The 20 best tracks of 2023

2023, what a year! In a time of chaos, we’ve turned to music to make sense of the world around us. From Sexyy Red’s viral earworm “SkeeYee” and Billie Eilish’s stunning contribution to the Barbie soundtrack with “What was I made for” to Ice Spice’s standout “Princess Diana” and horsegiirL’s barnyard banger “My Barn My Rules”, these are the tunes we looked to for comfort and danced to; the ones that made us think and feel. Here are the 20 best tracks of the year (or find the full playlist on our Spotify here).

20. BILLIE EILISH, “WHAT WAS I MADE FOR”

With this standout song from the Barbie soundtrack, Billie Eilish lent the film a poignance and emotional depth which was arguably greater than the story merited. It pulls off the difficult task of being literal and specific in its lyrics (with lines like “I used to float, now I just fall down," it’s very much about Barbie and her struggles), while still creating something of a wider and deeper resonance: we all know what it’s like to feel incapable of unhappiness; to question our purpose in life; to have our boyfriends organise a coup, install a patriarchal dictatorship and evict us from our dreamhouse. “What Was I Made For” has transcended its status as a blockbuster tie-in, and is destined to join the canon of classic songs to listen to while you’re walking around, feeling sad and imagining you’re in a film based on your own life. (James Greig)

19. VOICE ACTOR, “FREEFALL”

Last year, the UK-based duo consisting of Noa Kurzweil (Supertalented) and Levi Lanser (Ludittes) released their genre-defying three-and-a-half hour debut, Sent from my Telephone, under the moniker of Voice Actor, an ambitious selection of 109 tracks defined by ambient soundscapes and spoken word narratives, shortly followed by this year’s Fake Sleep – a condensed 16-track version of their debut. Since then, the project has crept across the experimental circuit, like a mysterious entity sending transmissions from deep in the ether.

“Freefall” cements the duo’s cryptic vision across two-and-a-half minutes of sparse piano melodies and stuttering electronics, where lethargic stream-of-consciousness narratives become a mirror to everyday reckonings. An urban folktale telling the story of a “freefall golden ball held together with no string”. It’s these sort of compressed reflections that lend itself to Voiceactor’s spiritual disintegration. Words drifting like ghosts through endless space, where dread and longing pass through each other seamlessly. (Günseli Yalcinkaya)

18. BRUTALISMUS 3000, “DIE LIEBE KOMMT NICHT AUS BERLIN”

Brutalismus 3000, AKA Berlin-based duo Theo Zeitner and Victoria Vassiliki, have been making waves in techno scene for years now, but they arguably established themselves as a force to be reckoned with back in 2022 with the release of their third EP, Eros Massacre. Their star is only rising – in March, they dropped a new, hugely popular single “DIE LIEBE KOMMT NICHT AUS BERLIN” (which translates as ‘love doesn’t come from Berlin’) and a lively music video to match. With its punchy techno beats and punky vocals, “DIE LIEBE KOMMT NICHT AUS BERLIN” is undoubtedly a standout track from 2023. (Serena Smith)

17. DAVE & CENTRAL CEE, “SPRINTER”

On this hell island it’s rare to see people win, so the runaway hit of Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter” was a welcome highlight from this year. Released in time to dominate summer with its hot holiday-evoking guitar riff over a drill beat, the track feels like a joyous victory lap for two of Britain’s brightest rap talents, spending a record-breaking 10 weeks at the top of the UK charts while going viral on TikTok. Between them, the braggadocious clichés of success in the rap game – an excess of girls, money, fame – are rendered fresh again through the pair’s irreverent wordplay pointing out the absurdity of it all. “We ain’t got generational wealth / It’s only been a year since we had these millions,” Cench raps before diving into internally rhyming: “I went from Toyota Yaris to Urus” and “Now this gal wan’ me in her uterus.” Swerves like this and the inherent singability of its chorus callback inverting Skepta’s “Too Many Man” (“I got too many gyal, too many-many gyal”) put “Sprinter” and its new gen makers into the UK rap hall of fame. As Dave asks, “Who did what we doin’ with rap?” (Vanessa Hsieh)

16. DJ FUCKOFF FEAT. YAZZUS, “THE CUM TRACK”

After rising out of Berlin and blowing up booths across the world for a few years now, 2023 was the year we finally blasted off into space with DJ Fuckoff in the captain’s seat. Landing on Planet FUCKTOPIA – also the name of her long-awaited debut album – around every corner of this uncharted territory was another cosmic techno banger, from the woozy, afters-appropriate “guide me” to the glitchy, industrial “Sugar money/dreamstate”, to the filthy, LSDXOXO-referencing “fuckn on the bass”. For us, though, it was the hypnotic anthem “the cum track” that set our speakers on fire, thanks to its breathy, pleading refrain “No I ain’t done / So please just let me cum” and a cameo appearance from fellow rising star Yazzus. Both artists are going to do big things in 2024, so get them on your radar now – but in the meantime, stick on FUCKTOPIA and leave the earth behind. (Emma Davidson)

