Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2023

One thing that I have loved doing over the past three years is making my list of my favorite hit songs of the year, and this year was certainly no exception. Sure, I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed this year as much as the last two, but thankfully, we still managed to get some real quality. There are some songs that I am really looking forward to writing about, so let’s get things started.

If you are curious as to what songs were eligible for this list, I outlined my new eligibility rules in this post. In case you want the short version, here it is: any song that made the 2023 Billboard Year-End Hot 100, or would have made that list if it was tracked in a January to December timeframe, and was not eligible for any previous year’s list, is eligible for this list.

Now, without further ado, let’s get into the best that this year had to offer.

Number 10

It’s impossible to discuss 2023 in music without dedicating some discussion to the biggest artist of the year, Taylor Swift. Between her massively successful 2022 album Midnights, her two also-very-successful re-recordings from 2023, and of course the huge success of The Eras Tour, nobody could really deny her cultural ubiquity throughout the year. However, when it comes to individual singles from her, I think that, more than any other, the success of this song was a showcase of just how huge she was in 2023. The song in question is a fan-favorite that both fans and critics seem to adore, and it’s definitely for good reason.

#10: “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #18

January-December List: #9

It feels weird to be talking about “Cruel Summer” as a hit song. This song has most widely been remembered over the past four years as a fan-favorite album track from Swift’s 2019 album, Lover, and a song that absolutely should have been a single but somehow wasn’t. Swift herself said that she wanted to release it as a single back in 2020, as it is her favorite song on the album, but due to the pandemic, the single release was scrapped. However, it became the defining song of The Eras Tour, and the Swifties began to stream this song in droves because they just loved it that much, so it eventually became the number-one single that it has always deserved to be.

I’ve heard more than a few people describe this song as “pop perfection”, and while I definitely don’t consider this song perfect, I can see where they are coming from. For one thing, the song sounds absolutely excellent, with a nice, slowly pulsating beat to start off the song before it eventually builds and gets bigger with the chorus, bridge, and ending. It’s not a particularly complex song production-wise, but it is very effective at creating a more grandiose feel.

Swift herself also offers what might be one of her all-time best vocal performances. The chorus of this song in particular sounds excellent, with one of the catchiest melodies that I heard on a hit song this year. And of course, there’s also the bridge, where she goes for broke and starts shout-singing some of these lines. I definitely see why those who went to her tour latched onto this song, as I imagine that screaming “I don’t want to keep secrets just to keep you!” and “he looks up grinning like a devil!” with the full stadium crowd was definitely fun to do at her concerts.

Then, there’s the lyrics, which I also like a lot. It’s a song that describes a summer romance that very clearly was not built to last, and yet Swift accidentally fell in love with this guy when she probably shouldn’t have, and is now too attached for her own good. This makes the more desperate shout-singing on the bridge connect even more, as she sounds like she’s desperately confessing all of her feelings in the likely futile hopes of him reciprocating and allowing this relationship to be more than it truly was. It’s a testament to Swift’s skill as a singer and songwriter that she was able to sell these lyrics so effectively.

So, yeah, it’s absolutely not hard to see why her fans adore this song so much, and I don’t imagine that me calling this song great is going to be much of a hot take. If anything, I should probably be explaining why this song isn’t any higher than only number ten. That’s more due to overplay than anything else, if I’m being honest, but putting that aside, “Cruel Summer” is an excellent pop song that absolutely deserves all of the praise that it has received over the last four years.

Number 9

To the surprise of, most likely, absolutely nobody, I put a SZA song on this list. After all, SOS was one of my favorite albums of 2022 and my most-played album of 2023. The song that I initially wanted to place on this list for most of the year was “Low”, which was my most-played song of the year and is my favorite song on the album. However, that song narrowly missed the Year-End chart and it didn’t come particularly close to making the January-December chart, either. So, with that song being ineligible, I did what I always do and went with the most predictable SZA song for this list that I possibly could have. But, hey, sometimes songs are well-liked and popular because they’re good, and this is no exception.

#9: “Kill Bill” by SZA

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #3

January-December List: #3

I’ll admit that this one needed some time to properly grow on me. I always liked the song, sure, but I was initially a bit confused as to why it was the big hit from SOS when it didn’t initially seem like one of the stronger songs on the album to me. However, after giving the song some time to sit with me, I was able to appreciate it for the pretty great R&B song that it is.

For one thing, I really like the haunting vibe that is being set up with this instrumental. It does a really good job at creating a creepy atmosphere, which fits well with the content of the song. I’m usually not a fan of songs that intentionally try to sound unsettling, but this one manages to work for me, largely on the basis of having a good backing melody and a nice rhythm courtesy of the percussion that comes in. This helps the song have a lot more replay value for me than I would have otherwise expected.

SZA herself only adds to this, seeing as she is a great singer. I really like some of the more subtle touches in her vocals, such as how she just sounds so relaxed on this song, almost to the point of sounding checked out. I mean this as a compliment, because it gives her the impression that she is disconnected from reality and isn’t grounding a single word that she says in reality at all. This ordinarily wouldn’t be a good thing, but considering the type of song that this is lyrically, it actually works wonders for the song.

