State Champ Radio Year-End Charts
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When Bad Bunny dropped his debut album, X100PRE, in 2019, he established a league of his own: The Puerto Rican’s winning chapter endures effortlessly as he caps 2023 as Billboard’s Top Latin Artist for a record fifth consecutive year. No other artist has been the year-end Top Latin Artist five times since the category began in 2011.
Benito jubilantly navigates through a championship he now owns for half a decade. Only one other artist has pulled a back-to-back winning streak since the category launched in 2011: Romeo Santos, who took home the first-place trophy in 2014 and 2015.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2023 Year-End Charts
Unsurprisingly, Benito also echoes his past four years of achievements on the albums front: Thanks to Un Verano Sin Ti’s stronghold, the album wraps at No. 1 on the year-end Top Latin Albums chart for a second consecutive year. Adding to his blockbuster year — with seven awards at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, Tour of the Year and Global 200 Latin Artist of the Year — Benito also boasts four songs on the year-end Hot Latin Songs rundown, including “Un X100to” with Grupo Frontera at No. 3. His first foray into regional Mexican music became the second regional Mexican track to break the weekly top 10 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Regional Mexican music, however, also fired up the fruitful Latin music narrative. The genre had a sizzling year, unlocking achievements and making notable contributions across Billboard charts with compositions by artists who married the traditional color of the format with unconventional aesthetics. The result is eight regional Mexican acts on the year-end Top Latin Artists chart, with six of them in the top 10.
Peso Pluma, Mexico’s breakout artist, commands the movement. The Zapopan-born singer-songwriter gave a different voice to the underdog format, which has been historically marginalized in the mainstream world. Born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, Pluma modernized the culture with a different level of regional diversity, thus crosses the finish line atop the 2023 year-end Top Latin Artist – New survey. When his album Génesis launched at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 in July, Pluma made history, achieving the highest charting regional Mexican album ever. Plus, it marked the biggest week, by units earned, for a regional Mexican album ever (dating back to when the tally began ranking by units in December of 2014). On the weekly Top Latin Albums chart, it set spent 15 weeks at No. 1, leading to a bronze medal on the year-end Top Latin Albums ranking.
Eslabon Armado also became a strong regional Mexican player on the charts in 2023, tracing its successes to global achievements. The group’s “Ella Baila Sola” with Pluma, which comfortably rests at No. 1 on the year-end Hot Latin Songs chart, became the first regional Mexican song to dominate the Billboard Global 200 chart (for six weeks). Further, as it scored a top 10 entry on the Hot 100, it became the first regional Mexican tune to achieve the feat in the chart’s 65-year-old history. “We didn’t expect for the song to make so much noise!” Pedro Tovar, lead singer for Eslabon, told Billboard. The group can thank TikTok for helping the song gain traction, the track quickly became a viral hit on the app two days after Tovar previewed it on his Instagram account stories.
In the female realm, Karol G repeats as the only woman to make it to the year-end Top Latin Artists ranking, closing the year at No. 3. While her Mañana Será Bonito album takes the runner-up slot on the year-end Top Latin Albums chart.
Karol G Unmatched: Karol G has become a staple of Latin music since she first broke into Billboard charts in 2016. Although her career-spanning trek is somewhat short, her outsized impact makes her the only Latin woman to snatch a spot on the top 25 of the overall year-end Top Artists list, at No. 23 (the only Latin female artist on the all-genre overall survey), while finishing at No. 6 on the Top Artists-Female ranking. Plus, she snags the highest honor for a woman on the year-end Top Latin Artists tally for a fifth consecutive year, restating her 2021 finale, at No. 3. The Colombian has placed 29 songs on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart during the year-end eligibility period, including “TQG,” with Shakira: The song’s No. 4 finish is the highest charting title by a female artist on the year-end Hot Latin Songs chart. The team-up, which also earned both Colombians their first Global 200 No. 1, stems from Karol G’s No. 1 album Mañana Será Bonito, the first all-Spanish-language leader by a woman in the history of the Billboard 200, which dates to 1956.
Shakira’s Radio Support: The year-end radio tallies see Shakira return in a big way, thanks to a strong push across stations throughout the year, most notably at the pop format. The Colombian becomes the only artist to place three songs in the top 10 on the year-end Latin Airplay Songs chart, starting with “TQG” with Karol G at No. 1. “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”, her partnership with Argentinian Bizarrap, caused plenty of social media chatter about its content, enough to take the pair to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform the song in March. The track’s radio uptick puts it at No. 2 on the year-end radio ranking, while “Monotonía” with Ozuna closes at No. 4. Both songs ruled Latin Airplay for four weeks in 2023, the second-most after Frontera & Bad Bunny’s “Uno X100to” (six weeks atop).
