Top 100 Songs of 2023 (80 – 61)

80. Paramore “This Is Why”

Cousin Haley Braxton-Rowland Williams did her good singing all over this album which helped push Paramore to their first Grammy as band. No skips!

79. Tiera Kennedy “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist”

I heard this song at a country bar and had no idea she was Black! Well that right there was enough for me to pay attention. I grew up in bowling alleys all over The South and this sounds right at home coming from those jukeboxes.

78. Beyoncé “Cuff It” Wetter Remix

The hardest working woman in showbusiness took some time during the Renaissance Tour to cut all new vocals for a remix to her surprise hit after some renegade mashups were making the rounds online. Dare I say she made it even better?

77. chlothegod “My Bad, My Fault”

You don’t hear many Black Queer artists from The South making waves in music, but chlothegod out of North Carolina is one of those unicorns. Her voice is a mix of Erykah Badu and Billie Holiday, but her lyrics and personality are all Gen Z Internet Kid.

More from chlothegod:
Bless Your Heart
UGOMDN

76. Martin Garrix “Real Love” (feat. Lloyiso)

Those Europeans really know how to make you jump up in down in one spot, and Dutch DJ Martin Garrix is no exceptions. I heard this one featuring South Africa’s Lloyiso while I was Hanging with Heterosexuals in the Meatpacking District.

75. Halle “Angel”

Halle was quiet during all of online chatter about the casting of The Little Mermaid. She took all of that criticism and poured it into this song where she also wanted us to lay down a vocal performance reminding us that the people talking about her almost certainly do not have the range.

74. Tate McRae “Greedy”

Gen Z is really going up for this girl. I’m not there yet, but “greedy” is such a little earworm.

73. Sanford “Gone to Hell”

Fun fact about Sanford: whenever a Janet Jackson clip shows up on his feed, he DMs it to me. The album is rooted in Americana and country storytellin, but a real musician takes cues from all genres.

More from Sanford:
Roll Away
Ball and Chain
Figured I’d Ask Anyway

72. xBValentine “The Dream” feat. D Smoke

I don’t know much about Bianca Rodriguez, aka xBValentine, but judging from her Instagram, I think she’s a queer Mexican. I do however know about D. Smoke because I’ve been following him since he won the first (and so far only) season of Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow. And flow they did, all over this track.

71. P!nk “Long Way to Go” feat. The Lumineers

As an album, Trustfall is kind of all over the place, especially because P!nk really likes to sit in a lane and stay there for a project. There’s some dance, some rock, some R&B, but this low-key pop/folk number is tops for me.

70. Reyna Roberts “He Gon’ Be A Problem”

Reyna Roberts is a problem! The ingredients are there for a country-crossover superstar if we can just get enough people to pay attention to the Black women making a play to run the genre right now.

More from Reyna Roberts:
Louisiana
Bad Girl Bible
Death of Me

69. Paloma Faith “How You Leave A Man”

This is how you get the people ready for your next album! “How You Leave A Man” is the lead single for her next project and I’m here for this energy. Leave all men behind in 2023 honestly.

68. Empress Of “Kiss Me” feat. Rina Sawayama

Do you like early 00s R&B? Because Empress Of and Rina Sawayama certainly do and they came together to show just how much.

67. OSÁ “4 Me”

OSÁ is an R&B musician out of Staten Island taking afrobeats and injecting an extra helping of pop sheen. The full EP is worth a listen but “Talk Nice!” also has a music video so you can catch the vibes visually as well.

More from Doechii:
What It Is

62. Maren Morris “Get the Hell Out of Here”

Maren Morris is in that corner of young country artists that clearly grew up on R&B radio along with Chris Lane, Thomas Rhett, Kacey Musgraves, etc. She’s arguably found more success in the pop arena, and that, coupled with the increasing alt-right leaning of country music, has led Maren to push back hard and release songs like this, where she is tired of country music and wants to quit.

But she loves country and I appreciate her taking a stand in her interviews to call for country music concert/festival organizers to make it a more welcoming place. Maren won’t play a festival where they allow Confederate flags because how could Black people be comfortable in a place like that? So we continue to stan a real ally.

61. J Balvin “Dientes” (feat. Usher & DJ Khaled)

In Jackson Heights, Queens, you’ll go to some of the gay bars (which are almost exclusively Latino) and there will be a middle aged man in the corner with a full set up of bongos and percussion playing along to whatever the DJ is spinning to give it some extra juice. “Yeah!” was always a great song in those clubs because ol’ dude on the drums will kill it every time. Plus, whatever that sound is (I don’t know enough about synthesizers to investigate what to call it) is such a gay club sound already.

I wanted to point all that out to say THIS SONG sounds just like what the DJs and drummers do to “Yeah!” in the gay clubs in Jackson Heights. They really ate this up. Somebody been hanging out in Hombres and Friends Tavern undercover…