Lyrically speaking, this song is very, very dark. It’s a song where SZA is so overcome with jealousy at the mere thought of her ex-boyfriend finding another girl that she fantasizes about killing both him and his girlfriend in what she describes as a crime of passion. She swears that she’s too mature for this, and is seeking help in therapy to fight off these intrusive thoughts, but she ultimately lets those intrusive thoughts win and does it anyway by the end of the song. However, here’s where things get interesting. I don’t really take the meaning of this song’s lyrics literally like seemingly everyone else does.

Like I said, SZA sings this song like she’s very disconnected from reality, and I feel like this is intentional. I don’t actually believe that SZA’s character killed either her ex-boyfriend or his new girlfriend. Instead, I feel like this is more just some sort of fantasy that she has going on in her head as a result of the jealous rage that she’s in. I’ll admit that this interpretation popped into my head largely because of the larger context of SOS as an album, seeing as this is only the second song on that 23-song album, and her ex-boyfriend is still very much alive on the album’s later tracks. Maybe I’m just reading too much into this song - it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve done that - but this interpretation of the song as an exploration into SZA’s darkest intrusive thoughts makes this song a lot more compelling, in my opinion.

Once this song properly clicked for me, I fully understood why it became such a massive hit. It’s absolutely a great song, and even if it still isn’t my favorite song on SOS, it’s still an excellent song all the same.

Number 8

I’ve mentioned before how I’m one of those people who is always curious about what their Spotify Wrapped looks like at the end of the year. This year, as I mentioned previously, my top song was “Low” by SZA. Coming in at numbers two and three were “10:35” by Tiësto and Tate McRae and “Too Many Nights” by Metro Boomin and Future featuring Don Toliver, respectively. While all of these songs charted, none of them became proper hits in the United States, unfortunately. That said, my number four most-played song of the year actually was a hit, so if you want to know what my most-played song on this list is, it would be this.

#8: “Chemical” by Post Malone

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #13

Year-End List: #57

January-December List: #55

I feel like the opinion that Post Malone should start heading in a more rock direction, or at least a more pop-rock type of direction, is a pretty commonly-held one. Well, this year, he did start to make that pivot with his album, AUSTIN, which I considered to be a pretty good album. While it isn’t my favorite album of his, given that Hollywood’s Bleeding still exists, it does showcase the fact that Post Malone fits pretty well into the world of pop rock, or at the very least more alternative-sounding music. He also proved that this year with his Noah Kahan collaboration “Dial Drunk”, which I also really liked, but of the two, this is the one that stuck with me more.

I think that the main reason why this song managed to have such strong replay value for me actually comes down to just how upbeat and happy it sounds. From the lighter, breezier guitar melody and fast-paced percussion that anchor the song to the brighter keys that come in during the bridge, this song is very fun to listen to. It’s fitting that it was released during the spring, since I’d argue that it fits the late spring and early summer vibe perfectly. Given that I am very much partial to this brand of upbeat and lightweight pop, this was a pretty easy sell for me.

That said, “upbeat and lightweight” are not words that I would use to describe the lyrics of this song, which are anything but those things. It’s a song where Post Malone has some sort of toxic and codependent relationship that he can’t quite let go of because he feels addicted to it. Whether or not this is meant to be about another person or about a substance is left completely up to interpretation. It’s certainly a very interesting lyrical idea.

At the end of the day, however, I came back to this song as much as I did because I just love how it sounds. I’ve already gone into detail about this song’s instrumental, but I also love Post Malone’s contributions to the song, too. His falsetto sounds better on this song than I’d argue it ever has before, and he contributes some excellent melodies. That bright, singalong chorus was stuck in my head consistently throughout this year, and it’s always so much fun to sing along with. Ultimately, my love for this song just comes down to how much replay value that it had for me.

As I mentioned, this was the song on this list that, statistically speaking, I returned to the most in 2023. Given its high replay value and high quality, that doesn’t surprise me, and I’m glad that this song managed to become a hit.

Number 7

So, this is going to be a first for me. In all my years of doing this, I’ve never placed a single country song on any of my lists, minus one honorable mention to “All Too Well (Taylor's Version)” by Taylor Swift last year. This largely comes down to my distance with the genre, seeing as I didn’t grow up on it and I don’t regularly listen to it. However, given just how successful country music was this year, I have been making an effort to listen to more country music. I did manage to find some great songs in the genre that were hits this year, but there was one in particular that I really liked. This is probably going to be my biggest hot take on this list, seeing as it has become something of a controversial song in my friend group, and I do understand a lot of the criticisms that it has received. That said, I still think that this song is really good.

#7: “Fast Car” by Luke Combs

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2

Year-End List: #8

January-December List: #5

Let me start off by saying this. Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” is a classic. It’s an excellent song that has been lauded with praise for over 30 years, and rightfully so. It is also the best possible version of itself. Many, many artists have attempted to cover it, but none have managed to make a cover that is better than the original song, and that includes Luke Combs. I say this because a lot of my friends seem to really dislike this cover for its mere existence, which I don’t think is entirely fair. I understand that some are worried that this version might eclipse the original, seeing as it charted higher than the original did, but I’m not remotely worried about that. Chapman’s original has managed to stand the test of time in a way that few songs do, and certainly in a way that transcends chart positions. I don’t think that anyone, including Combs himself, thinks of this version as having eclipsed the original. With all that now out of the way, let me explain why “Fast Car” as a composition works so well before diving into this particular version of it.

