Yes, it’s the post you have all been waiting for! Or possibly not. I mean, hey, I’m not a professional music critic. But I do listen to a lot of new music. Since our musical landscape feels both more happily eclectic and more fragmented (where do you find new music?), I thought you might enjoy perusing what I’ve enjoyed this year. Perhaps you’ll find some favorites of your own? Or perhaps you’ll enjoy pointing out great music that I’ve missed? It’s gonna be fun either way, guaranteed!
Top 10 Tracks of 2023
Here are my Top 10 Tracks of 2023. The mathematically competent among you will note that there are in fact 11 tracks here. Since “Top 10” is an arbitrary designation, I decided to add an 11th. If you want more than these 11, scroll down for my top 200.
Top 7 Music Videos of 2023
Now, it’s time for a music-video break! There were some great ones this year. And I’m sure I missed a bunch. Yard Act’s “The Trench Coat Museum” and Steady Holiday’s “The Balance” are my top 2. I’ve assigned numbers to the rest, but the rankings of nos. 3-7 are fairly arbitrary.
1. Yard Act’s “The Trench Coat Museum”
2. Steady Holiday’s “The Balance”
3. Dessa’s “Hurricane Party”
4. The Hives’ “Countdown to Shutdown”
5. McKinley Dixon’s “Run, Run, Run”
6. Aisha Badru’s “Move”
7. Ollella’s “Head in the Clouds”
Top 200 Songs of 2023
And here’s my top 200! Yes, there are actually slightly over 200 songs here. But I did manage to keep this to one song per artist.
My #1 Song (according to Spotify)
In the interests of transparency, Spotify reports that I listened to Depeche Mode’s “Ghosts Again” more than any other song this year. So, in terms of my actual listening, this is my number one song.
Since it was my top song, I decided to ignore my musical limitations and learn it. So, for a powerful reminder of why we need professional musicians, here’s my amateur version of “Ghosts Again.”