The 10 best songs of 2023

From Miley to Kylie to a 45-year-old unearthed gem, here are the tracks that made our year.

Music in 2023 never stopped surprising us. The TikTok-famous became Top 5 famous. A trio of folk-rock darlings proved they had the range and a sense of humor. With the help of technology, some late great icons returned with a new song, and it actually didn't sound creepy, but rather... sorta glorious? Padam became our favorite verb, noun, adjective, a way of life.

Whittling down our many choice cuts to a short list each year is always daunting, but the cream of the crop deserve the special shout-out. So here they are: the 10 best songs of 2023.

10. Doechii feat. Kodak Black, "What It Is (Block Boy)"

It takes some huge stones to sample "No Scrubs," about as perfect as a pop song can get. But Doechii's breakthrough single was the no-Fs-given "Crazy," so she was more than game. TLC's perennial banger gives "What It Is" that golden Y2K R&B sheen, while the rapper flips the hip-hop misogyny of that era on its head with a witty interpolation of Triville's 2004 "Some Cut" ("What it is, ho? What's up?"). Deceptively simple, like the best pop, this irresistible earworm (just try to get "if he put it down, I'mma pick it up, up, up" out of your head) is an ode to block boys and the good girls who love them. And it just sounds like summer — the summer of 1999 — which is why it was nominated for MTV's Song of Summer and became Doechii’s first track to enter the Billboard Hot 100. Left Eye would be proud. —Lester Fabian Brathwaite

9. Billie Eilish, "What Was I Made For?"

The summer's sunniest existential film wouldn't be complete without an equally affecting bait-and-switch soundtrack. While Barbie mostly features dance bops and bubble gum fare from mood-boosting VIPs (Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj, Charli XCX), ice queen Billie Eilish came in clutch with its emotional apex. As if gazing at her maimed reflection in a swirling pond or a shattered mirror, the singer fixates on matters of the self here, asking earnest questions about losing feeling and purpose ("When did it end? / All the enjoyment?"). The lyrics are somber and the piano is delicate, like a eulogy as you lower a loved one into the ground — in this case, the happy little you that you once were. "What Was I Made For?" is a quiet ballad fit for a sentient doll, a scrutinized pop star, or, really, any human being who's ever felt defeated —Allaire Nuss

8. PinkPantheress feat. Ice Spice, "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2"

Two years ago, you could find a gazillion TikTokers lip-syncing for their lives to PinkPantheress' hooky, U.K. garage–sampling mini-bops, but this past winter the 22-year-old viral phenom crashed through the confines of social media to score her first Billboard hit. Zippy and buoyant, the two-minute "Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2" nods to both the club and the console, the English singer's cotton-candy vocals floating over a brick-hard backbeat and Gameboy bleeps and bloops as she pines for some shallow jerk who broke her heart. Toss in an airtight verse from rising Bronx rapper Ice Spice about the shady boo who's grabbin' her "duh-duh-duh" while bangin' some sidepiece, and resistance was futile. The fact that these unassuming newbies could pack such a punch in the time it takes to uncap a tube of toothpaste only made the song more impressive and addicting. —Jason Lamphier

7. The Beatles, "Now and Then"

When John Lennon sat down in his Upper West Side apartment and wrote this pretty little tune on his piano, it's hard to imagine he ever thought it would take 45 years to see the light of day, when it became the Beatles' final song — and first U.S top 10 hit since 1995. Like its title suggests, "Now and Then" is a unique collaboration of past and present, skillfully interweaving the late Lennon and George Harrison's musical performances from decades earlier with modern-day technological advancements that made it possible to isolate Lennon's vocals to achieve a clearer, more cohesive sound. Add in new riffs and backing vocals from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and the end result is a heartfelt, bittersweet send-off to one of the biggest and most influential bands of all time. —Emlyn Travis

6. Jessie Ware, "Hello Love"

Jessie Ware released the best dance record of the year, but on the fourth song on her decadent, champagne-soaked That! Feels Good! she hangs up her Donna Summer cosplay and lets those four-to-the-floor beats take a smoke break. "Hello Love" is less a disco cut than it is straight-up soul, the moonstruck tale of old flames locking eyes across the room and reconnecting under the glow of the mirrorball. Its arrangement is pristine and intoxicating: yearning strings, stately brass, a tenor sax that coils itself around the lush oohs and ahhs of the track's backup singers like a satin ribbon. But the big draw here, once again, is Ware, whose vocals are as buttery as ever. When she rhapsodizes about those "electric butterflies" sweeping her off her feet, it feels more than good. It feels real — like maybe, just maybe, this time these crazy kids can make it work. —Jason Lamphier