As I said, “Fast Car” is widely beloved and hailed as an all-time classic, so its quality is pretty self-evident. It’s a very well-written song about a girl who dreams of escaping her life with her partner, mainly clinging to one memory of the two of them driving in her partner’s car and hoping that they can have a better life where they can always feel as great as they did in that moment. Ultimately, while they do manage to escape and find a new life, it isn’t exactly better, and that fleeting memory that she built her whole plan for the future on is revealed to be just a fleeting memory and nothing more. All the while, the song is anchored by an excellent vocal performance from Chapman and a nice, relaxed guitar motif that doesn’t change too much, but doesn’t need to. Many others have given far more detailed analyses of “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman than I could ever hope to. Even with that in mind, it’s definitely earned its place as a classic.

Now, onto Combs’ cover and why I personally find it to be really good. Right off the bat, I will say that it isn’t really because of any new or exciting twist that Combs brings to the song. In fact, for all intents and purposes, the original composition is largely left alone. The guitar melody on this cover is nearly identical to the original, and Combs’ vocal inflections on practically every single line mirror Chapman’s as much as possible. Combs also doesn’t change any of the lyrics in the song, including keeping the original pronouns. Here’s the thing, though. I think that the fact that Combs changes as little about the song as possible is what makes this cover good.

Combs has described that the main reason why he covered this song was because it was a song that he heard a lot growing up, and it became one of his favorite songs. He has an emotional connection to it, and as such, he wanted to try his hand at covering it. I think that his love for the original really does come through in this version. As I said, he doesn’t change much of anything about the original song, and I think that this is because he doesn’t think that anything about it needs to be changed. He’s just singing a song that he loves, and I can’t fault him for that.

Of course, it helps that Combs is one of the best vocalists in mainstream country right now. I also liked his other two hits from this year, “Love You Anyway” and “Going, Going, Gone”, but this was the best of the three for me, and his vocal performance here plays a part in that. His love of the original song really does come through with not only how much he is trying to match Chapman’s original vocal inflections, but also how passionate he sounds while singing the song. I will say that the primary reason why this cover is not as good as the original does come down to the fact that Chapman is not the one singing it, though. Chapman really made you feel every word that she sang, and the song felt a lot more lived-in. Combs doesn’t really do that, likely because he obviously didn’t write this song, but I don’t consider this to be much of a mark against it.

Again, I do understand why a lot of other people are so reluctant to give any cover of “Fast Car” a chance. That said, I am a bit more comfortable endorsing this cover since Chapman herself has spoken favorably of it in a recent interview, and it is helping a new generation become acquainted with a classic, which is always a plus. It is still not better than the original, sure. That said, if you are willing to give it a chance, I recommend doing so, because I think that this is a great cover.

Number 6

So, when it was revealed that Billboard would only be tracking a 49-week year for their Year-End charts, this was understandably met with some backlash. After all, this blatantly favors old 2022 hits to make the list, and doesn’t allow hits from the later part of the year to make the list unless they were absolutely massive right out of the gate, not to mention the fact that 49 weeks is not a full year. However, one common sentiment that I saw online was that it sucked that this song, which otherwise likely would have made the Year-End chart, ended up missing it due to the abbreviated timeframe. And, yes, I share that annoyance, partially because it absolutely deserved to rank among the top 100 biggest songs of the year, but also because it’s fantastic!

#6: “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #7

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #72

2023 was the big test for Olivia Rodrigo. She had her big breakthrough in 2021 with a massive debut album, but would she be able to follow that up with a successful sophomore album? Well, thankfully, the answer to that question was yes, seeing as GUTS proved to be a pretty successful album, and it was also a very good album, as well. As for this song, which became one of the album’s biggest hits, I would also argue that it’s one of its best songs.

A while back, I decided to coin the term “zoomer rock” to describe rock-leaning songs made by Gen Z artists that usually take a lot of inspiration from pop punk and are usually filled with angst. Rodrigo’s earlier hit “good 4 u” was perhaps the first big zoomer rock hit, and she’s been continuing down this path ever since then. This song continues in that tradition, as while I don’t think that it relies on angst as much as other songs in this subgenre, it definitely still belongs in this territory, strictly because of how distinctly “Gen Z” its writing style is.

Lyrically, this song describes Rodrigo on a night out with her friends where she gets a call from her ex-boyfriend. She knows that seeing him is a bad idea, but she still clearly has feelings for him, so she tries to justify the call as an attempt to reconnect with a friend as opposed to the attempt to hook up that it clearly is. Even despite the very reasonable voices in her head saying that she shouldn’t go see him, her response is a simple, disaffected, “fuck it, it’s fine”. I love how conversational the writing style is, as it makes for a lot of quotable lines in the verses. It very much has the feeling of a brain-fart moment where you know deep down that you’re making bad decisions, but the potential thrill is driving your actions much more than any reason is.

