Best Songs of 2023

Welp, as I round very much into middle age, I am not at all surprised to say my musical world is getting smaller. A whopping 20% of artists on this list were on my 2022 list as well. Heck, I even kick off this new list with a repeat from last year (albeit in a new, equally transfixing form). And if last year was my new record for “via past experience” notations, this year is right there along with it.

If I were to try to pin down other trends among these 100 tracks and artists, I might also note that this list, in a weird way, resembles some of my playlists from the early ’80s, wherein I had tons of new, groundbreaking artists featured alongside aging rockers that are far beyond their best work. But what was true then is also true now, which is to say that I cannot ignore the artists that have been most important to me over my years, especially when they happen to release a song that proves meaningful to me in some way.

So yes, I have no shame about putting the octogenarian Rolling Stones on here, nor a handful of big names from later (but still old) decades. On the other hand, there are a handful of names on this list that surely were born after I entered college, so as long as I can keep connecting to music made by younger people, I can continue to make these lists every year. Which is great, because as I buy fewer and fewer albums (old and new), the songs I put on these lists not only mark time but keep me from living in the past.

As ever, you can listen on Apple Music and Spotify.

Show Grid

Spitting Off the Edge of the World (Lush Version)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs featuring Perfume Genius

Spitting Off the Edge of the World (Lush Version) digital single

Secretly Canadian

via past experience
103

The Kills

God Games

Domino

via past experience
Independence Day

Palehound

Eye on the Bat

Polyvinyl

via Stereogum
No Way

Ratboys

The Window

Topshelf

via past experience
My Eyes

Margaret Glaspy

Echo the Diamond

ATO

via past experience
Long Goodbye

Smokey Brights

Levitator

Nine Mile

via past experience
Really Really Light

The New Pornographers

Continue As a Guest

Merge

via past experience
Fallout

Yo La Tengo

This Stupid World

Matador

via past experience
All I Do

Bully

Lucky for You

Sub Pop

via past experience
Under You

Foo Fighters

But Here We Are

RCA

via past experience
Break Free

Dave Matthews Band

Walk Around the Moon

RCA

via past experience
Save the World

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

Weathervanes

Thirty Tigers

via past experience
Mountains of My Mind

Chris Stapleton

Higher

Mercury Nashville

via past experience
Like a Flower

Kevin Morby

Music From Montana Story

Dead Oceans

via past experience
Painterly

Steve Gunn & David Moore

Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet

RVNG

via past experience
Rains

The Antlers

Need Nothing

Transgressive

via past experience
Deep in the Night

Future Islands

Deep in the Night 7"

4AD

via past experience
Give Me a Hand

Michael Stipe featuring Gaelynn Lea

Give Me a Hand 7"

EarthPercent

via past experience
Wet

Claud

Supermodels

Saddest Factory

via past experience
Crashing Against the Sun

Heather Woods Broderick

Labyrinth

Western Vinyl

via live in concert
Superficial Conversation

Madeline Kenney

A New Reality Mind

Carpark

via past experience
Famous

Jenn Champion

The Last Night of Sadness

Gay Forever

via past experience
Skipping Like a Stone

The Chemical Brothers featuring Beck

For That Beautiful Feeling

Universal

via past experience
Odyssey

Beck & Phoenix

Odyssey 7"

Capitol

via past experience
Touching Yourself

The Japanese House

In the End It Always Does

Dirty Hit

via past experience / Apple Music
Old Man

Albert Hammond, Jr.

Melodies on Hiatus

Red Bull

via past experience
The Main Thing

Ducks Ltd.

The Main Thing 7"

Carpark

via past experience
Vaporized

Sea Lemon

Stop at Nothing

Luminelle Recordings

via KEXP
I Want It All

The Drums

Jonny

Anti

via past experience
Lights Light Up

Fenne Lily

Big Picture

Dead Oceans

via Stereogum
Evicted

Wilco

Cousin

DbPM

via past experience
Sick of This Feeling

Fruit Bats

A River Running to Your Heart

Merge

via past experience
Psychos

Jenny Lewis

Joy’All

Blue Note

via past experience
Roads

Jess Williamson

Time Ain’t Accidental

Mexican Summer

via past experience
Yosemite

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway featuring Dave Matthews

City of Gold

Nonesuch

via past experience
The Tree

Maren Morris

The Bridge

Columbia

via past experience
Fear and Fridays

Zach Bryan

Zach Bryan

Belting Bronco / Warner Bros.

via Fluxblog
Heaven Is a Place

The Arcs

Electrophonic Chronic

Easy Eye Sound

via past experience
Glorious Game

El Michels Affair & Black Thought

Glorious Game

Big Crown

via Troy Nelson on KEXP / past experience
No More Lies

Thundercat & Tame Impala

No More Lies 7"

Brainfeeder

via past experience
Daydreaming

NxWorries

Daydreaming digital single

Stones Throw

via past experience
The Hillbillies

Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar

The Hillbillies digital single

Columbia

via Stereogum / past experience
Weightless

Arlo Parks

My Soft Machine

Transgressive

via past experience
Time to Run

Tycho

Time to Run digital single

Mom+Pop

via past experience
EYE

KaytrAminé featuring Snoop Dogg

KaytrAminé

Venice Music

via past experience
Tied Up!

