The Best "Best of 2023" Lists

Our fourth annual list of lists recapping the year in music!

Keeping up with the music world just isn’t the same without Twitter.

Admittedly, it’s lame to get nostalgic about a social media platform. But the downfall of Twitter really has taken a toll on the cultural conversation (and, uh…society) in 2023, as we’ve lost a shared space to process trends, reactions, memes, and moments in real time.

List season isn’t really the same anymore either, now that we have to follow our favorite publications and critics across fragmented platforms. (Follow me on Threads, btw!) But of course, the lists themselves are still a ton of fun, and a great way to find new music worth hearing. You just have to know where to look. Or, you have to be subscribed to a newsletter that curates them all in one place.

Fortunately, you do! My OCD comes in handy this time of year, as I relentlessly track and recap the essential lists for understanding the year in music. So let’s dive in.

As always, follow the Hear Hear playlist to listen as you read — I’ve added personal picks from all the music listed below.

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Hidden gems: Playlists from discovery-focused blogs

The music blog landscape continues to shift, but I still rely on a trusty few for new artists to discover.

New Commute: Albums of the Year 2023. This blog (and IG account) maintains an air of mystique, but whoever curates it is damn good at finding accessible, warm sounds from emerging indie rock and folk artists. A few highlights…

• Swinging Stars, Mapache: This harmony-heavy California crew has become a new favorite band. Their stellar album is a front-to-back delight of heartfelt, sun-drenched folk-rock with shades of Dr. Dog and the Grateful Dead.

• Everything Harmony, The Lemon Twigs: A shameless riff on ‘70s baroque pop, inspired by bands like Wings and The Zombies. The absurdly catchy hook of “In My Head” has indeed been lodged in my head all year.

• Bunny, Beach Fossils: Dreamy, chill indie rock with a Real Estate vibe.

You’ll recognize plenty of artists on their list from past issues of Hear Hear, including: Cut Worms, Fust, Jess Williamson, Hazel City, Wednesday, Squirrel Flower, Hotline TNT, Bonny Doon, and MJ Lenderman

Gorilla vs. Bear: Albums and Songs of 2023. GvB is always on the pulse of hip, eclectic sounds.

• Standout artists: Cinematic dream-pop from Sea Lemon, modern folk from Georgia Gets By (a solo spinoff of BROODS) and Helena Deland, playful pop-rock from Being Dead

• Their #1 album: Erotic Probiotic 2, Nourished By Time. Deemed a “genre-defying outlier that's earned Brown lofty but deserved comparisons to singular luminaries like Arthur Russell, Blue Nile, SWV, and Prince.”

• Their #1 song: Like many others, GvB picked Lana Del Rey’s “A&W” as the top track of the year. It’s undeniably interesting and worth a listen, but for whatever reason her stuff mostly doesn’t connect with me! 🤷‍♂️

Small Albums: Best 100 Tracks of 2023. An overwhelming amount of artists to discover, with pop-punk gems galore. I was excited to see Say Sue Me, Hurry, Superviolet, and Greg Mendez on here — and can’t wait to shuffle around the rest.

Said the Gramophone: Best Songs of 2023. This legendary 20-year-old blog is mostly dormant now, but Sean still returns for an annual year-end post with thoughtful writing and songs that fall outside of the usual picks. Featuring a bunch of intriguing tracks from Feist, Jorja Smith, Mk.gee + Two star, Ben Howard, Noah Kahan + Kacey Musgraves, Cleo Sol, The Japanese House, and more.

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Consensus picks: Playlists that tell the story of 2023

Pitchfork’s Albums + Songs // Stereogum’s Albums + Songs // Rolling Stone’s Albums + Songs // NPR’s Albums + Songs // Paste Magazine’s Albums + Songs

Despite media fragmentation, these pubs still do a top-tier job of cataloging the year in music. Together, they formed a consensus of sorts with a few interesting takeaways….