I also really like the vocals on this song, too. Rodrigo uses a speak-singing delivery that makes the song sound a lot more like an internal monologue as she tries to justify her actions to herself. The sarcastic tone of her voice is what really works about this vocal performance for me. If she had tried to sell this as something big, melodic, and melodramatic, it probably wouldn’t have worked. However, this actually feels a bit more real, namely in that I can actually believe that this is an internal monologue that someone would have with themselves in this situation. I can’t personally relate to this, but this song does have a more lived-in quality to it that I do appreciate.

And finally, we have the main reason why this song is on this list, that being the production. Rock music is generally agreed to be what Olivia Rodrigo is best at making, and that’s still 100% true here. There’s a driving rock melody being played by the guitars that keeps this song going at a good pace. While the general pace of this song is a bit too slow to turn this into a proper headbanger like Rodrigo’s best songs often are, it still has a great instrumental. Also - and this should go without saying - a great guitar solo can make up for a lot. This guitar solo is indeed great, and makes the song all the more fun to listen to.

So, yeah, this song absolutely slaps, and is also well-written enough to be pretty compelling in its own right. This absolutely deserved to make the Year-End chart, but at the end of the day, all that really matters is that the song is great, and this song definitely is.

Number 5

So, much like many other people this year, I saw Barbie in theaters. It’s become a bit of a controversial movie in my friend group, as I know some people that really loved it and some people that hated it. I personally really enjoyed it, seeing as it was a well-written film where pretty much every main actor gave a good performance. That said, I’m not a movie buff, as evidenced by the fact that Barbie was one of only four movies that I saw in theaters this year. What I am is a music nerd, and I can definitely say for sure that the Barbie soundtrack had some great songs. For a prime example, look at this song.

#5: “Dance The Night” by Dua Lipa

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #6

Year-End List: #35

January-December List: #25

I think that pretty much all of you were expecting this song to show up somewhere on this list. After all, I am a very big Dua Lipa fan, and given that this song is stylistically pretty similar to “Levitating”, which was my favorite hit song of 2021, the fact that I ended up liking this song enough to place it in the top five of this list should surprise absolutely none of you. However, this song is definitely more than just a sequel to “Levitating”.

This song’s lyrics are quite simple. Dua Lipa is disregarding all of the bad things that could potentially happen, and is keeping a smile on her face as she dances the night away. In most respects, when taking this song out of the larger context of Barbie, this is a simple dance-pop song. However, in the film’s context, it picks up a more interesting meaning. 

This is the song that plays during a relatively mindless dance number in the film where all of the Barbies and Kens engage in a highly choreographed routine while being completely oblivious to anything bad going on in the outside world. The main stereotypical Barbie breaks up the scene for a second by asking if anyone ever thinks about dying, but then she plays it off like she didn’t mean what she said, and then, everyone is right back to partying. Within that context, it becomes apparent that this song is literally designed to be some simple escapist pop without much lyrical substance, only serving to provide something to dance to. However, outside of that context, man, this song is some fun escapist pop!

I mainly engaged with this song outside of the context of its parent film, so when I hear “Dance The Night”, I mainly enjoy it because of how it sounds. This song was produced in part by Mark Ronson, who you might remember from his Bruno Mars collaboration, “Uptown Funk”, so it helps that this song is being worked on by someone who has a good track record when it comes to throwback-inspired danceable pop music. The production itself is excellent, too, with an orchestral melody providing the main melodic foundation before a thumping bass beat provides the backbone for the song. It definitely makes for something that is very fun to dance to, so it’s not hard to see why this song was the Barbies and Kens’ song of choice in that regard.

And finally, there’s Dua Lipa herself. This is definitely the sort of song that is well within her comfort zone, as it would be able to pretty easily fit on a playlist of Future Nostalgia tracks, but that album is still fantastic, so I’m not complaining. She sounds like she’s having fun while also sounding pretty content, which fits the lyrics of the song about having fun and not worrying about whatever might be troubling you. In particular, I really like her vocals on the post-chorus, as not only is it just as catchy as the rest of the song, but she really does sound great in her lower register and it shows on that part of the song.

There isn’t really that much more to say about this song. It’s either an interesting piece of metacommentary about simple dance-pop songs if you listen to it in the context of the movie, or it’s just a really fun and enjoyable dance-pop song if you listen to it outside of that context. I generally prefer the latter, but in any case, this song is always a fun time.

Number 4

So, one thing that I have been looking at a bit more on my own time is the Billboard Global 200 chart. It’s always fun to look at some songs that may not have been huge in the United States, but were huge worldwide. In many cases, the songs in question are really good and deserve to become hits in the United States as well, but oftentimes, they just miss the cut. I was admittedly worried that this was going to happen to this song, too, but thankfully it stuck around for long enough that it was eligible for this list. I’m definitely happy about that, because this song is excellent!

#4: “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” by Bizarrap & Shakira

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #9

Year-End List: #96

January-December List: N/A

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have recently started to get into EDM over the past year or so. I’m not quite sure what spawned this, but it has become a genre that I’ve found myself liking more and more as of late. That said, EDM songs don’t usually make for great list material, since my appreciation for these songs doesn’t often go too far beyond thinking, “this slaps”, and not much else. This, however, is a very different case, because there’s so much to unpack here that I’m not even sure where to start!

