My Favorite Songs Of 2023

Five years after then president of The Recording Academy proclaimed that women need to step up, the ladies have responded with “How’s this, jerkface?” Women dominate this year’s Grammy nominations. More importantly, all but two of the top 20 songs on my year-end list are led by female artists (with one guy showing up to provide guest vocals). That’s a record, I think, but don’t quote me on that. I’m too lazy to check. I don’t have a deep analysis for this phenomenon, but I do have a deep appreciation for the talent and diversity of these women (not that women have ever been underrepresented in my annual tallies). The highest placing male acts on my 2023 list are none other than The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Yes, you read that right. The legends are back, and they still can show the young-uns how it’s done. With their song “Angry,” The Rolling Stones have achieved a remarkable feat: the longest span from first appearance to most recent appearance in my year-end surveys. In 1981, my first year of making such lists, the group placed with “Start Me Up.” The 80s are also well represented by Kylie Minogue and Madonna, each of whom made a triumphant return to my list after long absences. Welcome back, ladies! And last but not least, let’s give a round of applause to Megan Thee Stallion, who has been in my top five for five years in a row. That’s a record, I think, but don’t quote me on that. I’m too lazy to check. Now, without further ado, here is my list of the best songs of 2023. Enjoy!

  1. Ice Cream Man. – RAYE
  2. vampire – Olivia Rodrigo
  3. Kill Bill – SZA
  4. Bongos – Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion
  5. Not Strong Enough – boygenius
  6. Flowers – Miley Cyrus
  7. Escapism. – RAYE & 070 Shake
  8. Paint the Town Red – Doja Cat
  9. Lipstick Lover – Janelle Monáe
  10. Nobody Gets Me – SZA
  11. Dance the Night – Dua Lipa
  12. Shirt – SZA
  13. AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM – Beyoncé feat. Kendrick Lamar
  14. What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish
  15. Padam Padam – Kylie Minogue
  16. Cobra – Megan Thee Stallion
  17. Brenda Put Your Bra On – Ashley McBryde, Caylee Hammack & Pillbox Patti
  18. Angry – The Rolling Stones
  19. Now and Then – The Beatles
  20. Cool About It – boygenius
  21. RATATA – Skrillex, Missy Elliott & Mr. Oizo
  22. Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd – Lana Del Rey
  23. Calm Down – Rema with Selena Gomez
  24. Gorilla – Little Simz
  25. Seven – Jung Kook feat. Latto
  26. My Love Mine All Mine – Mitski
  27. bad idea right? – Olivia Rodrigo
  28. Jaded – Miley Cyrus
  29. Tropic Morning News – The National
  30. Someday At Christmas – Lizzo
  31. Used To Be Young – Miley Cyrus
  32. Pretty Girls Walk – Big Boss Vette
  33. River – Miley Cyrus
  34. Light On In The Kitchen – Ashley McBryde
  35. Out Alpha the Alpha – Megan Thee Stallion
  36. Bubblegum – Dawn Richard
  37. Rush – Troye Sivan
  38. It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody – Weyes Blood
  39. Weightless – Arlo Parks
  40. Psychos – Jenny Lewis
  41. The Sea – Romy
  42. Lil Boo Thang – Paul Russell
  43. Popular – The Weeknd & Madonna feat. Playboi Carti
  44. The Narcissist – Blur
  45. (It Goes Like) Nanana – Peggy Gou
  46. Tukoh Taka – Nicki Minaj, Maluma and Myriam Fares
  47. Freak Me Now – Jessie Ware
  48. Standing Next To You – Jung Kook
  49. Eyez – The Arcs
  50. What Now – Brittany Howard
  51. Thinking About You – Beck
  52. Wall of Eyes – The Smile
  53. Good Lookin’ – Dixon Dallas
  54. Girl Like Me – Dove Cameron
  55. Wild Flower – RM with youjeen
  56. Helmet – Steve Lacy
  57. Everybody’s Got to Learn – First Aid Kit
  58. Flip a Switch. – RAYE feat. Coi Leray
  59. Nothing Left To Lose – Everything But The Girl
  60. Say Yes To Heaven – Lana Del Rey
  61. Moonlight – Kali Uchis
  62. Bending Hectic – The Smile
  63. In My Head – The Lemon Twigs
  64. Snooze – SZA
  65. Attention – Doja Cat
  66. get him back! – Olivia Rodrigo
  67. Will Anybody Ever Love Me? – Sufjan Stevens
  68. Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo) – US Girls
  69. Lottery – Latto feat. LU KALA
  70. Bug Like an Angel – Mitski
  71. The Hands – serpentwithfeet
  72. A day in the water – Christine & the Queens
  73. Drummer Boy – Titus Andronicus
  74. Little Things – Jorja Smith
  75. Daydreaming – Harry Styles
  76. True Love – Christine & the Queens & 070 Shake
  77. Evicted – Wilco
  78. Got Me Started – Troye Sivan
  79. Eye For An Eye – Rina Sawayama
  80. Water Slide – Janelle Monáe
  81. Single Soon – Selena Gomez
  82. Odyssey – Beck & Phoenix
  83. I Don’t Know What You See In Me – Belle & Sebastian
  84. Seem an I – PJ Harvey
  85. Begin Again – Jessie Ware
  86. One of Your Girls – Troye Sivan