Fresh Faces, New Rewards: Grupo Frontera: Despite placing the highest charting song for a regional Mexican group on the Hot 100 with Bunny’s push (“Un X100to,” No. 5 high in May), the Edinburgh, Texas-based group buoyed its success on cumbia hits “No Se Va” and “Bebe Dame,” with Fuerza Regida. With the latter the group claims a No. 5 finish on the year-end Hot Latin Songs chart and a No. 16 high on the year-end Latin Airplay Songs. The ensemble has become a heavyweight at the format, taking the No. 2 on both, the year-end Top Latin Artist-New and the year-end Latin Airplay-Artists rundown.
Yng Lvcas: Mexico’s trap and reggaetón interpreter Yng Lvcas made his first appearance on a Billboard albums chart when LPM debuted at No. 8 on Top Latin Albums in April, picking up his first top 10 there. The set’s cut “La Bebe,” with Peso Pluma, flourished swiftly on TikTok reaching global audiences with a No. 2 high on both Global charts in April. The song’s staggering popularity gives the 24-year-old a silver medal on the year-end Hot Latin Songs chart and a No. 3 finish on Top Latin Artists-New.
Bizarrap: Aside from his “Vol. 53” with Shakira taking center stage, the popular Latin producer spins another entry on the year-end Latin Airplay Songs chart: “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” with Quevedo at No. 20. The partnership with the Spaniard rapper earned him a first top 10 on Hot Latin Songs in Nov. 2022. Further, Bizarrap unveiled three more “Music Sessions” on the multimetric tally, enough to become the only Argentinian to score an entry on the year-end Hot Latin Songs Artist recap, at No. 13. All in all, Bizarrap’s bona fides speak for themselves, and nabbing the No. 4 slot on the year-end Top Latin Artists-New is proof.
Young Miko: Puerto Rican Young Miko’s career has been rising with enough velocity that she’s scored four entries on Hot Latin Songs since the top 20 “Classy 101” with Feid in July. The Puerto Rican is the only Latin rhythm female newcomer to conquer the year-end Hot Latin Songs, with the collab at No. 19. Further, the song gives her a top 40 finale on year-end Latin Streaming Songs (at No. 37).
‘Here I Am,’ Says Tropical: Despite a slow takeoff in 2023, Tropical music saw a growth during the year, picking up where it left off with its ever-growing audience. Bachata, especially, made a high-water mark across charts, with songs on the format racking up a spot on Tropical Airplay: Manuel Turizo, Rosalía, Shakira, Ozuna, Prince Royce, Tommy Torres, Chayanne, even Justin Timberlake with his Romeo Santos collab, “Sin Fin,” secured a spot on the list. One artist, however, made a significant achievement among the bachata craze: Luis Figueroa, whose song “Bandido” became the first salsa track to crown Tropical Airplay among the five tropical tunes that notched their first weeks at No. 1 in 2023. The Puerto Rican is the only newcomer to secure two entries on the year-end Tropical Airplay Songs: “La Luz,” at No. 15 and “Fiesta Contigo” at No. 17.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Nov. 19, 2022, through Oct. 21, 2023. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
After Bad Bunny and Harry Styles ruled the 2022 year-end global rankings, 2023 is all about the ladies: Taylor Swift finishes as the No. 1 Billboard Global 200 Artist and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Artist, while Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” is the No. 1 title on the year-end Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. recaps.
While the 2023 year-end tracking period began with the Nov. 19, 2022-dated chart, Cyrus rang in the calendar year almost immediately, with the Jan. 12 release of “Flowers.” By the end of the month, it debuted atop both global charts, and made itself at home. The song reigned for 13 weeks on Global Excl. U.S. and for 12 on the Global 200, tying Harry Styles’ “As It Was” for the longest run at No. 1 on the former list (dating back to its Sept. 2020 launch).
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Throughout the year, “Flowers” appeared on 39 of Billboard’s Hits of the World charts and topped lists in 26 international territories, including those in Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. In North America, it crowned the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks, winding up No. 2 on its year-end tally.