Let’s start with some background. Bizarrap is an Argentine producer who has been a big name in the Latin music scene for a while now. He’s most well-known for his Bzrp Music Sessions, where he finds an artist, gives them whatever production he thinks will complement them, and lets them do their thing. One of these sessions, namely the 52nd volume with the Spanish rapper Quevedo, became a huge global hit that even managed to reach number one on the Global 200 and chart on the Hot 100 for a little bit. It was big enough that for his 53rd volume, he managed to bring in Shakira, who decided to use her session to tear into her ex-boyfriend after their highly-publicized separation. This brings us rather nicely to the song’s content, which is the main reason why it got so big.

This song’s lyrics are designed to be as spiteful as possible, to the point where, for all intents and purposes, this is a diss track on Shakira’s ex-boyfriend of eleven years who cheated on her. She calls him out for not being there for her when she needed him and highlights how he cheated on her with someone noticeably younger than both of them. She even uses words that phonetically sound like both his name and his new girlfriend’s name to make it very clear who she is talking about. She holds absolutely nothing back in order to get her point across as directly as possible. However, even despite that, she manages to turn this into an empowerment anthem for herself. The chorus of the song sees her sing about how, at the end of the day, he couldn’t handle her, and she deserves so much better than he could give her. 

Of course, the main reason why this empowerment angle works at all is because of Shakira’s vocal performance. Yes, she still sounds noticeably hurt to a degree, but not to the point where that hurt consumes her. She still manages to sell this song with a lot of confidence, turning that chorus into something that is remarkably fun to sing along with, even if I don’t speak Spanish. It gives off the impression that, while this breakup definitely affected her, she’s still able to be strong and move on from all of that.

Finally, there’s Bizarrap’s production, which is excellent. This song has some pretty synth-heavy EDM production, which turns this song into an absolute banger. I also like all of the little switch-ups that he adds throughout the song, such as the percussion switch-ups on the verses, or the stuttering effect that he adds onto Shakira’s voice on the final chorus. It all helps to make this song all the more enjoyable to listen to. Not to mention, the energetic production paired with these lyrics probably helped to turn this song into an anthem for those that related to it. I may not be one of those people, but I definitely see how this song would work in that context. In fact, even if I don’t relate to it, this is still a really fun song to blast and hear in a group setting. I went on vacation not long after this song came out, and this song was getting blasted everywhere. Thankfully, it was a ton of fun to hear every single time.

It’s not hard to see why this song managed to become such a big global hit. It’s clearly a cathartic song for Shakira and those that relate to her while also being a really fun banger that sounds great. Out of all of the big Latin hits this year, this was handily my favorite, and if you haven’t heard it yet, then I absolutely recommend that you give it a listen, because it’s awesome!

Number 3

Sometimes, there’s a song that is generally agreed to be among the best of the year by most critics that I follow, if not the best. And in this case, that definitely feels earned. It’s a fantastic and incredibly well-made song, and its success is a huge win for independent artists - particularly this song’s lead artist - for reasons that I will get to. Sure, it may not have been my personal choice for the best hit song of the year, but it definitely makes sense why so many others had it as theirs. Alright, enough beating around the bush, let’s dive right into this song.

#3: “Escapism.” by RAYE feat. 070 Shake

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #22

Year-End List: #48

January-December List: #51

Rarely has there been a hit song in the past few years where it feels like there is so much to discuss about it. However, pretty much everything about this song, from its lyrics to its structure to its success story leave me with so much to analyze and say about them. This sort of thing sometimes happens with hit songs that are rather unconventional, like this one, but these elements all coalesce into a truly great song.

For starters, let’s look at this song’s sound. Its first few seconds a bit spare, with little more than a purposely-unsettling high-pitched melody and some rhythmic percussion coming in, but as the song progresses, the instrumental becomes more layered, adding some melancholic pianos to accentuate the feelings of darkness that run rampant throughout the song. This darkness is especially prevalent in the song’s content, and we have a lot to unpack in that department.

This song centers RAYE on a night out the day after a bad breakup. This breakup left her emotionally devastated, but she decides that instead of moping around like she did last night, she’s going to find other ways to cope with her pain. However, these methods of escapism are not in the least bit healthy, as she turns to meaningless sex and substance use as her primary form of dealing with her emotions, doing whatever she can to numb that pain. 

This is the reason why the song sounds so depressing despite technically being about partying. This may be an attempt at escapism, but it’s doing way more harm to RAYE than it is good. In fact, it doesn’t even seem to be working, since this song’s chorus sees everything but the pianos cut out as RAYE begs for the doctor to give her anything to make sure that she doesn’t feel like she did last night. Her actions are doing a lot of things, but they’re not making that pain fully go away.

Then, there’s 070 Shake’s verse, where she acts as the voice in RAYE’s head, telling her the harsh reality of the situation. She can run from this pain all she wants and actively hurt herself in the process, but she’ll never truly escape the pain by doing what she’s doing. This cuts back into one last, loud final chorus before that chorus gets chopped up and slowed down for a short ending verse. This verse centers RAYE after having gone so far off the edge that she’s completely lost herself in her actions. On some level, the pain is gone, since she’s now numb to all of her feelings, but she still doesn’t sound remotely happy. She found her escapism, but it clearly came at a cost.