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 12-2-22

Today’s playlist celebrates the December 2 birthdays of Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado, Naughty By Nature’s Treach, Whale’s Cia Berg, and Joe Henry; the December 3 birthdays of Ozzy Osbourne, Montell Jordan, Andy Williams, Starship’s Mickey Thomas, Jam & Spoon’s Rolf Ellmer, .38 Special’s Don Barnes, Lil Baby, and City Girls’ JT; and the December 4 birthdays of Carl Wilson, Jay-Z, The Byrds’ Chris Hillman, Anna McGarrigle, Adamski, Freddy Cannon, BTS’s Jin, Southside Johnny, Miss Toni Fisher, Dionne Farris, and Pansy Division’s Jon Ginoli.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 10-10-22

Today’s playlist celebrates the October 10 birthdays of Thelonious Monk, Van Halen’s David Lee Roth, John Prine, Ultravox’s Midge Ure, Kirsty MacColl, Dave and Ansell Collins’s Dave Barker, Ivory Joe Hunter, Truth Hurts, Tanya Tucker, The Honeycombs’ Dennis D’Ell, Mr. Big’s Eric Martin, Marina and the Diamonds’ Marina Diamandis, Mya, and Oscar Brown Jr.; the October 11 birthdays of Daryl Hall, Art Blakey, Cardi B, Wheatus’s Brendan Brown, Jay-Jay Johanson, MC Lyte, Dottie West, Jane Krakowski, and Todd Snider; and National Coming Out Day.

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My Top 100 Songs Of 2021

Prince, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Kool & the Gang. It must be my list of favorite songs of 198-, uh, 2021. The aforementioned veterans rub elbows with Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Wet Leg, serpentwithfeet, Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, The Avalanches, Adele and Little Simz.

Here are my top 100 songs of 2021:

