice. The only problem is this is the kind of song I won't be coming back to very often for all the reasons mentioned above so that takes some points away there.
5th Best: Olivia Rodrigo - "Vampire"
Olivia made her triumphant return after her breakout year in 2021 where she became one of the biggest names in music with her first album "Sour". "Vampire" was the first single from her new album "GUTS", which so far has been a great follow-up in terms of popularity and hits. I reviewed this song a few months ago on this blog and while I gave it a positive review, I did make fun of the basic lyrics where she refers to her ex as a vampire who bled her dry. It's not very clever sure, but it's easy for me to move past when I just really enjoy everything else about the song. It's certainly grown on me the last few months a little more and now I can just have fun with it.
4th Best: Dua Lipa - "Dance The Night"
Not only did the Barbie movie save the box office with Oppenheimer, but it also provided some great hits on the charts. Dua Lipa released the single "Dance the Night" to promote alongside the movie's release. The song pretty much feels like an unreleased single from "Future Nostalgia", which is one of the best modern pop albums made. I mean the world could always use more "Future Nostalgia". This one has got the same disco vibes with modern production as her last few hits. It's just as fun as the rest of that album, which makes me hope this means there's more music from Dua Lipa coming soon. She just confirmed a new album coming out next year so I look forward to having more of her songs on this list next year.
3rd Best: Miley Cyrus - "Flowers"
A song that dominated the entire year as it came out in January and still hasn't gone away. This song actually grew me a lot over the months as when I first heard it I found it pretty disappointing overall. While I really enjoy the song now, I unfortunately never really turned around on the album "Endless Summer Vacation". The album was one of the first big releases of the year and I was very excited to hear her follow-up to the fantastic "Plastic Hearts". The album didn't live up to the hype I had for it, but one thing that it did accomplish was my appreciation for the song "Flowers". It's a standout in the album for sure and it deserves its massive success. The song has that loud funky bass that a lot of pop songs have these days and I'll never get tired of hearing that. The lyrics are all about how Miley is doing great in her single life as she can do all the things she used to do with her partner all by herself and enjoy it just as much if not better. The song dropped on her ex-husband's birthday so that's maybe a hint as to who the song is about.
2nd Best: Tyler Childers - "In Your Love"
A name I was unfamiliar with until earlier this year when this single was released. A song that instantly captured my attention and got me to dive into Tyler's previous works. I was not disappointed in what I found, actually, I quite liked a lot of what I heard from Tyler Childers. "In Your Love" is Tyler's biggest hit to date as it actually got some chart success enabling me to qualify it for this list here. As someone who's not aware of what's going on in the country music scene, I wouldn't know that Tyler has been on the rise for a while now and this success isn't a big surprise, especially after listening to some of his previous work. It probably also helps how country music itself has been on the rise the last few years and had plenty of huge breakout stars really show up on the charts this year. The song is a love song about working hard and fighting for your love. The video though, is heart-crushing if you haven't seen it yet it's worth the watch for sure.
THE BEST SONG OF 2023: SZA - "Kill Bill"
Sza continued to prove why she's one of the best mainstream artists out there currently when she dropped her hit album SOS late last year. The album had multiple hits, but none of them bigger than "Kill Bill" as it had the potential to be the biggest hit of the year if it wasn't for Morgan Wallen's "Last Night" taking that spot. "Kill Bill" is all about how SZA is going to murder her ex and his new girlfriend after he moved on from SZA. The idea of him being happy without her makes her sick to the point where she wants to end him instead of seeing him move on. The name "Kill Bill" inspired by the movie implies that she was hurt by him and this is her way of getting revenge just like in the film. It makes for a great song with a bit of a darker edge to it for a pop song. Of course, SZA's vocals drive the song as she doesn't really miss in that aspect. The music fits in perfectly with the lyrical content too with some interesting bass lines. Congrats to "Kill Bill" for winning best song of the year from this random blog nobody knows about : )
That was my list and I hope you enjoyed it and check out the songs you might have missed. As I usually do on these lists I will include non-mainstream music recommendations below. This time I'll put some of my personal favorite songs and albums of 2023 on a list. Also, I'll include some other albums I liked and include the genre in case you are looking for new music to check out.
This year I found myself gravitating towards the pop genre more than ever. A huge part of that is how many great albums dropped this year in that genre as I'll share down below. A few rock bands came back from long hiatuses to drop some really good albums as well, which was a great surprise for me. It was a great year for discovering new artists who won me over with some fantastic albums like Chapell Roan, Jessie Ware, and Jordan Ward to name a few. But here's the list of albums and songs I loved starting with my personal favorites:
MY 10 FAVORITE ALBUMS
Paramore - "This Is Why" (Alternative)
Chapell Roan - "Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess" (Indie Pop)
Caroline Polachek - "Desire, I Want to Turn Into You" (Pop)
Sufjan Stevens - "Javelin" (Indie Folk)
The Aces - "I've Loved You For So Long" (Indie Pop/Rock)
Fall Out Boy - "So Much (For) Stardust (Rock)
Aluna - "MYCELiUM" (Dance/Electronic)
Jessie Ware - "THAT! FEELS GOOD!" (Pop)
The Hives - "The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons" (Rock)
Grouptherapy. - "I Was Mature For My Age, but I Was Still a Child" (Hip-Hop)
MY 10 FAVORITE SONGS
Caroline Polachek - "Sunset" (pop)
Chapell Roan - "Red Wine Supernova" (pop)
Aluna /Chris Lake - "Beggin'" (dance/electronic)
Sufjan Stevens - "My Red Little Fox"
Noname - "boomboom" (Hip-Hop)
Depeche Mode - "Ghosts Again" (synthpop)
The Last Dinner Party - "Nothing Matters" (Indie Rock)
Troye Sivan - "Rush" (Pop)
Paramore - "Thick Skull" (Alternative)
Carly Rae Jepsen - "Shy Boy" (pop)
Other Great Albums
Boygenius - "the record" (Indie Rock)
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - "Weathervanes" (Country)
Lana Del Rey - "Did you know there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd" (Indie Pop)
Carly Rae Jepsen - "The Loveliest Time" (Pop)
The National - "First Two Pages of Frankenstein / Laugh Tracks" (Indie Rock)
JPEGMAFIA - "Scaring the Hoes" (Hip-Hop)
Hozier - "Unreal Unearth" (Singer-Songwriter / Alternative)
Mitski - "The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We" (Indie Pop)
Geese - "3D Country" (Indie Rock)
Creeper - "Sanguivore" (Punk / Goth Rock)
Blur - "The Ballad of Darren" (Indie Rock)
Dominic Fike - "Sunburn" (Indie Pop/Rock)
Troye Sivan - "Something to Give Each Other" (Pop)
Kelala - "Raven" (R&B)
Sofia Kourteis - "Madres" (Indie Pop/Electronic)
Cautious Clay - "KARPEH" (R&B Soul)
ROMY - "Mid Air" (Dance/Electronic)
Joey Valance & Brae - "PUNK TACTICS" (Hip-Hop)
Spiritbox - "The Fear of Fear EP" (Metalcore)
Meet Me @ The Altar - "PAST // PRESENT // FUTURE" (Pop Punk)
Jordan Ward - "FORWARD" (R&B)
Iusillon - "Pensando mucho y mal" (Indie Rock)
MxPx - "Find a Way Home" (Punk)
And as always, a playlist of songs from all the artists on this list and a few other songs I really liked.