• SZA’s SOS was the #1 album for both Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. (Even though it was released in December 2022 — an annoying list season trend!) Mankaprr Conteh writes: “On SOS, SZA seamlessly contorts disparate genres around her raw emotion and gifted verbiage with the sense of control she pined for on her first record.”

• Wednesday’s Rat Saw God was the #1 album for both Stereogum and Paste. Chris DeVille writes: “In a landscape full of interchangeable grunge, shoegaze, and country bands, the Asheville indie rockers blend those touchstones in startling, magnificent ways.”

• Uproxx’s Music Critics Poll provides the clearest overview by compiling submissions from 300 critics. Four of my personal 2023 favorites made the top five albums — from boygenius, Olivia Rodrigo, Wednesday, and Caroline Polachek. (Sufjan Stevens’ Javelin, which I still need to check out, rounds it out at #4.)

Rolling Stone had a few notable picks I wanted to shout out…

• Their #1 song: “Ella Baila Sola,” Peso Pluma. Julyssa Lopez writes: “As música Mexicana scaled new heights this year, the cultural phenomenon became impossible to ignore — and its chart-busting success is one of the biggest and most global music stories of 2023.”

• Their top 20 albums featured a wide range of artists I’ve been exploring from genres I don’t listen to enough. Including: reggaeton super-producer Tainy, Lil Yachty’s psych-rock pivot, underground rap from billy woods & Kenny Segal, Victoria Monét’s “R&B resurgence,” Zach Bryan’s folk-country fusion, Chappell Roan’s “hooky thrill ride,” Noname’s revolutionary rap, Jessie Ware’s throwback dance homage, Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA’s maximalist hip-hop, and Janelle Monáe’s latest sonic journey.

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Personal faves: Playlists from critics & artists

Bob Boilen’s 2023 Fave Songs. This newsletter has always been inspired by All Songs Considered, the NPR show Boilen founded 23 years ago. After an excellent “farewell” episode in October, he’s thankfully continued sharing personal picks on Threads. Some highlights…

• “Come On Home,” Fred again.. and Brian Eno. A calming ambient anthem from this unlikely duo’s inspired collaborative album.

• “Promise,” Laufey. A lovely, wintry piano ballad from this 24-year-old Icelandic-Chinese artist who says her goal is “to bring jazz and classical music to my generation.”

• “Sandrail Silouhette,” Avalon Emerson. One of many songs that caught my ear from this techno DJ who “pivoted to dream pop on her debut album,” per Pitchfork.

• “Somewhere In The Middle,” Daneshevskaya. This New York singer-songwriter’s short and sweet seven-track album is an alt-folk gem. Listen if you like Indigo De Souza, Squirrel Flower, and Katy Kirby.

New York Times critics’ personal album and song picks. A few standouts…

• Work of Art from Nigerian singer Asake was Jon Caramanica’s top album, and I’ve been loving its “sound of exultant celebration.” I’m also excited to dive into the “loud, brash, jubilant…pummeling pop-rock” of 100 Gecs, whose album topped Lindsay Zoladz’s list.

• “Bug Like An Angel” and “My Love Mine All Mine” from Mitski are two nice tunes from her gentle 2023 record.

• “Name of God,” Mustafa. Caramanica writes: “Few artists conjure a richness of sorrow the way the Canadian folk singer Mustafa does.”

• Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS rightfully showed up on all three album lists. Zoladz writes: “Rodrigo has a knack for capturing the visceral ache of growing pains, the physical recoil of cringe. It’s all over GUTS, her chatty, triumphant ‘yeah, right’ to the sophomore slump.”

• “Tiny Garden” from Jamila Woods made two of the song lists — it’s been one of my go-to tracks all year. I’m excited to give her full record, Water Made Us, a deeper front-to-back listen.

2023 Fluxblog Survey Mix, a sequenced “time capsule of the year in music” from playlister extraordinaire Matt Perpetua.

10 favorite albums from Cut Worms and Walter Etc. These two artists made two of my records of the year themselves. They listed a few faves of their own for Brooklyn Vegan, including up-and-comers like Golden Apples, Diners, Anna St. Louis, and Sam Blasucci.

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