Top Songs of 2023 Feat Ruston Kelly, McKinley Dixon, Versus the World, The Beatles, Anna Graves, Queens of the Stone Age, Killer Mike, Young Fathers, Matchbox Twenty, Eddies Evensen, Durand Jones, Adult Leisure, Adeem the Artist, Northcote, blink-182, Lucero,...
So we’ve now shared our Top EPs of 2023, our Top Albums of 2023, and numbers 100 – 51 of our Top Songs of 2023. Here is our grand finale; our Top Songs of 2023: #50 – #1. Without further adieu…
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50. Taking Meds – The Other End
The desire to be something more or more important than you are lies at the heart of this insanely catchy punk number, with all the hooks and gritty guitars you could ask for.
49. Yarn – Cocaine Bear
The country singer turns the true life tale of Pablo the bear into the stuff of folk legend on this ballad.
48. Marvelous 3 – My Old School Metal Heart
Butch Walker and his crew may show their love of stadium hair metal, but the song is pure, heart-on-your-sleeve crunchy power pop that’s impossible not to love.
47. Lael Neale – I am the River
Brilliant in its simplicity, Neale delivers her eco-empowered lyrics over a sturdy guitar line, keys and shuffling drums with effervescent indie rock goodness as the result.
46. Amy Gabba and the Almost Famous – Punching Underwater
The Canadian pop-punk/ska artist shows off her powerhouse vocals on this blast of a track.
45. Chaz Cardigan – Rashomon
Cardigan perfectly captures the mistakes and regrets of youth that stick with us in this addictive song inspired by the Japanese movie (he admits he hadn’t seen at the time of writing).
44. Cordovas – Fallen Angels of Rock n’ Roll
A meaningful country-rock ode to the lost musicians and the music of the genre.
43. Last Giant – Hell on Burnside
True-blue blistering rock music with a chorus that hits like a ray of sunshine.
42. Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem – Rock On
The beloved Muppet band finally put out an album this year, and the group did not disappoint. May they “rock on” for decades to come.
41. Foo Fighters – The Glass
The veteran rockers tackle the loss and grief over Taylor Hawkins in this mournful power ballad that will haunt you.
40. Roxx Revolt & the Velvets – Get High
The Florida four-piece carry the torch of rough and rash glam rock with this rollicking, swaggering jam.
39. Death of Guitar Pop – First In, Last Out
A jubilant ska-pop rush from the independent UK duo that shows fourth-wave is going strong.
38. Durry – Coming of Age
The TikTok power-pop brother-sister duo breakdown the feelings of disconnection caused by the capitalist 9-5 doldrums with energy and hooks abound.
37. Teenage Wrist – Sunshine
The nu-school grunge rockers know how to shimmy in just enough pop shine to take their music to new heights; this single is a prime example.
36. Seán Barna – Sleeping with Strangers
An excellently writer treaties on modern times, LGBTQ rights, with Bob Dylan and Lou Reed references thrown in to boot.
35. Algiers – A Good Man
The eclectic band shoots off a raging proto-punk ramrod about questioning your own morality when faced with a world of racism and police brutality.
34. Lana Del Rey – Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Lana seemly strings together an epic love ballad filled with nostalgic echoes of a bygone era like it takes no effort at all.
33. Gorillaz – Skinny Ape
The hyper-jubilant ending on this one is like a sugar buzz x 10.
32. Wicked Bears – Lucky
“Why do you party? ‘Cause I like to dance.” This bouncy pop-punk tune will make you want to party and dance while holding your own “Utah Jazz jersey wearing bear”.
31. The Rolling Stones – Angry
Despite being in their 80’s, the greatest rock n’ roll group are still writing stadium rockers that show all the youngin’s how it’s done.
30. White Reaper – Fog Machine
The indie power pop group goes full-on glam metal with this ripping stadium rocker.
29. boygenius – Not Strong Enough
Bridgers, Docus and Baker trade vocals, explore relationship dynamics, and coin the iconic lyric “Always an angler, never a God” on this breathtaking single from their excellent debut album.
28. Maris – Crashland
The rising pop star details being stuck in a toxic relationship with a romantic wistfulness that is completely relatable.
27. Giant Rooks – Bedroom Exile
The UK band persuade you into their world with this brooding looks at a dissolving romance.
26. SYML – Laughing at the Storm
A haunting bit of jangly folk rock; lines like “sweet renegade, will you ever stay in one place”gift the track with classic rock timelessness.
25. Matt Maeson – Rational
Maeson’s turns this piano rock track into a melancholy pile-driver with a soulful vocal performance; the best he’s ever done.
