Rockin’, Poppin’ & Boppin’ in 2023: My Favorite Albums of The Year

Summary

The author shares their top 23 favorite albums of 2023, reflecting a diverse range of musical genres and highlighting both new and established artists.

Abstract

In 2023, the author embarked on a personal music challenge to listen to 100 new-to-me albums, resulting in the discovery of 112 albums, many of which were released that year. The list of favorites, presented in chronological order of release, showcases a mix of pop, indie, rock, and other genres, featuring artists from Shania Twain to Neil Young. The author's musical journey of the year reveals a particular fondness for pop music, a genre they have always enjoyed but which has especially resonated with them in 2023. The article includes Spotify links to a standout track from each album, except for Neil Young's, which is linked via YouTube due to his absence from Spotify. The author invites readers to share their own favorite albums of the year and provides a Spotify playlist with all the mentioned songs and more, expressing hope that readers will enjoy the curated selections.

Opinions

The author expresses a deep passion for discovering new music, considering themselves a "music junkie."
There is a noticeable surprise and delight in the variety of music enjoyed throughout the year, with a particular emphasis on the abundance of pop albums among the favorites.
The author's musical taste is eclectic, appreciating both emerging indie artists and well-established acts from previous decades.
The preference for pop music in 2023 is highlighted as a shift from the author's historical inclination towards slightly harder music.
The author chose not to rank the albums, instead opting to list them in the order they were released, suggesting a non-hierarchical appreciation for each work.
By sharing a personal Spotify playlist, the author demonstrates a desire to connect with readers and share the musical experience more deeply.
The author values reader engagement, encouraging discussion and the sharing of personal favorite albums of 2023 in the comments.
The author endorses an AI service as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4), indicating a belief in the value and utility of such AI tools.

It was a year full of nice musical surprises!

In each of the last two years, I’ve participated in a music challenge in which the goal is to listen to at least 100 new-to-you albums throughout the year. They can be brand-new releases or incredibly old ones. The point is, they have to be albums you’ve never heard before.

Part of the reason that I did the challenge last year and this year is because I absolutely LOVE discovering new-to-me music. I’m a bit of a music junkie and I can never get enough of it!

I ended up listening to 112 new-to-me albums in 2023. While a lot of them were old, a great number of them were released this year.

I had a lot of nice musical surprises along the way. While a lot of the new releases were from artists I’ve known for many years, I also discovered and loved music by musicians I’d never listened to before.

Since it’s the year 2023, I decided to share my top 23 favorite albums released this year. I was kind of surprised when putting this together to see just how many pop albums were among my favorites. While I’ve always liked pop music a lot, I’ve generally favored slightly harder music in the past.

2023 turned out to be a very poppy year for me! However, there are other musical genres included here too.

My list contains a fairly eclectic group of musicians, ranging from fairly new ones who are indie artists (such as Blondshell and Gentle Hen) to older acts who have been around for several decades (such as Simply Red and Yes.)

Rather than attempt to rank them according to my preferences of them (which would be nearly impossible to do), I’ve listed them in the chronological order they were released. I’ve included one song from each album and used Spotify clips for all of the songs, except for the closing one from Neil Young since he’s no longer on Spotify.

Enjoy!

23. Before And After — Neil Young (December 8, 2023)

So, how about you? What were YOUR favorite albums released in 2023? Do we have any favorites in common or are yours completely different? Let me know in the comments!

Here is a Spotify playlist I made that includes all of the above songs, plus many more by the same artists and other artists who were ‘runner-ups’ as my favorites of the year. There are currently 105 songs here (and I’ll probably be adding more to it in the future.)

If you listen, I hope you like at least some of it!

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on X, Substack, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the GOTTA POP podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.

Rockin’, Poppin’, & Boppin’ in 2023: My Favorite Albums of The Year

It was a year full of nice musical surprises!

1. Queen Of Me — Shania Twain (February 3, 2023)

2. Endless Summer Vacation — Miley Cyrus (March 10, 2023)

3. With Love From — Aly & AJ (March 15, 2023)

4. The Record — boygenius (March 31, 2023)

5. Blondshell — Blondshell (April 7, 2023)

6. That! Feels Good! — Jessie Ware (April 28, 2023)

7. The Album — The Jonas Brothers (May 12, 2023)

8. Mirror To The Sky — Yes (May 19, 2023)

9. Time — Simply Red (May 26, 2023)

10. Shadow Kingdom — Bob Dylan (June 2, 2023)

11. Folkocracy — Rufus Wainwright (June 2, 2023)

12. Six — Extreme (June 9, 2023)

13. Mystical Magical Rhythmical — Jason Mraz (June 23, 2023)

14. Eye On The Bat — Palehound (July 14, 2023)

15. The Loveliest Time — Carly Rae Jepsen (July 28, 2023)

16. Automatic — Rick Springfield (August 4, 2023)

17. New York High — Donny Most (August 4, 2023)

18. Jaguar II — Victoria Monét (August 25, 2023)

19. Guts — Olivia Rodrigo (September 8, 2023)

20. Are We There Yet — Rick Astley (October 13, 2023)

21. The Whole Point Of The Trip — Gentle Hen (December 1, 2023)

22. Wonka — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (December 8, 2023)

23. Before And After — Neil Young (December 8, 2023)