Songs Of The Year 2023
If 2023 had one true pattern it was dissonance. The endless rush of noise emerging from streaming platforms could at times be overbearing – genres, sub-genres, sonic motifs could rise and fall within a week, sometimes preventing you from seeing the through-patterns, the trends.
The album remains a totemic work, but to witness 2023 in full flow was to absorb it single by single, track by track. Too much information can be the equivalent of too much light – you wind up seeing nothing. That’s why these end-of-year-polls can be so important; a moment of pause, a period of reflections, there’s a gateway, a meeting point, a space for exploration.
The Clash team gathered together our 50 favourite songs from 2023 – along the way we re-visited reignited pop queens, genre-less future-facing hyphenates, and the odd Britpop re-union. Taken as a whole, it seems to mirror the frenetic, zigzag nature of this unpredictable year.
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50. Kylie Minogue – Padam Padam
49. Bad Bunny – MONACO
48. Tyler, The Creator – SORRY NOT SORRY
47. Miley Cyrus – Flowers
46. Jorja Smith – Little Things
45. Megan Thee Stallion – Cobra
44. Larry June & The Alchemist – Palisades, CA
43. Travis Scott – MELTDOWN (feat. Drake)
42. King Krule – From the Swamp
41. CASISDEAD – Venom
40. Kaytraminé – 4EVA (feat. Pharrell Williams)
39. Armand Hammer – The Gods Must Be Crazy
38. JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown – Burfict!
37. Loraine James – 2003
36. Victoria Monét – On My Mama
35. Cleo Sol – Go Baby
34. Dave & Central Tee – Sprinter
33. Doja Cat – Paint The Town Red
32. Kelela – Bruises
31. Yves Tumor – Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood
30. Sampha – Dancing Circles
29. Olivia Rodrigo – Vampire
28. Sufjan Stevens – Everything That Rises
27. English Teacher – Nearly Daffodils
26. Sofia Kourtesis – Funkhaus
25. ANOHNI and the Johnsons – Why Am I Alive Now?
24. Earl Sweatshirt – Making The Band (Danity Kane)
23. Ice Spice – Deli
22. Julie Byrne – Portrait of a Clear Day
21. Murder Capital – Return My Head
20. billy woods & Kenny Segal – Year Zero (feat. Danny Brown)
There’s been a conversation recently about rap’s relationship with age, coming off the back of an André 3000 interview in which he questions what he can rap about in his 40’s. Everyone from Lil Wayne to Open Mike Eagle have shared their disappointment with the belief that the art form of rap is confined to younger artists.
billy woods and Danny Brown are both people who disprove this notion. Over the past year each have dropped stellar solo albums as well as collaborative records (woods with Elucid as Armand Hammer, and Danny with JPEGMAFIA; find both on our albums of the year list).
On ‘Year Zero’ they join forces to juxtapose two contrasting styles, resulting in one of the best songs of the year. Taken from ‘Maps’, woods’ road trip album with producer Kenny Segal, we meet woods mid-tour, lost in the most nihilistic part his psyche, giving up on all hope, before bumping into Danny Brown who pulls him out of the existential dread with an explosive verse packed with chaotic humour – referencing everything from Boxing Day sales to out-of-order McDonalds ice cream machines. Grant Brydon
19. ROSALÍA & Rauw Alejandro – VAMPIROS
Wisping listeners away to the gothic back-streets of Barcelona, ‘VAMPIROS’ combines the forward-thinking vision of Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro. Drenched in fantasy and vengeance, the track maintains a throbbing reggaeton pulse at its core, washed over with radiant electronics. Through its conception, ‘VAMPIROS’ offers a snapshot into the pair’s three-year relationship, sharing an organic creative synergy that strikes most notably in their intertwined vocal performances.