15. COUCOU CHLOE, “DRIFT”

“I’ve always had a very big attraction to bass,” Coucou Chloe told Dazed back in October. “Even when listening to trap music or club music, whatever, I listen to the bass more than anything else. And I feel like, living in London, I discovered how to create big basslines.” The producer, vocalist and DJ’s love of bass shines through in “DRIFT”, the single the artist dropped in July to tie in with the announcement of her album Fever Dream which came out in September. “DRIFT” is Coucou Chloe at her best, featuring her trademark spectral vocals and pounding production style, and is more than deserving of a place on this list. (Serena Smith)

14. JAMES K & HOODIE, “SCORPIO”

There’s something very special about “Scorpio” that I can’t really pinpoint. The track, a collaboration between New York artist James K and Hoodie, is a sleepy trip-hop ballad that stays with you in a way that cradles you at your core. In a dream but still wide awake, drifting into digital fragments and buried deep in a memory somewhere. James K’s ethereal vocals are otherworldly and puts me in the kind of wistful mood that you find yourself in when travelling to distant places, led by the beautiful refrain: “So let it go, don’t be a cell to yourself.” (Günseli Yalcinkaya)

13. SEXYY RED, “SKEEYEE”

“Rizz” may be the word of the year, but “SkeeYee” was definitely the sound. A “geek call” to let the local dope fiends know they were in business (in this case, used as a kind of catcall for someone you fancy) this St. Louis slang went worldwide in Sexyy Red’s similarly viral follow-up to “Pound Town”. While “my coochie pink, my bootyhole brown” put Red on the map, “skee-yee” seeped into the collective consciousness, the vocalisation of intrusive thoughts winning out, usually in the most incongruous spaces. From aunties in restaurants to athletes in NFL locker rooms, Sexyy Red’s infectious, easy-to-memorise, out-of-pocket lyrics were inescapable; “Skee-yee” becoming shorthand signalling a good time incoming. (Vanessa Hsieh)

12. MK.GEE, “ARE YOU LOOKING UP”

Micheal Todd Gordon, best known by his stage name Mk.gee, is the kind of artist who reminds you why you love music so much. The singer-songwriter, music producer and multi-instrumentalist is best known for producing albums for artists such as Omar Apollo and Dijon. However, he is an incredible artist in his own right. 

One reviewer perfectly described the indie, lo-fi track as “pensive” and “nocturnal”. It makes you feel strangely melancholic but also grateful. It’s the kind of song you’d play towards the end of summer when the sun sets at 9pm. You feel sad that summer is ending, but you also feel so grateful that you get to experience this moment and this summer. He’s an artist to watch in 2024. (Halima Jibril)

11. CEECHYNAA, “LAST LAUGH”

This summer, when Ceechynaa stepped onto Oxford Street in denim hotpants and an American flag bikini, people died. OK – no one actually died, but the trajectory of our lives were changed forever.

The 19-year-old rapper was in central London for her “Last Laugh” video shoot, intoxicating shoppers with an eye-popping, open-air performance in the round. And while that visual is undeniably a part of the track’s story, nothing can compare to the merciless bars that constitute the track. For the most part, Chynaa uses the song’s runtime to denigrate the opposite sex, and reminds us why she’s the boss. Men are “rats” and “bitches” who “rap about opps that [they] don’t even have” and are “dying for nyash”, while she’s “way too boujee” making “twelve racks on cam.” This is really the crux of it all, why Chynaa’s proved so divisive for many: not only does she overtly own her sexuality, but her lyrics slice through masculine superiority, the combination anathema to a certain subset of red-pilled, incel men. (Not content with ridiculing them, she’s also after their fathers too, reminding the world she’s “got ten men on my line tryna fuck me, and your daddy’s the biggest spender.”) And even through all of that – the image, the lyrics, the heart rates raised – the best thing about Chynaa is still that singular voice, like an Essex siren spitting from the mouth of the Thames. “Last Laugh” is the scamming anthem that captured a generation, and Ceechynaa is laughing all the way to the bank. (Elliot Hoste)

