This is year 15 for me! I’ll be counting down the top 20 songs of the previous year and the top 10 can be found below. Eligible songs are those that hit the Billboard top 10 in 2023.
I did not consider recurring Holiday/Christmas songs. I would if a new holiday song were to hit the top 10 in the same year of its release. As for the “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings by Taylor Swift, I only considered songs that had not hit the top 10 before, so no “Style” or “Bad Blood.”
Also ineligible are songs that were in the top 10 this year made my also made my top 20 list in 2022. Those songs are “Unholy,” “As it Was” and “Bad Habit.”
I’m starting January 20 with my #10 song and will add a song a day to this post until I get to #1. Comments welcome!
1. Flowers, Miley Cyrus, Smiley Miley/Columbia
“Flowers” was a global #1 smash upon its January 2023 release, setting sales and streaming records worldwide. It is the fastest song ever to reach one billion streams on Spotify. The theme is self-love following a breakup and both the song and the delivery are top notch. Co-written by Miley Cyrus, Gregory Aldae Hein and Michael Pollack, the lead single from Endless Summer Vacation reached #1 in 38 countries and is up for three Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It’s a strong pop song with a cha-cha rhythm and Cyrus’s phrasing is outstanding. “Flowers” was the 10th top 10 hit for Miley Cyrus, but only the second #1 hit, the other being “Wrecking Ball” in 2013.
Additional links
Live performance at Chateau Marmont, piano bar style
Live performance, Grammys, February 2023
Cover version by Inhaler, BBC Live Lounge
Acoustic cover by Music Travel Love
Rock cover by Our Last Night
2. Calm Down, Rema & Selena Gomez, Jonzing World/Mavin/SMG Music/Virgin/Interscope
Nigerian singer Rema already had an international smash hit with “Calm Down” in 2022, before a remix with Selena Gomez was released in August of that year. It took a little longer for it to catch on in North America. The remix entered the top 10 in March 2023 and stayed there for 27 weeks. Rema describes it as “afro-vibe,” and its sound is unique for pop radio. Because of its early release, it’s not eligible for Grammys, and probably would have been a contender in the new Best African Music Performance category. “Calm Down,” broke a lot of records, including being the first track by an African artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify. Billboard ranked it the sixth-biggest single of 2023. It’s very repetitive but incredibly catchy!
Additional links
Original video by Rema solo
Live performance by Rema at the O2 Arena in London
Viral video of wedding entrance dance
3. Dance the Night, Dua Lipa, Mattel/Watertower/Warner/Atlantic
Well, the Barbie movie needed a big dance number, so it was not at all surprising they used Dua Lipa. “Dance the Night,” the lead single from the Barbie soundtrack became the fourth #1 hit for Dua Lipa in the U.K. and her fifth top 10 hit in the United States. Mark Ronson, who produced much of the soundtrack, co-wrote and co-produced “Dance the Night,” which peaked at #6 and spent nine weeks in the top 10. It’s up for the Song of the Year Grammy and nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The song is delightfully classic disco and would have fit just fine on Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia album. All five Billboard Top 10 hits by Dua Lipa have made my year-end top 10.
Additional links
Movie scene from Barbie
Behind the song: Dua Lipa and Mark Ronson
Cover version by First to Eleven
Cover version by Nothing But Thieves, BBC Live Lounge
4. Cuff It, Beyoncé, Parkwood/Columbia
A song that almost got lost in the 2022 Christmas songs barrage, “Cuff It” managed to sneak in a week in the top 10 in January 2023. After winning the Grammy for Best R&B Song, “Cuff It” re-entered the top 10 for four more weeks beginning in February. Because Beyoncé was said to be “stuck in traffic” when that Grammy was announced, guitarist Nile Rodgers accepted the award, which is a songwriter’s award. Rodgers loved the song and added his guitar in one take. The Rodgers influence helped make “Cuff It” an outstanding dance track, and for me, the top song from Renaissance. The clean, radio-friendly version uses “cuff it,” the explicit version, well, just think of “cuff” backwards.
Additional links
Live performance, Met Life Stadium, July 2023
Wetter Remix
Cover version by Olivia Dean, BBC Live Lounge
Audio, clean version
5. Paint the Town Red, Doja Cat, Kemosabe/RCA
If you’re going to sample, why not use one of the greatest songs of all time? So, did Doja Cat insult her fan base to then put out a song about it (“I said what I said”)? Or did she diss her fan base to help promote her upcoming release? Apparently losing 500,000 Instagram followers was not a career killer. “Paint the Town Red” spent three nonconsecutive weeks at #1 in Fall 2023 and is still on the charts (#7) this week. The sample of “Walk on By” gives Burt Bacharach a songwriter credit. Bacharach died in February but posthumously added a #1 hit to his legacy. A sample alone does not make a song, and Doja Cat managed to add a compelling delivery that earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance. “Paint the Town Red” smashed a few Spotify records and reached #1 on the Billboard Global 200. This mark the fourth straight year that Doja Cat made my year end top 10, following “Say So” (#2 in 2020), “Kiss Me More” (#2 in 2021) and “Vegas” (#7 in 2022).