Genesis Owusu

STRUGGLER

Ourness

via John Richards on KEXP
Frisco

Little Dragon

Slugs of Love

Ninja Tune

via past experience
A Matter of Fact

Bibio

Sunbursting EP

Warp

via past experience
Skinny Ape

Gorillaz

Cracker Island

Parlophone

via past experience
The Garden

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

V

Jagjaguwar

via past experience
Moonlight

Kali Uchis

Red Moon in Venus

Geffen

via past experience
Freak Me Now

Jessie Ware

That! Feels! Good!

EMI

via past experience
Psychedelic Switch

Carly Rae Jepsen

The Loveliest Time

School Boy / Interscope

via past experience
Give It Up for Love

Georgia

Euphoric

Domino

via past experience
Dominoes

Jungle

Volcano

Caiola

via past experience / Evie on KEXP
Astral Plane

Say She She

Silver

Colemine

via Evie on KEXP
In Your Own Home

Cleo Sol

Gold

Forever Living

via past experience
Isolation

Caleb Elliott

Weed, Wine & Time

Single Lock

via Apple Music
Suspended

Sampha

Lahai

Young

via KEXP / past experience
Billions

Caroline Polachek

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

Perpetual Novice

via past experience
Float

Janelle Monáe featuring Seun Kuti & Egypt 80'

The Age of Pleasure

Wondaland Productions

via past experience
Honey

BJ the Chicago Kid featuring Chloe Bailey

Gravy

RCA

via past experience
See It Through

Durand Jones

Wait Til I Get Over

Dead Oceans

via Kevin Cole on KEXP
Tiny Garden

Jamila Woods

Water Made Us

Jagjaguwar

via past experience
Stranger Danger

Lucius

Stranger Danger digital single

Fantasy

via past experience
Strong Swimmer

Josh Ritter

Spectral Lines

Pytheas / Thirty Tigers

via past experience
Respect for All Living Things

Great Lake Swimmers

Uncertain Country

Phereomone

via past experience
It’s Later Than You Think

Jenny Owen Youngs

Avalanche

Yep Roc

via Apple Music
pawnshop

Kara Jackson

Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?

The Orchard

via KEXP
Every Day Like the Last

Wye Oak

Every Day Like the Last

Merge

via past experience
A Child’s Question, August

P.J. Harvey

I Inside the Old Year Dying

Partisan

via past experience
Younger and Dumber

Indigo de Souza

All of This Will End

Saddle Creek

via past experience
Steadfast

S. Carey & John Raymond featuring Gordi

Shadowlands

Libellule Editions

via past experience
Eucalyptus

The National

First Two Pages of Frankenstein

4AD

via past experience
Bug Like an Angel

Mitski

The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We

Dead Oceans

via past experience
Not Strong Enough

boygenius

the record

Interscope

via past experience
Sheriff of the Salton Sea

Shana Cleveland

Manzanita

Hardly Art

via past experience
American Airlines

The Golden Dregs

On Grace & Dignity

4AD

via Said the Gramophone
Fur

Blue Lake

Sun Arcs

Tonal Union

via Apple Music
Bending Hectic

The Smile

Bending Hectic digital single

XL Recordings

via past experience
What You Did

Hannah Jadagu

Aperture

Sub Pop

via Stereogum
In Lightning

Feist

Multitudes

Polydor

via past experience
Ghosts Again

Depeche Mode

Memento Mori

Columbia

via past experience
Sole Obsession

Nation of Language

Strange Disciple

Play It Again Sam

via Evie & Troy Nelson on KEXP / past experience
Tuck Shop

Ben Lee

Tuck Shop digital single

Weirder Together

via past experience
Barbaric

Blur

The Ballad of Darren

Parlophone

via past experience
Cowboy Nudes

Geese

3D Country

Partisan

via Cheryl Waters on KEXP
Desperate Days

The Heavy Hours

The Heavy Hours

Heavy Hours / BMG

via Apple Music
Tell Me

King Tuff

Smalltown Stardust

Sub Pop

via past experience
Grand Salami Time

The Baseball Project

Grand Salami Time!

Yep Roc

via past experience
Good Time

Alex Lahey

The Answer Is Always Yes

Liberation

via past experience
Grand Junction

The Hold Steady

The Price of Progress

Positive Jams / Thirty Tigers

via past experience
Sweet Sounds of Heaven

The Rolling Stones featuring Lady Gaga & Stevie Wonder

Hackney Diamonds

Polydor

via past experience
Meadow in Autumn

Brad

In the Moment You Were Born

Loosegroove

via past experience
Open Water

Fust

Genevieve

Dear Life

via Stereogum
Every Little Heart

The Tallest Man on Earth

Henry St

Gardner Songs / Anti

via past experience
A Running Start

Sufjan Stevens

Javelin

Asthmatic Kitty

via past experience
It Must Change

ANOHNI & The Johnsons

My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross

Secretly Canadian

via past experience
I Will Be With You

Joanna Sternberg

I’ve Got Me

Fat Possum

via Apple Music
i/o (Dark Side Mix)

Peter Gabriel

i/o

Real World

via past experience