10. DOJA CAT, “PAINT THE TOWN RED”

If Doja Cat made anything clear this year it’s that she doesn’t care what you think. Be it beefing with her “kittenz” fanbase (“fans ain’t dumb but extremists are”) or shaving off her hair (“I look better with no hair”) – “Paint The Town Red” is her way of saying: mind ya damn business, she’ll do what she likes and have fun doing it. Sampling Dionne Warwick’s “Walk On By”, Doja directs her haters to do as the song title says, cooly addressing each controversy with lyrical reminders of the talent that makes it so hard to hate her. Delivered over a jazz-inflected beat, each line oozes nonchalance, the catchy hook “Mmm, she the devil / She a bad lil’ bitch / She a rebel” owning the throughline of devilish imagery that made her the focus of the second coming of satanic panic. Combined with a music video full of bloodied and horned versions of herself with Hieronymous Bosch-scale beasts, “Paint The Town Red” is Doja Cat doing what she does best: revelling in trolling as much as making the music. (Vanessa Hsieh)

9. BABY KEEM & KENDRICK LAMAR, “THE HILLBILLIES”

Kendrick’s opening “I don't buy much, I buy land bro,” is a lyric I wish I could relate to. Collaborating with fellow rapper, his younger cousin Baby Keem, they reintroduce themselves as The Hillbillies, releasing the surprise drop back in May this year, alongside a VHS camcorder, lo-fi style music video exclusively on PGLang’s channel. Produced by Surf Gang’s Evilgiane, the track samples Bon Iver’s ghostly “PDLIF” making it as far as I’m concerned musical heaven, as well as being a feel-good nostalgic throwback to the blog era (simpler times). Keeping with the same old-school reverence, Keem and Lamar riff back and forth with a loose and relaxed flow. The chemistry is undeniable. Their ad-libs like “like wow” and “aroused” make it impossible not to laugh. The boys are having a lot of fun. (Alyshea Wharton)

8. DINAMARCA, “FAVORITA”

I’m not the best writer but as the end of year is upon us I’m going to get out of my comfort zone and play music critic. I made it very clear that this track needed to be on the EOY list, with no reason other than it’s absolutely stunning. I’ve been following Stockholm-based producer and DJ Dinamarca for quite a while now – his Staycore collective has some of my favourite dembow club edits. So, when he released his latest album soñao this year, I was hyped. The track that stands out to me in particular is “favorita” ft AMORE – the record’s lead single, which dropped in spring 2023 and accompanied me over the warm months. If you like trancy synth lines and sexy beats, this one’s for you. (Love from Chester Mckee)

7. SNOW STRIPPERS FEAT. LIL UZI VERT, “IT’S A DREAM”

Snow Strippers are the coldest duo to rise out of 2023. Michigan-based Graham Perez and Tatiana Schwaninger have been audibly and visually shaking up witch house and electroclash in a Coke bottle and then thrown a Mento in there for a vibe explosion of extreme proportions. They’ve been drip-feeding a steady stream of ethereal tracks that you can actually party to via their own label Nice Bass Bro since 2021, but their collaboration with Lil Uzi Vert this summer propelled them into the playlists of cool kids everywhere. I’m pleading with you all to give them a listen if you haven’t already so that we finally get some UK shows. (Hatti Rex)

6. LILY-ROSE DEPP, “WORLD CLASS SINNER / I’M A FREAK”

Full disclaimer: I didn’t watch The Idol, but then why would I need to when this slutty little track was the only good thing to come out of it? Racking up close to 10 million streams on Spotify and taking on a life of its own on TikTok, “World Class Sinner” spans time-tested tropes (“I’m a good girl gone bad / get in that car, drive fast”, “Maybe it’s hard to see when you’re looking at me / But I do what I want don’t give a fuck”) and fuses them with a pseudo-provocative, dead-eyed chorus that perfectly embodies the year the lobotomy made a massive comeback. Mix this with a “Slave 4 U”-esque dance routine and you’ve got all the ingredients for the most perfectly crafted pop song of 2023, which rolled around my head all summer. Its true peak, however – and a fashion season highlight for me – came when Nicola Brognano chose it to soundtrack his final Blumarine show in Milan. Played while his feather-winged fallen angels skulked around the catwalk in see-through cocktail dresses, barely-there butterfly halters, and Jocelyn-appropriate low-slung leather pants, it was probably the most iconic way he could have brought his slaggy, Y2K-indebted reign over the rejuvenated Italian house to its climax. (Emma Davidson)

5. ICE SPICE, “PRINCESS DIANA”

Over the last few years, Princess Diana has returned to the pop culture spotlight. From Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of her in Spencer (2021), Elizabeth Debicki’s depiction of her in The Crown to Julia Fox’s iconic bejewelled Princess Diana corset; the late Princess of Wales has been everywhere. However, no other piece of media has immortalised her like Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana”. When the New York rapper first blew up in late 2022, her fans instantly dubbed her the “People’s Princess.” Though it confused her initially, she told Billboard that she thought it was iconic. And thus, the track “Princess Diana” was born. 