5. Miley Cyrus, "Flowers"

If you were single in 2023, Miley Cyrus had your back. The singer immediately knew she had a hit with "Flowers" — "I've been doing this for a while," she told British Vogue back in May. Released at the top of the year, the track bloomed for months, becoming Cyrus’ biggest hit to date. And for good reason. There's no shortage of love songs — about wanting to be in love, falling in love, falling out of love — and then along came Miley with a song about being fine just loving your damn self. "Flowers" built on the pop star's personal history (fans meticulously picked it and its video apart for signs pointing to her failed relationship with Liam Hemsworth), but its true appeal lay in its universality. At the end of the day, chanting 'can love me better, I can love me better, baby" just makes you feel good, no matter who you are. —Lester Fabian Brathwaite

4. Kylie Minogue, "Padam Padam"

Padam, padam. Padam? Padam. No other song this year influenced the global lexicon — or, frankly, served to introduce a collective cross-cultural tongue — more than the lead single of Kylie Minogue's latest studio album, Tension. But beyond the memes and the icon's sustained mothering of the industry, "Padam Padam" is a late-career reminder of everything that has allowed the Australian legend to endure for nearly 40 years; it's a pure-bliss cocktail of diamond-crusted, throbbing club-pop and cheeky lyrics about euphorically teetering between lust and love at first sight. The girlies just don't do it like this anymore, so here's to Minogue keeping things padam-padaming well into her next phase. —Joey Nolfi

3. Olivia Rodrigo, "Vampire"

Olivia Rodrigo solidified her place as the frontrunner of the next generation of great singer-songwriters this summer when she bit back at a fraught relationship and all of its vices in her brutal ballad "Vampire." Backed by soft piano, the Grammy winner lets her powerful, poignant prose act as a proverbial stake to her ex's heart as she details a romantic connection filled with extravagance and starry-eyed promises that devolved into "six months of torture." As the tempo and her rage reach a fever pitch, Rodrigo expertly lambasts the blood-sucking "fame f---er" who's hellbent on seeing her downfall while warning the ingenues what can happen when you let the wrong one in. —Emlyn Travis

2. Boygenius, "Not Strong Enough"

Beginning with the storybook prompt "black hole opened in the kitchen," Boygenius' Grammy-nominated track swells right on cue, swallowing this year's favorite supergroup whole. The Record's fourth single is somehow elegant and tumultuous, with shimmering guitars and polished synths surging forward like fine china hurtled at a wall. The lyrics follow suit, lamenting insecurities ("I don't know why I am / The way I am") and dwelling on the way others can underestimate you ("Always an angel / Never a god") while the holy chorus of harmonizing trio Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker echoes through the canyons. In 2023, "Not Strong Enough" became the new theme song for bruised and healing egos, capturing feelings of imposter syndrome and the rocky road toward self-worth. —Allaire Nuss

1. Victoria Monét, "On My Mama"

Victoria Monét has been writing ridiculously catchy singles for the better part of a decade, often for other artists (Ariana Grande's "Thank U, Next," Chloe x Halle's "Do It," Selena Gomez and Blackpink's "Ice Cream") and occasionally for herself ("Coastin'," "Experience," "Ass Like That"). But with "On My Mama," she struck the perfect balance between what made her an in-demand hired gun ("I'm so deep in my bag / Like a grandma with a peppermint" is hands down the lyric of the year) and what makes her an alluring artist in her own right — namely, her effortless swagger. Using rapper Chalie Boy's 2009 song "I Look Good" as a foundation, Monét built a sturdy empowerment anthem packaged in a smooth, low-riding R&B chassis. Though "On My Mama" is mellow in the best sense, the way those horn stabs bolster her as she croons "I can't even lie, lie, lie" is, like the rest of the song, nothing short of thrilling. —Lester Fabien Brathwaite

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