  1. Same Size Shoe – serpentwithfeet        
  2. Love Again – Dua Lipa                                
  3. Body – Megan Thee Stallion                    
  4. Black Like Me – Mickey Guyton             
  5. Easy On Me – Adele                                   
  6. Thot Shit – Megan Thee Stallion            
  7. Up – Cardi B                                                   
  8. Save Your Tears – The Weeknd             
  9. Good Days – SZA                                          
  10. Under the Table – Fiona Apple              
  11. Wet Dream – Wet Leg                               
  12. Rumors – Lizzo & Cardi B                           
  13. Find My Way – Paul McCartney             
  14. Levitating – Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby        
  15. Chaise Longue – Wet Leg                         
  16. I Love You, I Hate You – Little Simz       
  17. Best Friend – Saweetie feat. Doja Cat 
  18. Brando – Lucy Dacus                                   
  19. So I Lie – Miguel                                           
  20. We Go On – the Avalanches feat. Cola Boyyy & Mick Jones                                
  21. Twerkulator – City Girls                             
  22. MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) – Lil Nas X                                                          
  23. Butter – BTS                                                   
  24. Cold Heart – Elton John & Dua Lipa       
  25. Therefore I Am – Billie Eilish                    
  26. Your Power – Billie Eilish                           
  27. INDUSTRY BABY – Lil Nas X feat. Jack Harlow                                                             
  28. Point and Kill – Little Simz feat. Obongjayar                                                                
  29. Scratchcard Lanyard – Dry Cleaning      
  30. Security – Amyl and the Sniffers           
  31. Puppy and a Truck – Jenny Lewis          
  32. Don’t Judge Me – FKA twigs, Headie One, Fred again…                                        
  33. Pursuit of Happiness – Kool & the Gang                                                                       
  34. Savage Good Boy – Japanese Breakfast                                                                       
  35. Pay Your Way in Pain – St. Vincent       
  36. ARE YOU WITH THAT? – Vince Staples
  37. Hot Summer – Prince                                 
  38. Diamond Studded Shoes – Yola             
  39. Solar Power – Lorde                                   
  40. chinatown – Bleachers feat. Bruce Springsteen                                                        
  41. The Divine Chord – the Avalanches feat. MGMT & Johnny Marr                       
  42. Don’t Go Yet – Camila Cabello                
  43. Strong Feelings – Dry Cleaning               
  44. Rainforest – Noname                                 
  45. Working for the Knife – Mitski               
  46. Take My Breath – The Weeknd             
  47. Boomerang – Yebba                                   
  48. ooh la la – Run the Jewels feat. Santa Fe Klan & Mexican Institute of Sound                                       
  49. Candypaint – Joey Purp                            
  50. Free from Gravity – Django Django      
  51. Spanish Doors – Liz Phair                          
  52. Roaring 20s – Flo Milli                                 
  53. Rhetorical Figure – John Grant               
  54. THAT’S WHAT I WANT – Lil Nas X           
  55. The Doll – Audiobooks                               
  56. Strange – Celeste                                        
  57. WUSYANAME – Tyler, the Creator feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again & Ty Dolla $ign                    
  58. White Dress – Lana Del Rey                     
  59. family ties – Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar                                                                 
  60. Starlight – Yola                                              
  61. The Melting of the Sun – St. Vincent   
  62. Pick up Your Feelings – Jazmine Sullivan                                                                      
  63. I am not a woman, I’m a god – Halsey 
  64. Hertz – Amyl and the Sniffers                 
  65. Please – Jessie Ware                                  
  66. The Adults Are Talking – the Strokes   
  67. Got Me – Laura Mvula                               
  68. We’re Good – Dua Lipa                             
  69. Kiss Me More – Doja Cat feat. SZA       
  70. I Don’t Live Here Anymore – The War on Drugs feat. Lucius                                
  71. Magnificent Hurt – Elvis Costello & The Imposters                                                  
  72. 34+35 – Ariana Grande feat. Doja Cat & Megan Thee Stallion                             
  73. Just One Sec – the Antlers                       
  74. Love Is Back – Celeste                                
  75. Let Me Love You Like a Woman – Lana Del Rey                                                         
  76. Down – St. Vincent                                     
  77. Amoeba – Clairo                                           
  78. Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood – Cola Boyy feat. The Avalanches                
  79. All My Favorite Songs – Weezer            
  80. Sober & Skinny – Brittney Spencer       
  81. Unblu – Jenny Lewis/Serengeti             
  82. Living Proof – The War on Drugs            
  83. Prisoner – Miley Cyrus feat. Dua Lipa  
  84. NDA – Billie Eilish                                          
  85. In His Arms – Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall                                     
  86. Walking at a Downtown Pace – Parquet Courts                                                        
  87. Lost Cause – Billie Eilish                             
  88. Dancing with the Devil – Demi Lovato 
  89. Hope – Arlo Parks                                        
  90. Oh My God – Adele                                    
  91. My Path – Raphael Saadiq                        
  92. Unsmart Lady – Dry Cleaning                  
  93. t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l – Willow feat. Travis Barker                                                
  94. Reason to Believe – Vagabon feat. Courtney Barnett                                            
  95. Paprika – Japanese Breakfast                 
  96. Thumbs – Lucy Dacus                                 
  97. Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish              
  98. Be Sweet – Japanese Breakfast             
  99. Hurt – Arlo Parks                                          
  100. More Life – Cordae feat. Q-Tip

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Records of the Year

The Grammy Awards are being presented tonight. Woo. It’s billed as “music’s biggest night,” just as May 7 through May 16 is billed as “the biggest week in American birding,” if only because ten days is a lot for one week. Birders. Am I right, people? Performers at this year’s Grammys include Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak doing their new song, because what better way to celebrate the music of 2020 than with a single that was released last week? Performers I’m looking forward to include Miranda Lambert, Cardi B, HAIM, Megan Thee Stallion, Brittany Howard, Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, and Billie Eilish, whose “Everything I Wanted” is up for Record of the Year. That’s my favorite of the nominees, though I think the award will go to Beyoncé for “Black Parade,” and I have no problem with that. However, if the award goes to that record I never heard of until I started typing this sentence, sneakers will be thrown at my television (though that record may be good for all I know). For Album of the Year my vote goes to Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters, as it was handily the best album of 2020. It probably won’t win, seeing as it wasn’t nominated. What was nominated over Apple’s album? That Coldplay album you forgot about and the Jacob Collier album you never heard of until you started reading this sentence (though that album may be good for all you know). Of the albums nominated, I’d pick HAIM’s. It’s very good. Not Fetch The Bolt Cutters good, but very good nonetheless. If HAIM win I hope they hand their award to Fiona Apple live on the telecast, which would be super impressive, seeing as they won’t be in the same room. I’m sure tonight’s show will include a tribute to dead people done by living people who are no match for said dead people. I’d rather want a montage of clips of the dead people performing when they were living people. <Fill in the blank> screaming is not representative of what made Aretha Franklin amazing. No disrespect to <fill in the blank>, but there’s more to being the Queen of Soul than having a mic and ovaries.