It helps that both artists play their parts especially well with their vocal delivery. RAYE’s singing on the verses, particularly the closing verse, sounds less like singing and more like a very dejected rapping style, as she tries to project the numbness that she feels. However, in the chorus, she sounds much more passionate and pained, as we get a look into what her character’s inner psyche really looks like. It’s a layered and really interesting vocal performance. As for 070 Shake, she stays generally quiet during her verse, sounding as if she’s just barely breaking through everything else going on. This works well when you remember that she’s acting as the sole voice of reason in RAYE’s head who gets a few seconds to tell her the harsh truth before being shut out for the rest of the song. In terms of production, lyrics, and vocals, everything comes together to paint a vivid picture of the dark side of seeking escapism through partying. There’s none of the glamor here. What there is instead is a harsh reality.

All of this is to say that the song itself is excellent, but now onto why its success is such a big deal. So, while this song was RAYE’s proper mainstream breakthrough in the United States, she’s actually been very successful in her home country of the United Kingdom since 2017. This was mainly due to her collaborations with EDM artists, such as with Joel Corry and David Guetta on “BED”, Regard on “Secrets”, and most famously, Jax Jones on “You Don’t Know Me”. However, despite the huge success of these songs in her home country, her label refused to let her release a proper debut album, despite the fact that she spent years being signed to them as a proven hitmaker. 

So, she ended up going independent, releasing this song, and eventually, her proper debut album, My 21st Century Blues, and saw more success than she had ever seen previously. This song did what all of her previous songs could not, like hitting number one in the United Kingdom and charting in the United States. It served as a huge win for independent artists and artists who fight for creative control over their work, which is absolutely fantastic to see.

I realize that this was all a lot to unpack, but it is worth understanding why so many critics consider this one of the best and most important hit songs of 2023. It’s absolutely earned that title in my eyes, and is also a really great piece of music to boot.

Number 2

Some of you may remember that, when explaining my new eligibility rules for this list, I mentioned that, if I had used this ruleset last year, a certain song would have been number one on that list, quite handily. In fact, up until the very end of this year, I was sure that it was going to be my number one pick for this year, too. In case any of you were wondering what song I was talking about, that would be this.

#2: “Die For You” by The Weeknd & Ariana Grande

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #7

January-December List: #10

This is a song that seemed like the obvious number one pick for me for so long. Not only is The Weeknd my favorite artist, as I have said multiple times, but this particular song is one that I have loved for years, going back to when I first heard it back in late 2017. For those of you who don’t know, this song was originally released on The Weeknd’s 2016 album Starboy, and was released as a single to rhythmic radio in 2017. However, it didn’t really do much of anything in its first run as a single, largely remaining a fan favorite in a similar vein to “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift, which I discussed earlier. However, once it went viral on TikTok, the song was released to pop radio, returned to the charts, and became one of the biggest hits of the year, even hitting number one after its Ariana Grande remix was released. As someone who has been saying that this song deserved better for years, seeing it finally reach the top of the charts was awesome.

Out of all of the songs in my top five for this list, this is probably the hardest one for me to analyze, because, on the surface, it seems rather standard. This song, as you can probably guess from the title, is lyrically a confession of love from The Weeknd to someone who has finally managed to make him fall in love. In the context of Starboy as an album, this song serves as an emotional climax, as The Weeknd grapples with the idea of falling in love throughout the album, but then finally gets to this point and just lets the emotions flow through him. However, even outside of the context of its parent album, this song still works just as effectively, largely due to its sound.

The thing that makes this production work as well as it does for me is its grandiosity. The percussion is fairly slow, but it hits hard enough to leave a real impact. The synths are loud, but not to the point of being obnoxious. Every element in the instrumental of this song is meant to amplify the words being said in an attempt to add a larger scope to it. This works really well in turning this song from a simple confession of feelings to a booming declaration of love, and that sort of thing tends to stick with me a lot more.

Of course, that attempt at grandiosity would go for naught if it wasn’t for The Weeknd himself delivering a fantastic vocal performance. He’s always been an incredible singer, and here, he puts that skill to use, singing his heart out on that chorus and really making you feel every word that he says. The verses are a bit more understated, but those are also moments where there’s a lot less tension in the instrumental. Speaking of which, the way that both The Weeknd and the production behind him execute the build-ups and the releases of tension during the pre-chorus and chorus is really great, once again helping this song land with all of the impact that it needs.

So, that’s all of the reasons why the original song is fantastic, but what about its Ariana Grande remix? After all, I’ve mentioned in the past that I prefer her remix of “Save Your Tears” to the original, so is this song in the same boat? Well, no, honestly, seeing as the original “Die For You” is a song that I’ve loved for so long that no new version was ever going to replace it for me. That said, her remix is still excellent. Ariana Grande is still a phenomenal vocalist, and she sounds great on her verse. Not to mention that she and The Weeknd have always had great chemistry with each other, and that is once again evident here. Her verse isn’t lyrically all that different from The Weeknd’s second verse that she replaces, but it doesn’t need to be. My one nitpick with this version is that I have no clue why Grande sings the first chorus, which is before her verse, with The Weeknd, but is completely absent for the last chorus. I feel like the other way around would have made more sense, but that’s a minor nitpick. Both versions of this song are excellent.