Eight songs appear in the year-end top 10 of both global lists. In addition to “Flowers,” there’s Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down,” “SZA’s “Kill Bill,” Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” The Weeknd & Ariana Grande’s “Die For You,” Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ “Unholy,” David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue),” and last year’s champion, Harry Styles’ “As It Was.”
The Global 200 top 10 is rounded out by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage at No. 9 with “Creepin’” and Morgan Wallen at No. 10 with “Last Night.” On Global Excl. U.S., the two final missing pieces are Tom Odell’s “Another Love” at No. 9 and Jung Kook’s “Seven,” featuring Latto, at No. 10. Last year, both charts’ top 10s contained the same songs, albeit in slightly different order.
Both lists’ top 10s are performed entirely in English. In each of their three annual recaps so far, “Dakiti” by Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez is the only non-English song to hit the top 10, at No. 6 for both in 2021. Still, six non-English songs topped the weekly Global Excl. U.S. survey during the 2023 tracking period, up from four in 2022 and three in 2021. This year’s haul includes the first Japanese-language song the reach the summit, via YOASOBI’s “Idol.”
Bolstered by the hangover success of last year’s Midnights, plus the July release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift finishes as the No. 1 Billboard Global 200 Artist and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Artist. In all, she landed 54 songs on the former survey and 46 on the latter. In addition to new hits like “Anti-Hero” and “Karma,” featuring Ice Spice, Swift’s year on the charts was bolstered by buzz surrounding The Eras Tour. Though the trek never went beyond North America in the tracking period (the tour continues throughout next year, traveling from continent to continent), global buzz via word-of-mouth and social media spring boarded various hits across Swift’s eras onto the charts.
As the tour continues, so likely will her global chart success. Already in the 2024 tracking period, she has hit No. 1 on the Global 200 twice – first, with 2019’s “Cruel Summer,” and then with “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” one of 19 top-40 debuts from 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Aside from Olivia Rodrigo as 2021’s No. 1 year-end Global 200 Artist, Cyrus and Swift are the first artists from the mainland U.S. to crown annual global recaps. BTS (South Korea) and Dua Lipa (U.K.) covered the other three in 2021, and Bad Bunny (Puerto Rico) and Harry Styles (U.K.) reigned over 2022.
Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd appear in the top 10 of both charts’ artist lists for the third year in a row. While global-chart-era hits like “Shivers” and “Save Your Tears” have been key to their sustained success, they’ve each maintained consistent weekly marks for older titles like “Perfect” and “Shape of You” for Sheeran and “The Hills” and “Starboy” for The Weeknd.
Just as Styles repeats in both top 10s with last year’s champ, “As It Was,” Bad Bunny is back on both artist tallies, at No. 2 on Global 200 Artists and No. 3 on Global Excl. U.S. Artists. Like Swift, he is setting himself for a successful 2024, as 19 songs from Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Manana debuted on each chart in the first week of the ’24 tracking period, including “Monaco” at No. 1 on both.
In year-end recaps for 2021 and 2022, Bad Bunny was the only Latin act to reach the top 10 of any of the four global charts. This year, he is joined in the top 10 by Peso Pluma (No. 6 – Global 200 Artists; No. 7 – Global Excl. U.S. Artists), plus Feid and Karol G, at Nos. 8-9, respectively, on Global Excl U.S. Artists.
NewJeans is the highest-ranking K-Pop act, at No. 9 on Global 200 Artists and No. 4 on Global Excl. U.S. Artists.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Nov. 19, 2022, through Oct. 21, 2023. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Morgan Wallen rules Billboard’s 2023 year-end Hot 100 Artists chart, while his smash crossover single “Last Night” leads the year’s Hot 100 Songs recap.
He is the first artist that primarily records country music to top Hot 100 Artists since 1981, while “Last Night” is the first year-end Hot 100 Songs No. 1 by a solo male to have led the weekly Hot Country Songs list since 1959.
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Wallen commands Billboard’s 2023 year-end Hot 100 Artists chart, with “Last Night” one of 40 songs that he logged on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 during the chart year; five hit the top 10, all from his album One Thing at a Time – the No. 1 title on this year’s Billboard 200 Albums recap.
Notably, Wallen is the first artist that primarily records country music to claim the top Hot 100 Artists title since late legend Kenny Rogers in 1981.
“Last Night” leads the 2023 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, having topped the weekly ranking, which blends streaming, radio airplay and sales data, for 16 weeks beginning in March – the most for a non-collaboration in the survey’s 65-year history. It led the Country Airplay chart for eight weeks and crossed over to No. 5 peaks on the Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay charts.