24. Blondshell – Salad
“Look what you did, you made a killer of a Jewish girl.” Dark, iconic lyrics like this make this a stand-out track from a great debut album.
23. Dave Hause – Damn Personal
Hause already has proven time and time again he can churn out fist-pumping heartland punk without breaking a sweat, but this one seems even more…dare we say…”personal”. (“I hope you’re drunk, I hope you’re high, I hope you’re every little thing that I can’t be tonight.”)
22. Mighty Poplar – Up On the Divide
Wistful Appalachian/bluegrass song from the now Grammy-nominated band that lingers with hope, as “spring time’s coming up on the divide”.
21. The Pomps – Grudges
East coast ska with a bit of barroom piano thrown makes for an incredibly catchy track about the people we keep in our lives and living without negativity.
20. Fucked Up – Cicada
The Canadian hardcore punks have never been averse to melody, but “Cicada” is a whole different ballgame for them, sounding subdued without losing any of the emotional intensity they bring to their music.
19. Extreme – Rise
These 80’s hard rock vets show they still have plenty of bangers left in them, with this rocket of a song, that rises and rises with the group’s incredible musicianship.
18. Geese – Cowboy Nudes
The NY indie band shows they are ready for the big time with this wickedly catchy anthem (which should certainly be played at any future Warriors games). This band has leveled up.
17. Wilder Woods – Maestro (Tears Don’t Lie)
The NeedtoBreathe frontman throws back to the classic soul and R&B of the 60’s with this refreshing, joyful single.
16. Lucero – Macon if We Make It
A foot stomper from the Memphis rockers about a relationship going down while a storm rages outside, and it’s the perfect metaphor and yet also another great song for throwing back a drink to.
15. blink-182 – Dance With Me
While their great new album had its fair share of heavier tracks, with “Dance With Me”, the pop-punk trio reminded everyone they can still write an endlessly catchy party song that will make you want to throw your arms in the air and go nuts. A future live favorite for sure.
14. Northcote – Can’t Stay the Same
There’s something incredibly vulnerable and freeing about this song, which is fitting as it’s about the way love leaves us vulnerable. As Northcote sings “You put my heart out into the open”, you’d be lying if you didn’t feel your own heart being exposed to whatever life throws at it.
13. Adeem the Artist – Heritage of Arrogance
Adeem tears apart the false equivalencies in the southern culture he was raised in, having witnessed family that put the Klan and the NAACP in the same spheres. But most important is the track’s call to action, for those who know the sins of their home’s and family’s past and decide to do their part to make it right. Fantastic lyrics and an important message.
12. Adult Leisure – Happiness
Even as they sing “Happiness goes on and on”, it’s hard not to feel the place of sadness and depression at the heart of the song. With the vicious post-punk guitars and moody drums giving the song an edge, and the vocals evoking a painful longing, the song pulls at conflicting emotions; the musical equivalent of dancing at a funeral, searching for an escape from the mental traps we find ourselves in. It’s stark and powerful, and should be on more folks’ radar.
11. Durand Jones – Lord Have Mercy
Taking a solo break from his work with the Indications, Jones conjures up a blast of old school soul. The lightly funky instrumentation fills the song with grooves worthy of a dance floor, while Jones’ storytelling about being too tired from working to attend church and seeking forgiveness is top tier.
10. Eydís Evensen – Tephra Horizon
When I first discovered the music of Icelandic Neo-classical composer and pianist Eydís Evensen back in June, I mentioned how her music managed to convey deep emotional resonance without a word being sung. As the piece of music has continued to rest with me, every listen has unlocked new layers to the lush composition. The gorgeous and moving intermingling of piano and strings creates a vibrant scope that touches the heart and the soul.
9. Matchbox Twenty – Don’t Get Me Wrong
There is a simple reason why I will never be ashamed of my love of late 90’s pop-rock hitmakers Matchbox Twenty – it’s because they write great songs. Rob Thomas and his crew aren’t trying to write spine-tingling, indie pieces like Radiohead that act as critical-bait; they’re writing tracks that overflow with hooks and punchy melodies that can get amphitheaters of audiences singing along. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” is just that – a perfectly written tune about sticking to a relationship, even when it seems you’re drifting away. The song certainly got stuck in my head on more than one occasion, making me all the more happy these guys are still around and writing new songs.
8. Young Fathers – Rice
What kind of song is “Rice”? Pop, rock, hip-hop, afropop, R&B…? In short, it doesn’t matter a bit. What it IS is brilliant, much like the full album it’s on (My favorite of the year). The track has a jaunty rhythm that immediately grabs your attention, with the harmonized vocals jumping around in tones and deliveries that keep the tone lively. From group chanting to spoken world moments, it’s all over the place and yet fully cohesive. It keeps you on your toes, wondering where it’s going to go next, building into a fuzzy whirlwind of jubilance that caps off the song.