All in all, this is a great song that has long deserved its moment in the sun, and I’m so glad that it was finally able to get that moment. It did ultimately just miss out on the top spot on this list, largely because, after intermittently playing it for the past six years, I think that it’s finally starting to get overplayed for me, but that doesn’t matter much. This song is still fantastic, and I’m so glad that it finally managed to become a massive hit.

But before we get to my favorite hit song of 2023, here are my honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #14

Year-End List: #81

January-December List: #44

My experience during my first semester in college did shape my opinion on a lot of songs this year, and this was one of them. It’s not a song that I return to all that much, which is what kept it off the proper list, but let’s just say that as a college student who is still very much trying to figure out the world around me, a song called “What Was I Made For?” was really able to connect with me. Yes, I am aware that, in the context of Barbie, the film that the song was made for, it is quite literally written from the perspective of a doll, but outside of that context, it manages to work really well, too.

“vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #30

January-December List: #15

Here, we have Olivia Rodrigo’s big comeback single, and it’s a great comeback single, with a ton of real theatricality, a strong buildup and climax, and some particularly biting lyrics - pardon the pun. It may not have had as much replay value for me as “bad idea right?” or some of the other tracks on GUTS, but it’s still a great song all the same.

“Nobody Gets Me” by SZA

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #10

Year-End List: #77

January-December List: N/A

This song shows just how versatile of a performer SZA can be. An acoustic ballad was not something that I was expecting to hear from her as opposed to her usual R&B stuff, but she absolutely nailed it. It’s a detailed and well-written song with an absolutely fantastic vocal performance from SZA. Seriously, out of all of the hits from SOS, this is the one that might have the best vocal performance. I feel like it got lost in the shuffle when compared to songs like “Kill Bill” and “Snooze”, but if you haven’t heard it yet, I strongly recommend that you get around to hearing it, because it’s also great.

“Good Good” by USHER, Summer Walker, & 21 Savage

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #25

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #83

This is a song that I admittedly only got around to hearing recently, which might explain why it isn’t on the proper list, but it’s still a great song. USHER is still a legend in R&B, which he shows with a great vocal performance, and both Summer Walker and 21 Savage contribute good verses, too. It’s a song about people remaining friends after a breakup, and I like that the lyrics actually display a decent level of maturity. Also, the song is really upbeat and catchy, which for me, is always a plus. If you haven’t heard this yet, it’s another song that’s definitely worth a listen.

“White Horse” by Chris Stapleton

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #12

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #66

This is another song that I only got around to hearing recently, but it’s easily one of the best country hits of the year. Its rock influences help to make this song so much fun to listen to, with some particularly strong guitar playing, and Chris Stapleton provides a fantastic vocal performance. A song that’s essentially about a guy telling a girl that he’s not ready for a relationship yet is not something that I would expect to slap this hard, but it really works.

“I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #74

January-December List: #29

This is the last country song that I will be talking about today, and it’s also likely the most acclaimed country hit of the year. It’s not hard to see why, seeing as it is an excellent duet with lots of lyrical detail and great vocal performances from both Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves. I still have some distance with country music as a genre, which is likely why I’m not as head-over-heels in love with it as many others are, but it’s still a great song that deserves to be mentioned.

“Dial Drunk” by Noah Kahan & Post Malone

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #25

Year-End List: #80

January-December List: #56

I’ll admit that I’m not as familiar with Noah Kahan’s work as I probably should be, but this was a great first impression for me. It may be an intentionally pathetic song where Kahan calls his ex from jail as a last resort, only for her to hang up, but it is very compellingly written. Also, Post Malone was a fantastic choice for a collaborator on the remix, as he not only fits this more alternative-sounding song really well, but he and Kahan sound really good together on the song. It may not necessarily be a song that I expected to work as well as it does, but I am really glad that it does work that well, because this is great.

“Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #4

January-December List: #8

Of course, it wouldn’t be a list about 2023 in music if I didn’t mention anything from Midnights. This is also a really well-written song from Taylor Swift where she reveals just how much damage that other people’s perceptions of her have done to her self-esteem. It’s certainly a very compelling song, and while I wish that it was a bit more overplay-resistant than it ultimately is, it’s still a great song that deserves to be mentioned.

“Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” by PinkPantheress & Ice Spice

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #3

Year-End List: #20

January-December List: #20

Despite the fact that this was only the 20th-biggest song of the year, I don’t know if any other song felt more specifically tied to 2023 than this song did. Thankfully, it’s also a really good song, with a nice chiptune instrumental, good vocals from PinkPantheress, and quite possibly the best verse that I’ve heard from Ice Spice to date. It’s also easily one of the catchiest songs of the year, as that hook is simple, but incredibly sticky, and I’m pretty sure that at least 80% of Gen Z, myself included, can rap Ice Spice’s entire verse word-for-word. It’s insane how many quotable lines she has. I feel like this song will come to be one of the defining hits of 2023 given how inescapable it was, and I think that this is pretty well-deserved, since the song itself is also very good.