The track also crowned the Hot Country Songs chart for 25 weeks. It’s just the third year-end Hot 100 Songs No. 1 to have led the weekly Hot Country Songs list, joining Faith Hill’s “Breathe” in 2000 and Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans” in 1959, the only such hit by a male artist.
Meanwhile, with “Last Night” parent LP One Thing at a Time topping the 2023 Billboard 200 Albums recap, the year-end No. 1 on Hot 100 Songs is from the leading title on the Billboard 200 Albums tally for the first time since 2011, when Adele’s 21 and “Rolling in the Deep” doubled up, respectively. Wallen claims the first such twofer by a solo male since 2004, when Usher’s Confessions reigned as the year’s biggest album and its single “Yeah!,” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, wrapped as the top song. Only two other solo males have achieved the feat: In 2003, 50 Cent finished with the No. 1 Billboard 200 album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and Hot 100 song, “In Da Club,” after George Michael ruled in 1988 with, respectively, his album Faith and its title track.
“Last Night” is also the No. 1 title on the 2023 year-end Streaming Songs chart.
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SZA claims the No. 2 spot on the 2023 year-end Hot 100 Artists retrospective, thanks to 25 Hot 100 hits during the chart year. She achieved her first two Hot 100 No. 1s in that span, with “Kill Bill,” for a week in April, and as featured on Drake’s “Slime You Out,” for a week in September.
Taylor Swift ranks at No. 3 on Hot 100 Artists, followed by Drake at No. 4 and Luke Combs at No. 5. Swift’s “Anti-Hero” became the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 of her career, notching its eighth and last week on top in January; Drake upped his count to 13 No. 1s, thanks to “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole, in October – tying Michael Jackson for the most leaders among solo men; and Combs hit No. 2 on the weekly chart with his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” outperforming the original’s No. 6 peak in 1988. Combs’ remake ruled Country Airplay for five weeks, Hot Country Songs for four frames and Adult Pop Airplay for two weeks.
Rounding out the 2023 Hot 100 Artists top 10 are Miley Cyrus (No. 6), Zach Bryan (No. 7), 21 Savage (No. 8), Peso Pluma (No. 9) and The Weeknd (No. 10).
Cyrus’ “Flowers” places at No. 2 on the 2023 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart. It also dominates the Radio Songs ranking, having led the weekly list for 18 weeks – the most for a song by a woman since the chart began in 1990. The song, which became Cyrus’ second Hot 100 No. 1, after “Wrecking Ball” in 2013, and reigned for eight weeks from its debut in January, is also No. 1 on the year-end Adult Contemporary Songs and Adult Pop Airplay Songs charts.
SZA’s “Kill Bill” slashes its way to No. 3 on the year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, followed by Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” which leads the Digital Song Sales recap, at No. 4 and Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage’s “Creepin’” at No. 5.
Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” and The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Die for You” finish at Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, on the 2023 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart. Notably, both songs were not originally duets – Gomez joined on “Calm Down” and Grande was added to “Die for You” – and both traveled lengthy routes to their chart peaks. “Calm Down” was originally released in February 2022 by Rema; its mix with Gomez arrived that September; and the song hit No. 3 on the weekly Hot 100 this June. It also tops the year-end Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart, having run up its record reign to 58 weeks in October, and the Pop Airplay Songs tally.
“Die for You” was even more vintage when it hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in March, sparked by the arrival of its remix with Grande. It led six years, two months and three weeks after it debuted on the chart in December 2016, then from early interest on The Weeknd’s album Starboy – the longest such run to No. 1 ever among non-holiday songs.
Closing out the year-end Hot 100 Songs chart’s top 10, Combs’ “Fast Car” ranks at No. 8, SZA’s “Snooze” places at No. 9, and David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” finishes at No. 10. In addition to Combs’ remake of Chapman’s classic, “Snooze” brought co-writer Babyface back to the weekly Hot 100’s top 10, with his history in the region dating to the ‘80s, while Guetta and Rexha’s collaboration reworks Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” a No. 6 hit in 2000.
Meanwhile, thanks to Wallen, Swift and Drake, among other artists, Republic Records tops Billboard’s 2023 year-end Hot 100 Labels chart. The label defends its 2022 title, after it also led in 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014. Plus, Swift rules Hot 100 Songwriters, with writing credits on 44 entries on the weekly ranking during the chart year, while Joey Moi, who produced “Last Night,” wraps at No. 1 on Hot 100 Producers.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Nov. 19, 2022, through Oct. 21, 2023. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Morgan Wallen claims the year-end No. 1 on 2023 Billboard 200 Albums recap with his monster hit One Thing at a Time, which spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200. It racked up the most weeks at No. 1 for any album since Adele’s 21 tallied 24 weeks atop the list in 2011-12.