It’s easy to shit on the Grammys, as they are so shittable, but to be fair, not every Record of the Year is as terrible as 1988’s recipient, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Here are thirty of the better winners:

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My Top Songs Of 2020

I’m not going to write an essay about 2020. That’s been done elsewhere and I have nothing to add to the conversation. Though the three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote, “stink, stank, stunk,” there were some bright spots. Here are 85 things that brought me joy. Happy New Year, everyone!

  1. everything i wanted – Billie Eilish
  2. WAP – Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion
  3. deathbed (coffee for your head) – Powfu feat. Beabadoobee
  4. Savage – Megan Thee Stallion feat. Beyoncé 
  5. Stay High – Brittany Howard
  6. Dynamite – BTS 
  7. Shameika – Fiona Apple 
  8. Tap In – Saweetie feat. Post Malone, DaBaby & Jack Harlow   
  9. Delete Forever – Grimes
  10. Mariners Apartment Complex – Lana Del Rey   
  11. Polyaneurism – of Montreal  
  12. Didn’t Want To Be This Lonely – Pretenders  
  13. Stupid Love – Lady Gaga
  14. Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better – the Streets feat. Tame Impala 
  15. Surrender – Will Butler  
  16. JU$T – Run the Jewels feat. Pharrell Williams & Zack De La Rocha 
  17. BLACK PARADE – Beyoncé 
  18. Lifetime – Romy 
  19. Fool’s Gold – Lucy Dacus 
  20. Identical – Phoenix  
  21. ilomilo – Billie Eilish  
  22. Hallelujah – HAIM    
  23. Quarantine Boogie (Loco) – Walter Martin    
  24. Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America – the 1975   
  25. Texas Sun – Khruangbin and Leon Bridges 
  26. Ghosts – Bruce Springsteen 
  27. Settling Down – Miranda Lambert  
  28. He Loves Me – Brittany Howard  
  29. Pictures of Flowers – Jess Williamson feat. Hand Habits 
  30. The Valley of the Pagans – Gorillaz featuring Beck   
  31. my future – Billie Eilish    
  32. hot girl bummer – Blackbear  
  33. Drinks – Cyn   
  34. I disappear in your arms – Christine & the Queens  
  35. Say So – Doja Cat 
  36. Sea Salt & Caramel – Dent May  
  37. Gaslighter – The Chicks  
  38. 4 American Dollars – U.S. Girls 
  39. No Time to Die – Billie Eilish  
  40. Murder Most Foul – Bob Dylan 
  41. Lockdown – Anderson .Paak     
  42. When the Way Gets Dark – Lucinda Williams  
  43. Straight to the Morning – Hot Chip feat. Jarvis Cocker   
  44. Sleep at Night – The Chicks    
  45. Jason – Perfume Genius    
  46. Black Qualls – Thundercat feat. Steve Lacy & Steve Arrington   
  47. Smiley Face – Duck Sauce  
  48. Blinding Lights – the Weeknd   
  49. Country Radio – Indigo Girls      
  50. One and Done – Bright Eyes    
  51. Hole in the Bottle – Kelsea Ballerini with Shania Twain     
  52. Bluebird – Miranda Lambert   
  53. FTP – YG      
  54. You Can’t Rule Me – Lucinda Williams      
  55. Don’t Wanna – HAIM     
  56. Rager teenager! – Troye Sivan    
  57. SUGAR – BROCKHAMPTON    
  58. Bad Decisions – the Strokes    
  59. Miracle of Life – Bright Eyes feat. Phoebe Bridgers 
  60. Dora – Thierra Whack   
  61. On the Floor – Perfume Genius     
  62. Don’t Stop – Megan Thee Stallion feat. Young Thug         
  63. Front Lines – Conway the Machine  
  64. xanny – Billie Eilish      
  65. On My Own – Shamir       
  66. Without You – Perfume Genius       
  67. Why I Still Love You – Missy Elliott     
  68. The Streets Where I Belong – Annie        
  69. Leader of the Delinquents – Kid Cudi     
  70. Song 33 – Noname     
  71. Anthem – Father John Misty  
  72. Lilacs – Waxahatchee  
  73. Body Memory – Jess Cornelius  
  74. Come Thru – Summer Walker with Usher    
  75. Aries – Gorillaz feat. Peter Hook & Georgia  
  76. Riding Solo – Hinds      
  77. Cool Off – Missy Elliott       
  78. Sweeter – Leon Bridges feat. Terrace Martin 
  79. Video Game – Sufjan Stevens     
  80. Love Is a Drug – Empress Of          
  81. Kyoto – Phoebe Bridgers   
  82. ATM – Too Free  
  83. Momentary Bliss – Gorillaz feat. Slowthai and Slaves     
  84. Harlem River Blues – Steve Earle         
  85. In My Bones – Jacob Collier feat. Kimbra & Tank and the Bangas