Weaving between Rosalía’s flamenco-tinged tones and Rauw’s decked out rap verses, they flex their command over the track’s thunderous production, piecing together a deeply infectious anthem through and through. Ana Lamond
18. Noname – Namesake
Over jazzy production (courtesy of producer Slimwav) that wouldn’t sound out of place on A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Low End Theory’, Noname calls out collective complacency and hypocrisy – including her own – from an empathic place.
‘namesake’ is a reminder that virtue signalling is self-serving, and that we have the power to take action and connect with the people around us.It’s about being able to hold contradiction, to urge ourselves to do better, while not to be too hard on ourselves for our mistakes. It’s about taking ownership over our roles in society, and valuing the simple things that get us through. And it’s some of the best rapping we heard all year. Grant Brydon
17. bar italia – Punkt
2024 undoubtedly marked a turning point for bar italia, creeping into the limelight with their Matador debut, ‘Tracey Denim’. Shaking off their anonymity, the trio swung back around with ‘punkt’, a gritty, in-your-face offering that allows for each member – Nina Cristante, Sam Fenton and Jezmi Fehmi – to leave a firm imprint.
Alternating between verses, Critante’s delivery carries an urgency, reaching her feather-light notes across the hook. Elsewhere, Tarik slurs through his lines with an 80s swagger, whilst Fehmi reaches into a more hushed, subdued sentiment. Assembled together, they experiment with the sonics of post-punk, submerging their listener into the underground with a subtle hint of nostalgia. Ana Lamond
16. The Last Dinner Party – Nothing Matters
The voracity of conversation generated by a mere debut single is really testament to the power of 2023 newcomers The Last Dinner Party. ‘Nothing Matters’ itself is a neat slice of art-pop-indie, led by Abigail Morris’s crystalline vocals but solidly, saucily backed up by an instrumental that somehow feels both baroque and futuristic. ‘Nothing Matters’ was a stomping introduction to this gang of sonic aesthetes, and it gave us not only one of the biggest moments of music discourse of the year, but also a young band who only nine months into releasing music are already sort of too big to be on 2024 ones to watch lists. Ims Taylor
15. boygenius – Not Strong Enough
The line between a momentary thought and a mantra is one that boygenius tread flawlessly. The “Always an angel, never a God”s, “I don’t know why I am the way I am”s, versus the ceiling fans, kitchen clocks and Cure songs, versus the visions of violence and celestial changes – every different order of scale that the golden trio of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker tap into is perfectly played off the others. As an intro to ‘the record’, as an announcement of their return, and as a theme song for a generation of women questioning everything and grappling with identity, it ticks every box. Ims Taylor
14. Kara Jackson – Pawnshop
“My process varies from song to song, honestly. Some songs it will happen simultaneously. It’s rare for me to have the words right away, I will say that. Most times I have to work towards that. I’ll have the melody, the form… but I won’t know what the words are. It can be frustrating, as I can’t really rush that process. A lot of it was just taking my time.”
“Sometimes a song makes itself easily known. Once I had everything written, I’d recorded these rough demos in my bedroom, just me and my guitar… once I had that, I brought them to my friends, and that’s how the process with them started. I would have the guitar as a base-line, and the vocal, and we’d go to record clean tracks, and then build out from there.” – re-visit our Kara Jackson interview
13. Young Fathers – I Saw
‘I Saw’ encapsulates all that works so well about ‘Heavy Heavy’. It has hints at their growth over the years and pure unbridled energy. It’s hard not to get reeled in by its magnetism from the pounding drums that power it. It’s so musically distinctive and yet sits well alongside the rest of the record. It threatens to implode by the sheer number of ideas it contains but it never does pulling in other elements that shouldn’t work but feel perfectly at home. It’s one of the standout tracks on a truly remarkable record. Christopher Connor
12. Mitski – My Love Mine All Mine
On the surface, Mitski isn’t your usual TikTok darling. She doesn’t really do social media, and her music contains enormous complexity – it’s beautiful on the surface, sure, but beneath those shimmering aspects lies some cavernous wells of emotion.