7. Killer Mike – Don’t Let the Devil (feat. El-P, Thankugoodsir)
Teaming up with his Run the Jewels partner El-P, Killer Mike‘s lyrical dexterity is at 110% as he masks pain behind humor (“Watch the world go to hell as I’m laughin’, sayin’ it’s perfect”) and tries to stay on the straight-and-narrow (“Don’t let, let the devil coerce”). Flying over a brooding soul sample, the track simply hums. With the song and much of the album inspired by the passing of his mother, Killer Mike lets more emotion shine through than you would expect, especially in conjunction with the track’s video. A stellar track from one of the year’s best rap albums.
6. Queens of the Stone Age – Emotion Sickness
Between fighting cancer and an extremely acrimonious divorce (“Baby don’t care for me
Had to let her go, oh”), it’s no surprise that Josh Homme’s lyrics are dealing with some sh*t (“How we grow is so painful, believe me”). That he manages to filter this pain through psychedelic hooks that groove when a lesser songwriter would just pound out some crushing ferocity is what makes “Emotion Sickness” such a sick song. Homme and the band temper the darkness with unexpected melodic turns and even some introspective acceptance of his emotional trauma (“People come and go on the breeze. For a whole life? Possibly.”)
5. Anna Graves – In the Wild
Though new to the music world, Graves writes songs like an old soul. On this, her second single (ever), Graves packs more loneliness, insecurity and wistfulness than most artists put in an entire album. Written about her move to Los Angeles to make it in music, she expertly captures the fear of chasing your dreams, the feeling of being alone in a strange, hostile place, and the helplessness of fighting for something that is not fully in your control. The tracks makes me look forward to whatever Anna Graves brings us next.
4. The Beatles – Now and Then
No one saw a “new” Beatles song coming this year, and probably fewer would have thought using AI to make this rough John Lennon demo and George Harrison guitar part into a full song would work out so brilliantly. “Now and Then”, billed as the final Beatles song, is a triumph, and not just of technology. It’s the perfect piece of closure to the career of one of the greatest musical acts of all time. While lyrically simple, it hits all the right emotional notes, and makes you feel the love these four men had for each other, even through the acrimony and feuds that eventually broke them apart. Like so many of the band’s songs, this one will stand the test of time and is exactly what the band and its fans needed to properly say farewell to them.
3. Versus the World – Your Wedding and a Funeral
Maybe you’ll hear this track and think it’s typical pop-punk. What I hear is excellent pop-punk. I hear lyrics that compound how differently people can view the progress of a relationship, and the anxiety and terror this can cause. I hear melodies that stick relentlessly in your head, with stadium-sized hooks that would make blink-182 and Fall Out Boy jealous. I hear a song that knocks it out of the park on every level, and in a more just world, would be getting blasted through radios and playlists worldwide. This is a band that should not be slept on if you’re a fan of the When We Were Young or Warped Tour scenes.
2. McKinley Dixon – Run, Run, Run
Not since Foster the Peoples’ “Pumped Up Kids” as a track managed to tread into the arena on gun violence while still being so melodically inviting. But, McKinley Dixon is just the kind of artist that can handle such feat. The rapper has an innate ability to reach for various influences, both musical and lyrical, and synthesize them into songs that are a breath of fresh air. With “Run, Run, Run”, he has written a rap/soul/jazz fusion song that could easily be played on formats ranging from rock to adult alternative. And the way he ties in childhood games of shooting each other to the very real violence in schools now could have been a disaster in the hands of a less skilled artists. Dixon does it with grace and style.
Ruston Kelly – The WeaknessRuston Kelly has been one of my favorite songwriters for some years now, and yet he still impressed me with the first single from his latest album. On first listen, it’s not a song that screams and drags you into it. It’s a song of subdued resilience. A song for resisting your demons, that grinds its way into your subconscious and draws strength from the emotional connection it makes with you. While in Kelly’s case, “The Weakness” is a clear reference to his past dealings with addiction, but as the song is written, it speaks to anyone’s weakness; a past love, a fear, the feeling of being overwhelmed by the world. Whatever it is, this song becomes your anthem for standing strong in the face of it, with “we don’t give in to the weakness” becoming the slogan anyone struggling will use to keep themselves going. That is why this is the song of the year; it becomes more than a song. It’s a statement of purpose set to music.
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There you have it. One hundred songs that will forever represent 2023. Listen to them all in the updated Top Songs of 2023 Playlist!