“Used To Be Young” by Miley Cyrus

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #8

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #62

To round out our honorable mentions, we have yet another song that grew on me partially as a result of me starting college. Yes, I am aware that I am not quite at the age where I can say that I used to be young - I’m only eighteen, so I still consider myself fairly young - but I can relate to having gone through changes in my life, given that starting college is a huge change. As such, a song about accepting every past version of yourself, taking all of the good with the bad, and using that to make yourself a better person is something that was able to resonate with me. Especially considering that this is coming from Miley Cyrus, given how tumultuous her career has been, this song carries a bit more extra weight for me. I realize that “Flowers” has probably overshadowed this song more than it should have, but this song is still really good and deserves to be highlighted.

And with that, let’s wrap things up with my number one pick.

Number 1

Picking my favorite hit song of a given year is always a difficult task. The main reason for this is because I never know which metric to judge a song on that can help me call it my favorite hit song of that year. However, this year I decided to keep it a bit simpler. I decided that the hit song from this year that I call my favorite should be the one that brought me the most joy in 2023. Once I decided to do that, my number one pick for this list could not have been clearer. 

#1: “greedy” by Tate McRae

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #7

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #57

This is a song that I’ve got a lot to say about. There are so many individual aspects that I love about this song, and it was released at just the right time to really connect with me. In fact, even more so than songs like “she’s all i wanna be” and “chaotic” that I have praised on this blog before, I’d argue that this might just be my favorite song that Tate McRae has ever made. I understand that it might seem odd that this song connected with me so much considering the fact that, at its core, it’s a simple rhythmic pop song, but there’s more to this song than just that in my eyes.

Let’s start with the production which is definitely the aspect of the song that hooked me the most on first listen. As many people that know me personally know, I absolutely love throwback songs from the 2000s and the early 2010s. It’s the sort of music that I grew up listening to on the radio, so when I come across an upbeat pop song that reminds me of that era, that song becomes very easy for me to like. McRae said that her reasoning for trying out this style of pop music was because she wanted to make something that she could dance to. I definitely think that she succeeded, since this is easily the most danceable hit song that I heard all year. Seriously, I am not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever I hear that opening melody lead into that “woo” sound effect, even I can’t stop myself from either bobbing my head or shuffling my feet depending on if I’m sitting or standing.

The specific era of pop music that this song gets most often compared to by critics that I follow is the mid-2000s, specifically the sort of music that Timbaland was producing around that time, and I definitely see where they’re coming from. Both the rhythmic pattern that the percussion follows and even some of McRae’s vocal melodies definitely sound like they could have come from a song from that era. Fittingly enough, this song was produced in part by someone who both sang and produced a fair few big hits in the mid-to-late 2000s, that being Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, and learning that fact made me understand why this song sounds like such an authentic homage to that era. Given that I love 2000s pop music as much as I do, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I love this production.

Then, we have the lyrics, which I also like. This song basically tells the story of how some guy is trying to hit on Tate McRae at a bar. He seems like he’s a little bit too eager to get to know her, and the fact that he’s twice her age only makes matters worse. So, she playfully tells him off by essentially saying, “you want me? Well, I would want myself, too.” I do like how she turns this story of a likely-uncomfortable situation into a song that’s more about self-confidence than anything else. She’s just trying to have some fun, so why should some annoying guy who can’t take a hint get in the way of that?

It’s also great that McRae is actually able to sell that self-confidence really well in her delivery. She genuinely sounds like she’s having a ton of fun while singing this song. It certainly makes sense, since this is a very fun song to listen to. She also has always had a knack for writing great hooks and great melodies, and that skill is fully on display with this song. Every single individual melody is insanely catchy, and they all flow over this production so well. The chorus in particular is fantastic. It’s so much fun to sing along with every single time I hear it. Honestly, the best way that I can describe this song is that it’s just so much fun, and that’s ultimately why it connected with me as much as it did.

As I’ve mentioned in this list before, a few songs really managed to grow on me as a result of me starting college, but for no song was that more true than “greedy”. This might seem odd to some of you, given that this isn’t a song that I relate to at all lyrically, but let me explain. The adjustment process for something as big as leaving the established world of high school and going to college is certainly not an easy one. It’s truly something where, if you haven’t been through it, then you genuinely have no idea what it’s like, and it’s not something that you can really prepare for. So, when big changes like this happen, I like to turn to music. However, I wasn’t really in the mood for something that directly related to my situation. I wanted to have fun. So, how does this song factor into all of that?

Well, this song was released this past September, not long after I had properly started college, and this was probably the best possible time for it to have been released. When I started to feel the effects of such a massive shift in my life, along comes a song like this, which intentionally sounds like the sort of pop music that I grew up with, and is a ton of fun to listen to. Therefore, this song became a great song to listen to whenever I wanted to put myself in a good mood, kind of similar to what “Levitating” by Dua Lipa was for me during the pandemic. Every time I pressed “play” on this song, I knew that for the next two minutes, I was going to have some fun. 

So, yeah, not only is this a fantastic song, but it also managed to act as a great comfort song for me. It’s a really fun song that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed returning to time and time again, and that ultimately made it the easy choice for number one on this list for me. “greedy” by Tate McRae: my favorite hit song of 2023.