All of which makes it surprising that ‘My Love Mine All Mine’ became such a colossal crossover success. Propelled forward by social media, it seems to represent the apex of an internet-driven fandom which went into overdrive with new album ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We’. Fans seem able to read their own lives into her work, while the queering of Mitski’s lyrics – and the overwhelmingly LGBTQI+ nature of her following – is now the subject of academic treatise. At the centre of it all, though, is wonderfully empathetic songwriting – ‘My Love Mine All Mine’ wraps itself around you like a blanket. Robin Murray
11. Billie Eilish – What I Was Made For?
An utterly personal and achingly lonely introspective into one of the most talented and scrutinised women in music. ‘What Was I Made For’ is an incredible vocal balancing act, combining tender, almost whispered tones with quietly defiant resilience. The lyrics depict an awakening, the shattering of an illusion and terrifying confrontation of the emptiness behind. Eilish has never been one to shy away from delving into her experiences, but the picture she paints of rootless self doubt and loneliness even among those supposed to know you best is a harrowing and moving insight into the realities of womanhood. Eve Boothroyd
10. Kendrick Lamar & Baby Keem – The Hillbillies
Kendrick Lamar has the most fun when his cousin is around. This is obvious to anyone who listened to Baby Keem’s ‘The Melodic Blue’ or attended The Big Steppers Tour – and it’s crystallised on this surprise song that dropped, initially as a YouTube video back in May.
Shot while on tour by pgLang’s Neal Farmer, the video sees Kendrick and Keem goofing around between stage times, in cities across the world; dancing on the London Eye, grabbing a cheeky Nandos, getting ‘fits off and hanging out at Dodgers Stadium with Tyler, The Creator.
The video feels inseparable to the song, which was released on streaming services a couple of days later. Seemingly inspired by FIFA sessions on Playstation, the two take turns as football icons Messi and Neymar, trading off bars in an attempt to impress and get a laugh out of each other. The song’s addictive instrumental comes courtesy of Surf Gang’s Evilgiane, who combines disembodied Bon Iver vocals with Jersey Club drums. ‘The Hillbillies’ is a big budget lads holiday with an impeccable fashion sense; it’s playful, audacious and incredibly stylish. Let’s just run that video back one more time… Grant Brydon
9. Romy – ‘Enjoy Your Life’
‘Enjoy Your Life’ captures the hedonistic feeling of Romy’s solo debut ‘Mid Air’. It is filled with pure joy as its title says, it’s a far cry from her work with The xx and shows her growth as an artist. It is an upbeat slice of escapist fun, a throwback to the dancefloor grooves Romy grew up on and wanted to embrace with the record. It is one of the highlights on the record. It’s blissful and carefree as so much of ‘Mid Air’ is and one we can’t get enough of. Christopher Connor
8. Lana Del Rey – Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Theatre, gravitas, and a sublime way with words – Lana Del Rey’s album ‘Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’ represented a fresh apex for this masterful American talent. Amid its myriad complexities, however, lies some immortal messaging – longing, loss, and the perpetual search for a sense of longing.
It all comes together on the title track, an explicit meditation on the mind, the body, and the perpetual wait for our moment in the spotlight – “when’s it gonna be my turn?” she wonders. Lana is an artist to cherish. Robin Murray
7. Eartheater – Crushing
Alexandra Drewchin has long surveyed the flammable evocations of yearning in her work but no track of hers is purer in filtering the desperation of trying to safeguard an elusive love than ‘Crushing’, the iridescent jewel on her fifth studio album ‘Powders’. A serene trip-hop devotional, Drewchin enumerates all the ways her lover(s) has her spun. This is romantic neurosis as a split-screen phenomenon; an external catastrophe and an unravelling of the inner depths of the heart. Shahzaib Hussain
6. Overmono – Good Lies
Everything Overmono touch right now turns to gold. Sibling production duo Tom and Ed Russell released debut album ‘Good Lies’ over summer, and came within inches of cracking the Top 10. Hitting Coachella for the first time, they soundtracked some of year’s most euphoric highs, and soothed some of the crushing lows.
