If it weren’t clear, music has officially entered the era of the viral moment. Reflecting on 2023, it’s challenging to identify a genuine hit beyond a 15-second clip, and thus, we’re perhaps left with more contenders than usual. While the summer blockbuster Barbie produced numerous chart-topping singles, the year featured a surge of emerging talent poised for Grammy nominations, and the coveted spot for the biggest song of the year.
It’s evident that Taylor Swift’s influence with “Midnights” transcended music, with newcomer Tate McRae offering a taste of old-school pop fantasy on “Greedy,” and K-pop group Newjeans providing listeners with a sonic slice of heaven. Meanwhile, 2023 also marked the rise of Bronx rapper Ice Spice, whose sprint to stardom included a TikTok frenzy, an RIAA platinum-certified collaboration with PinkPantheress, and an opening slot on Doja Cat’s Scarlet tour.
Beyond streaming, radio airplay propelled country artist Morgan Wallen to Billboard’s No. 1 artist of 2023 with the powerhouse single “Last Night.” The charts also witnessed an alluring surge of rock-pop entries from Olivia Rodrigo and Post Malone, compensating for the sudden fatigue of dance-pop. As the year concluded, TikTok officially crowned K-pop group Fifty-Fifty’s “Cupid” as the platform’s top song of 2023, along with other year-end lists.
Ahead, with streaming and trending numbers in mind, these are the tracks that defined the year most, from the TikTok breakouts to the comebacks of some of the industry’s biggest names.
1. “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift
Self-described by Swift as “one of [the singer’s] favorite songs [she’d] ever written,” “Anti-Hero” is the glimmery lead single from Midnights, Swift’s tenth album which, at its core, celebrates the mega-star’s past music “eras.” All 10 songs of the album had, at one point (and the first time ever in Billboard history), come together to construct the entire top 10. Needless to say, it’d be a severe understatement to dub the No. 1 track as a social media phenomenon.
- “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus
While“Flowers” reads like a basic self-love mantra, the sparkly 70s synths turn the Gloria Gaynor-interloped single into a scream of joy– one heard from the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks.
3. “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj ft. Ice Spice
The year undisputedly belongs to Ice Spice, who championed the Billboard Hot 100 with her instantly recognizable ad-libs and catchy hooks. The summer’s runaway hit, “Barbie World,” offers a fresh reinterpretation of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl,” complete with a bubblicious pink music video, complete with a feature from the industry’s own beloved “Barb,” Nicki Minaj.
- “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen
With his third album, One Thing At A Time, Morgan Wallen had plenty of country hits up his sleeve. With five tracks from the album making the Billboard Top 10, “Last Night” is undoubtedly the most memorable.
5. “Kill Bill” by SZA
“I might kill my ex, not the best idea,” SZA riddles off the third single from her Grammy-nominated sophomore album SOS, and was the sound bite heard around TikTok.
- “Boys A Liar Pt. 2” by PinkPantheress ft. Ice Spice
Ask a PinkPantheress fan, and they’d argue the London artist deserved a Grammy nomination solely for ”Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” — The singer’s hit collaboration with Ice Spice. The bubbly single tackled a niche spectrum of pop, cementing both emerging talents as formidable pop forces.
- “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta ft. Bebe Rexha
Anything Davis Guetta touches turns to gold — Or, in the instance of the French DJ’s hit with Bebe Rexha, blue. In this iconic Eiffel 65-sampled single, Guetta enlists the Brooklyn-born artist to deliver high-energy vocals for a rejuvenated summer hit. With a Billboard longevity of 48 weeks and over a million TikTok videos (across all audio versions), Guetta and Rexha made EDM palatable for every season.
8.“What Was I made For?” by Billie Eilish
You would think the “Bad Guy” singer would take a break after her sold-out Happier Than Ever tour and a stint of headlining international festivals. Instead, Billie Eilish surprised fans by joining the rosters of A-listers that was the Barbie The Album artist lineup with a song that emphasized the film’s existential crisis-centered storyline and popularized a neutral social media space for vulnerable, yet universal girlhood experiences.
- “Greedy” by Tate McRae
Tate McRae may have already been inching toward widespread popularity, but “Greedy” became the track to catapult the musician into pop stardom, landing McRae a number of late-night TV performances and a spot on the 2023 Billboard Music Awards stage. It was TikTok’s “tube girl” trend that was, in part, responsible for the number of times “Greedy” made an appearance on the app, skyrocketing the earworm single beyond to 500-million streams and beyond.
10. “Water” by Tyla
When the young South African singer went international with her bodacious single, no one knew how quickly it would result in a Grammy nomination or a Travis Scott remix. The pop-amapiano track boasts hearty rhythmic movements, and made a splash on TikTok with a viral dance trend averaging 65 million views per post on the artist’s page during its peak.
- “Super Shy” by NewJeans
Everyone’s favorite rookie K-Pop group built upon its success with “Ditto” with a UK Garage-influenced EP, which they released in July. With show debuts for each of its singles, it was the sugary-sweet synths of “Super Shy” that stood the test of time, playing a large role in pushing the self-titled EP past “Barbie The Album” on the Billboard 200, to the No. 1 spot.