It’s difficult not to feel like a badass bitch when you hear her say so nonchalantly that “Bitches not taking shit from me but notes.” Period love! It feels corny and cringe to say a song makes you feel empowered, but it’s true. When “Princess Diana” comes on in the club, I’m a whole different person. There’s a reason the remix featuring Nicki Minaj peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. (Halima Jibril)

4. EARTHEATER, “CHOP SUEY”

It’s been two decades since System of a Down first released their 2001 nu-metal classic “Chop Suey”, but its recurrent themes of pain and alienation are still as relevant today. On TikTok, nu-metal has made a comeback, racking up millions of views via a new gen of doomers eager to channel their teen angst. As Eartheater, Alexandra Drewchin is no stranger to provocation – her avant-garde pop antics exude the same outsider eccentrics as sub-genre frontmen such as Chester Bennington and Serj Tankian, which makes her decision to cover “Chop Suey” on this year’s Powders… well, pretty damn iconic. 

Trading off the original’s mosh pit aggression in favour of delicate string arrangements and the sort of on-the-edge vocals that could break glass, Drewchin transforms SOAD’s hyper-masc track into something that feels genuinely delicate and beautiful. The sort of spellbinding fairytale ballad that IMO perfectly captures the raw tenderness that is being alive in 2023. When I first heard it, I couldn’t help comparing Drewchin’s crystal clear vocals on the chorus “I cry when angels deserve to die” to the ethereal girl swarm on our feeds. I’ve been listening to it on repeat ever since. (Günseli Yalcinkaya)

3. HORSEGIIRL & MCR-T, “MY BARN MY RULES”

This is probably(?) the first time we’ve ever featured a horse on this list, but when one releases a banger like “My Barn My Rules” how could we do anything but? Released early spring, it wasn’t until the summer months that the silly, sparkly track really caught on, and by the time the season’s festivals rolled around, it was filling dancefloors everywhere with its bouncy ball beat, equine facts (s/o Billy), and earworm refrain “Long mane, big hoof, shiny coat, what’s new / Small ears, so cute, nice tail good mood”. Performing without fail in a rubber horse mask, apparently fresh from a farm in the countryside outside Berlin, horsegiirL is part of a refreshing new wave of DJs and producers turning their backs on music snobbery and refusing to take it all too seriously – just watch her “Live from Earth” Boiler Room set for proof of that. (Emma Davidson)

2. NEWJEANS, “SUPER SHY”

There was a time when K-pop acts could only dream of the kind of crossover success NewJeans have achieved just a year after their debut. Peaking at number one on the US charts, their second EP “Get Up” may be disqualified from our albums of the year list based on a technicality, but sonically – through the influence of Erika de Casier, who co-wrote four of six songs – it will be remembered as a record of when K-Pop met UK garage. “Super Shy”, which samples The Powerpuff Girls introduction, is the purest distillation of this experiment, a theme tune for NewJeans’ nostalgic, yet new sound. Mirroring the thudding of a nervous heart, the building garage beat under dreamy hooks (“You don’t even know my name? Do ya?”) manages to capture the giddiness of speaking to your crush in a way that also makes you want to dance these anxieties away. (Vanessa Hsieh)

1. PINKPANTHERESS & ICE SPICE, “BOY'S A LIAR PT. 2”

Once every few years, a pop song so good will come along – one so perfect and universal – it forces you to reckon with how the genre came by that name. A “popular” song might convince even the haughtiest of naysayers by sheer force alone, but “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” did it by – shock – actually being exceptional. When PinkPantheress dropped the first part in late ‘22, there was already a catalogue of reasons as to why it could be a smash. Co-production by the singer and Mura Masa seemed to scratch at a part of the human brain thought dormant since Pangea, like a zippy Sonic the Hedgehog collecting gold rings in our minds. Pink’s unparalleled pen was primed and ready, the track’s playful ditty obscuring the fact that this was actually one of the saddest songs of the year (“What’s the point of crying?/It was nеver even lovе/Did you ever want me?/Was I ever good enough?”). This dissonance alone was enough to sanctify the song, but a 2023 guest spot from the Hottest Rapper In The World took it from online hit to bona fide smash. “He say that I’m good enough, grabbing my duh-duh-duh/Thinkin’ ‘bout shit that shouldn’t’ve”, rapped Ice Spice, and the world shifted on its axis. Put that lyric on money, where it belongs. (Elliot Hoste)