The title track of their debut album, ‘Good Lies’ sums up everything that is majestic about Overmono – the crunching beat, the nods to soundsystem culture, the hazy, surrealist beauty of the vocal, and the punk-like defiance that runs through them all combine for a moment of almost unrivalled power. An absolute gem. Robin Murray
5. Beyoncé – AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (REMIX) (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
The modern remix is a languishing art-form no more thanks to the anointed pairing of Bey and K.Dot and their ode to coked-up desire. The ice-cold synth coda and the aggressive churn of the reticulated beat courtesy of Mike Dean and The-Dream is the base from which Kendrick parallels Beyoncé’s hubristic edicts as a compulsion. Kendrick’s typically nimble opening verse offers up meta-commentary on everything from rap and NBA hall-of-famers, the AI takeover, and the immoderation that he and the game at large are guilty of. Shahzaib Hussain
4. Amaarae – Angels In Tibet
‘Angels In Tibet’ takes cues from the ‘Justified’-era partnership between Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, an exquisite fusion of sampled originality in an age of innocuous commercialisation. For Amaarae, the album was inspired in part by a desire to be more declarative and brazen.
“I wanted to add bombast to a sound that is often sunlit and feel-good,” Amaarae says. “I don’t know that I’ve heard next-gen African music be dramatic – I think Rema has that balance down. I was inspired by scores and was intentional about heightening these songs with drama. I’m marrying worlds that you wouldn’t otherwise hear.” – re-visit our Amaarae cover interview
3. blur – The Narcissist
There’s an old aphorism that you can’t go home again. Well, with the ‘The Narcissist’ the old friends in blur underlined just what a falsity that saying truly is. Tapping into the band’s core, this is vintage blur, but also uniquely fresh – the lilting melody is sheer Damon Albarn, the mixture of heart-tugging sincerity and piquant confidence utterly distilled into this legendary UK four-piece.
Eschewing the zigzag experimentation of 2015’s ‘The Magic Whip’, ‘The Narcissist’ felt utterly perfect – a song that once more sought out blur’s innate majesty, and emerged completely redefined. That it led in to ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ – blur’s finest album for more than 20 years – simply underlines the song’s magic. Robin Murray
2. SZA – Snooze
One of the standouts from her monumental album ‘S.O.S.’ SZA’s angelic melodies convey honest lyricism for an ultimately blissful offering. ‘Snooze’ fittingly feeling like a luxurious blanket, encompassing listeners with heartfelt warmth. An expert example of timeless R&B further brought to life by a glimmering visual depicting what the reality of longing for love can look like. From the ad-libs to the rhythmic drum pattern, each element intentionally plays it part. Shanté Collier-McDermott
1. Caroline Polachek – Dang
It’s a funny thing, democracy – sometimes, just sometimes, it gives you the right answer. When we invited the writers and contributors from Clash to vote for their song of the year, one name kept recurring and recurring. Caroline Polachek has dominated 2023, the past 12 months finding the American-born artist working with incredible assurance as a solo auteur.
‘Dang’ is the gateway to all this. Her fantastic album ‘Desire, I Want To Turn Into You’ encapsulates everything that is special about Caroline Polachek – the disregard for the past, the use of searing noise against angelic melody, the full embrace of pop’s potential combining into a sort of clarion call for outsiders, loners, and mavericks.
‘Dang’, though, goes a step further. Abandoning logic and relishing emotion, there’s a gleefully childish appetite for a lawless creative future at its core. Self-described as the artist in “brat mode”, this is the sound of Caroline Polachek shedding her skin, and emerging in her realest form. Robin Murray
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Check out the Top 50 most enduring tracks of the year below.
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