12. “Bad Idea Right?” by Olivia Rodrigo
Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, is nothing short of 12 inquisitively angsty tracks, sandwiched into pop-rock exclamations and bittersweet ballads. While the piano-driven “Vampire” explored a torrid, energy-sucking love affair, “bad idea right?” embraces temptation with an equally feverish and humorous inner monologue and chaotic guitar riffs.
- “Rush” by Troye Sivan
Twink death does not know Troye Sivan. If anything, the 28-year-old Australian reached new heights nearly a decade into his music career with his third album, Something To Give Each Other. The album’s prized centerpiece, “Rush,” is a house-influenced, queer-positive anthem that came with steamy visuals and dance challenges, influencing the success of the singles to follow, including “One Of Your Girls.”
- “Calm Down” by Rema ft. Selena Gomez
What Variety coined as the ‘Song of Two Summers’ was actually a plan for global domination that saw an unpredictable pair, Selena Gomez and Rema come together for a pop twist to the young Afrobeat singer’s then latest hit. Despite the remix not being an instant hit in August 2022, it cooked for another year around the Billboard sun until it cracked the Top 10.
15.“Escapism” by RAYE ft. 070 Shake
“Escapism” symbolizes more than a demur, anthemic break-up hit for English singer-songwriter RAYE. Whether teary-eyed while holding her first Official Singles Chart Number 1 award or receiving a standing ovation for a soul-crushing performance, RAYE and 070 Shake brought a dizzying chemistry to “Escapism” that left its mark on the world and social media.
- “Cupid” by Fifty Fifty
Put simply: ”Cupid” was the TikTok tune heard around the world. 20 million videos later, it’s been officially crowned by TikTok as the platform’s top song in 2023.
- “Dance The Night” by Dua Lipa
Along with a brief cameo as Mermaid Barbie, Dua brought her disco “Future Nostalgia” chops to the lead single of “Barbie The Album.” Before any hint of “Houdini,” this upbeat track had a hard time pulling a disappearing act while staying on the Billboard Hot 100 for 26 weeks (with a peak at No. 6), and inspired an onslaught of freestyle dance challenges.
- “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” by Bizarrap & Shakira
In Shakira’s world, the best way to kick off the new year is with a proper diss track. Within 24 hours, the surprise release accumulated over 15 million streams on Spotify, topping the service’s Top 50 global playlist. It then broke the record for most video views for a Spanish-language song on YouTube, at over 55 million. The song all at once spotlighted 24-year-old Argentine producer Bizarrap and the feat that is his 53rd volume, while becoming a knockout hit for Shakira against her ex-husband.
- “Paint The Town Red” by Doja Cat
Even if no one understood Scarlet as an alter-ego, Doja Cat this year employed a nuance missing from today’s popstars. Call it a palatable “hate train” or character versatility, it was of no concern to the rapper who continued to “Paint The Town Red.” The Dionne Warwick-sampled single may have unsuccessfully harped on Doja’s poor public perception; however, social media fed off its inventive and reckless debauch production, which secured her a No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and iconic VMA performance.
- “What It Is (Solo Version)” by Doechii
Nostalgic pop isn’t lost on Doechii. The 2023 Billboard Woman in Music award recipient uncovers a multi-generational palette with her music, especially in the instance of “What It Is (Solo Version),” a pop-R&B masterclass in sampling that borrows from TLC’s “No Scrubs” and Trillville’s “Some Cut.” Besides being a top trending social media track, the single earned Doechii’s first career entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
- “Seven” by Jung Kook ft. Latto
With his first hit away from his place in the K-Pop band BTS, Jung Kook shedded his “boy crush” image. “Seven” is a re-introduction to the beloved singer, who embraces a more mature concept with the song, complete with explicit lyrics, sexual tension and an unexpected rap verse from Latto.
- “Unholy” by Sam Smith ft. Kim Petras
Pop music didn’t know it needed Kim Petras until the Grammy-winning single “Unholy.” The transgender pop sensation has a discography soaked in bubbalicious nostalgia, and although the single wasn’t a hit at first listen, TikTok eventually had a ball with the duo’s unforgiving and sexual lyrics.
- “Chemical” by Post Malone
Equipped with enough RIAA diamond-certified hits to release a compilation album titled “The Diamond Collection,” Post Malone told Billboard he feels less pressure to make No. 1 records now. Although “Chemical” doesn’t allude to this fact, fans can undoubtedly hear a fresh authenticity through its guitar-driven, gritty proclamations and pop-rock production.
- “Die For You (Remix)” by The Weeknd ft. Ariana Grande
Only the “Starboy” singer could summon Ariana Grande out of a music hiatus amid filming the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked.” The frequent collaborators always strike a hit together, and most recently, a soft-disco deep cut from The Weeknd’s 2016 album, “Die For You,” received a facelift with a special verse from Grande. The shimmery entry relived the multi-billion-stream success of the duo’s “Save Your Tears” and other timeless collaborations.
- “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
Even this Vermont-born country artist was surprised at his own success following “Stick Season.” With a unique blend of folk and Americana, Kahan never figured mainstream radio would love his hometown homage enough to place No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite a lackluster social media presence compared to other entries, Kahan is wrapping the year with promising commercial success: a platinum record, a 2024 stadium tour, and a Grammy nomination.
Leave a Reply