Additional links
Live performance, Radio 1 Live Lounge
Live cover of “Walk on By”/”Paint the Town Red”, Leigh-Anne at BBC Radio
Rock cover by Rain Paris
6. Un x100to, Grupo Frontero x Bad Bunny, Rimas
The title is an abbreviation of “un porciento,” which translates to “one percent,” as in one percent charge left on the phone. The song is about sending a regretful message to an ex, even with only one percent battery left. The collaboration between Grupo Frontero and Bad Bunny is a bit unusual. Grupo Frontero is a band based in Edinburg, Tex,. specializing in regional Mexican music, particularly cumbia. Bad Bunny is from Puerto Rico and has achieved global success with Latin trap music. The fusion helped get “Un x100to” two Latin Grammy nominations, for Song of the Year and winning for Best Regional Mexican Song. On the Billboard Hot 100, it was a highly successful crossover, spending three weeks in the top 10 in May and peaking at #5. This is Bad Bunny’s third appearance on my year-end top 10, following “Mia” (#10 in 2018) and “Despues de la Playa” (#9 in 2022).
Additional links
Acoustic version by Grupo Frontero
Live performance, Coachella 2023
Cover version by 24kGoldn, English lyrics, not a translation
7. Vampire, Olivia Rodrigo, Geffen/Interscope
Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, was a huge success, and her follow-up Guts album has not disappointed. While the second album is said to be happier in tone, “Vampire,” the lead single is a biting takedown of an ex. Its intro is somewhat similar to Radiohead’s “Creep,” but unlike other songs inspired by “Creep,” “Vampire” goes in other directions. While keeping the same time signature, the pace of the piano changes noticeably with great transitions. It’s a well-written song and Grammy voters took notice. “Vampire” is up for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Two critics, one from the New York Times and another from Vulture, named it the best song of 2023. “Vampire” debuted at #1 in July and went back to #1 for a week in September the week the album was released.
Additional links
Lyrics video: clean version
Live piano performance by Rodrigo
Live from The Today Show
“Kellyoke cover” from a Halloween-themed The Kelly Clarkson Show
Cover version by Ally Salort
8. Die for You, The Weeknd, XO/Republic
and remix, The Weeknd & Ariana Grande
If “Die for You” sounds like something from The Weeknd’s Starboy era, it’s because the song was on that 2016 album. The oldest song in my countdown, “Die for You” was the sixth single from Starboy, released in September 2017. It had some success on the R&B chart and in Canada, but its release to pop radio was canceled in December 2017. It did well enough to make his 2021 compilation album, The Highlights. Thanks to popularity on TikTok, it was released to pop radio in August 2022. While the February 2023 remix release featuring Ariana Grande did help propel “Die for You” to #1 in March, the solo version had already spent over a month in the Billboard top 10. It was not the oldest song to hit #1 in 2023—that was Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which finally hit #1 in December, 65 years after its holiday release in 1958. Billboard ranked “Die for You” as the seventh-biggest song of 2023.
Additional links
Live version by The Weeknd, SoFi Stadium
Official audio from The Highlights album
Postmodern Jukebox cover featuring Tatum Langley
Acoustic cover by Stan Taylor
9. I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault), Taylor Swift, Republic
You’ve been holding out on me, Tay-Tay. I’d been wondering if she could ever come up with a song as good as “Style,” and this one comes close. But wait, it was originally recorded for her 2010 album, Speak Now, which came out quite a few years before “Style” and before Harry Styles. Somehow though, “I Can See You” didn’t make the cut and was not on the original Speak Now. The 2023 release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) included some of those songs that didn’t make the final cut, hence the parenthetical, “From the Vault”. Well, this 2023 version is a strong up-tempo song co-produced by Jack Antonoff, who also plays many of the guitar backing tracks. Hard to say if it sounds exactly like the original or if Antonoff helped modernize it. Taylor Lautner co-stars in the video, and given the timing, he may have been the inspiration for this song, which Swift wrote by herself, as she used to do back then. “I Can See You” debuted at #5 in July and was the only top 10 hit from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
Additional links
Lyric video
Analysis of Easter eggs in the video
10. Something in the Orange, Zach Bryan, Belting Bronco/Warner/War
“Something in the Orange” was recorded in 2021, released in April 2022, entered the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2022, yet it’s not even the oldest song in my countdown this year. When it spent just one week at #10 in January 2023, it became Zach Bryan’s biggest hit, at least until later in that same year. I’m not a big fan of modern country, particularly “bro country,” but Bryan’s lyrics are far deeper than beer, trucks and dirt roads. Bryan was nominated for a Best Country Solo Performance award at last year’s Grammy ceremony but lost to Willie Nelson for “Live Forever.” Billboard ranked it the 13th biggest hit of 2023, despite spending only one week in the top 10. The video for “Something in the Orange” is made up of snippets of clips sent in by fans for a “make a video” contest.
Additional links
Live performance, San Francisco, October 2022
“Z& E Version,” produced by Eddie Spear
Niall Horan cover, live at Sirius XM
Lloyiso cover
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