• Rema & Selena Gomez, Calm Down (AfroBeats)- This song was nominated by two different members of our Melophile group.  Although officially released in 2022, it was the #2 song on the 2023 Billboard global charts.  One of our group members nominated it as “it introduced many people to AfroBeats”, which was clearly evidenced by it being the #1 most Shazamed song in 2023.  Trivia note- Rema’s trademark is starting off many of his songs by saying “Anotha banga”

  
  

• The National, New Order T-Shirt (Alternative)- This was #1 on 2023 Spotify Wrapped from Joe Morford who said “It’s hard to pick just one off The National’s new album because it’s all so good, but I love the lyrics on this one and how they conjure up great visuals. What’s particularly interesting about that is that for about year after Covid the band’s lead singer and main lyricist was paralyzed with serious writer’s block, which was finally broken when he picked up the book Frankenstein and read the first two pages, hence the title of their 9th album.”

  
  

• SZA, Kill Bill (R&B, Pop)- This song was #3 song of the year on both the 2023 Billboard US and global charts- and was nominated by Kathleen Penny as she “has to go with SZA… Kill Bill”.  SZA’s diverse album, “SOS” was ranked as the #1 album of the year by Pitchfork, BET and a NY Times reviewer. In “Kill Bill”, SZA starts by hypothesizing about killing her ex- and ends the song with the killing being in the past tense “I just killed my ex, I still love him though, rather be in hell, than alone….” against a catchy pop chorus.

  
  

• Walker Hayes, Good with Me (Country)- This is the follow up to Hayes, #3 song “Fancy Like”, which was a huge viral TikTok line dance hit in 2022.  Like “Fancy Like”, this song has an infectious chorus- and was my #1 most played song as Meg and I played it repeatedly to memorize the words to the chorus, so we could sing along. This song is a contrast to the new 2023 genre of Alt-Right country hits “Try that in a Small Town” and “Rich Men North of Richmond” (both of which debuted at #1 when released), which were released immediately before, as Hayes references some of our divided politics, but does so in a comical, non-divisive way.

  
  

• Spyro & Tiwa Savage, Who is Your Guy? (AfroBeats)- This song was a top 5 hit in both Nigeria and the UK- and was nominated by Linda Lavelle whose favorite songs of 2023 were heavily skewed toward AfroBeats.  Tiwa Savage is known as the “Queen of AfroBeats” and has 6 Global top 20 hits since 2017 and is an MTV Music Awards winner.  Interesting trivia; in response to Tiwa filing for divorce, her ex-hubby accused Tiwa’s mother of witchcraft…….

  
  

• Morgan Wallen, Last Night (Country)- This was Billboard’s #1 song of 2023- and spent 16 weeks as Billboard’s #1 song in 2023- the 2nd most of all time.  In “Last Night”, Wallen, the bad boy country star, effortlessly integrates current rap/pop syncopation into a traditional country song. Given how hot genre-bending is currently, this has proved to be an irresistible combination for listeners.

  
  

• Miley Cyrus, Flowers (Pop)- This was Spotify and Apple Music’s most streamed song of 2023- and the smash hit spent 25 weeks as #1 on the Adult Contemporary Charts.  Cyrus’ clever lyric celebrates a recent break up; “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand, talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand…”

  
  

• Justine Skye, Collide (Sped Up version) (R&B, Soul)- The Collide TikTok Dance was certainly a sensation in 2023 and resulted in the re-release of a sped-up version of this 2014 song.  That sped-up version was the most streamed song on TikTok.  If you’re not aware of “Sped up”, most of the hot songs on TikTok are sped-up versions of songs, which has now led to artists releasing sped-up versions of their songs.  Certainly a 2022/2023 hot trend.

  
  

• Olivia Rodrigo, bad idea, right? (Pop/Alternative)- Given that Rodrigo’s 2nd album GUTS, was both a huge hit (#1 album), but also was recognized as the best album of the 2023 by several critics, this is a very timely nomination by Nancy Graham.  The 20-year-old Rodrigo is a former actress on Disney shows- and shows a great sense of humor and self-awareness on this song lyric about knowingly rationalizing a hookup with an ex-boyfriend (“it’s a bad idea, right?”), which is accompanied by a 90’s grunge rock sound.

  
  

• Willie Nelson, Energy Follows Thought (Country)- This was the most played 2023 song by Michael Waters- and is from “A Beautiful Time”, Nelson’s 2022 album release.  The lyric to “Energy Follows Thought” is less of a music lyric, than a life philosophy, showing that the 89-year-old still has fine songwriting chops.  Remarkably, his voice sounds unchanged by time.

  
  

• CKay, You (R&B/AfroBeats)- Given the global emergence of AfroBeats in 2023, it’s not surprising to have another group member, Meg, nominate a song by an African artist, the Nigerian Loverboy, CKay.  However, “You” sounds more like a super sexy soul slow jam, than traditional AfroBeats- demonstrating the broad range from African artists in 2023.  Beware, the lyric is a bit graphic….

  
  

• Daisy Jones & The Six, Look At Us Now (Rock)- This nominee by Paul & Tara is from the eponymous award-winning 2023 Amazon Prime show based on a novel by the same name.  The show uses a documentary style to feature the fictional group, Daisy Jones & The Six from their rise in the LA music scene to global stardom to a breakup.  This song reflects the pressures of balancing relationships and stardom.  It’s not a coincidence that “Look At Us Now” features a Lindsey Buckingham-like guitar solo, given that the author cited Fleetwood Mac as an inspiration for her novel.

Bonus Tracks

• Supertramp, Waiting So Long (Rock)- Brian Graham, whose Spotify Wrapped showed this 1980 song as his most played in 2023, wasn’t sure whether to be embarrassed by it or not.  I think Brian should be proudly embarrassed as, while this song has absolutely nothing to do with 2023, it is deliciously obscure.  “Waiting So Long” is not even in the Top 50 most-streamed songs by a band, Supertramp, who although once popular, is 40 years past their prime.  This is the epitome of a “deep cut”.

  
  

• Bajofondo, Zitarossa (Chill/Latin)- This 2007 song was also the 2023 most played by Jean.  While I was not previously familiar with Bajofondo, they are a well-respected Argentine collective, who combine technical latin musicianship with the chill lounge vibe of the 00’s, which continues to be relevant. 

  
  

• David Byrne & Fatboy Slim/Ruthie Ann Miles, Here Lies Love (Musical)- This is the title song from the Original Cast Recording of the musical written by Byrne and Fatboy Slim, and performed by broadway star, Ruthie Ann Miles.  It was the most played song in 2023 by Becca as it was on her heavy rotation in preparation for seeing the show on broadway.

  
  

  Happy holidays all!