One Thing at a Time was a constant presence after its release on the Billboard 200 during the 2023 chart year (Nov. 19, 2022-Oct. 21, 2023). It debuted at No. 1 on the March 18, 2023, chart and then spent the next 31 weeks of the chart year lodged in the top five of the chart, never dipping below No. 4 in that span of time.
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Wallen has led the year-end Billboard 200 Albums tally twice. He first triumphed in 2021 with Dangerous: The Double Album, which finishes 2023 as the year’s No. 5 title. It ranked at No. 3 for the year in 2022. It’s the first title to spend three years, consecutive or otherwise, in the year-end Billboard 200 Albums top 10 since the soundtrack to The Sound of Music (1965-67).
As Wallen is No. 1 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums recap in 2023 with One Thing at a Time, and he led the tally in 2021 with Dangerous: The Double Album, he’s the first artist since 2005 to be No. 1 with two different albums within three years. In 2005, 50 Cent led the year-end Billboard 200 Albums tally with The Massacre, coming hot on the heels of his 2003 win with Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
Further, with both One Thing at a Time and Dangerous: The Double Album categorized as country efforts, Wallen is the first artist to claim two year-end No. 1s on the all-genre Billboard 200 Albums recap with a country album. Before Dangerous won in 2021, the only country efforts to be the year’s top Billboard 200 album were Taylor Swift’s Fearless (2009), Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts (2006) and Garth Brooks’ Ropin’ the Wind (1992). Country albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s weekly Top Country Albums chart.
One Thing at a Time’s crossover hit single “Last Night” crowns the year-end Hot 100 Songs recap. It’s the first time that the same artist has led both the year-end Billboard 200 and Hot 100 tallies since Adele in 2011 (with 21 and “Rolling In the Deep,” respectively).
At No. 2 on the year-end 2023 Billboard 200 Albums ranking is Taylor Swift’s Midnights. The set debuted at No. 1 on the Nov. 5, 2022-dated Billboard 200 and had two weeks of activity (Nov. 5-12, 2022) during the 2022 chart year, which placed the album at No. 4 on the 2022 year-end Billboard 200 Albums ranking. During the 2023 chart year, the album racked up three more weeks at No. 1 (it had two weeks at No. 1 in the 2022 chart year) and never left the weekly top 10 during the 2023 chart year.
Swift has placed at least one title in the year-end top 10 of the Billboard 200 Albums recap in the last six consecutive years, and in 14 of the last 16 years.
At No. 3 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums recap is SZA’s first Billboard 200 No. 1, SOS. The smash set ruled the weekly chart for 10 weeks – the most of any R&B/hip-hop album or R&B album by a woman since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut notched 11 in 1991.
Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss is No. 4 on the year-end tally, while Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album is No. 5. Metro Boomin’ Heroes & Villains ranks at No. 6, Bad Bunny’s year-end 2022 winner Un Verano Sin Ti is No. 7, while Zach Bryan’s breakthrough album American Heartbreak is No. 8.
Swift’s resurgent Lover album, which was released in 2019 and debuted atop the weekly Billboard 200, closes 2023 at No. 9. (In 2019, it was No. 4 for the year.) It flourished in new popularity in 2023 following the renaissance of its single “Cruel Summer,” which was the first proper song she performed during her much buzzed-about career-spanning The Eras Tour, which played U.S. stadiums from March to August.
Travis Scott’s latest release, Utopia, rounds out the year-end 2023 Billboard 200 Albums ranking at No. 10.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Nov. 19, 2022, through Oct. 21, 2023. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Zach Bryan closes out 2023 as Billboard’s Top New Artist, the same year he claimed his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (with his self-titled set) and his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart (“I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves). The 27-year-old singer-songwriter made a mainstream splash in […]
Taylor Swift triumphs atop Billboard’s 2023 year-end Top Artists chart, following her domination across both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs chart this year.
Swift was previously the year-end top artist in 2015 and 2009, making her the first act to finish as the year-end No. 1 artist at least once in three different decades (the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s). Plus, she’s just the second act to be the year-end top artist three times, following Adele, in 2016, 2012 and 2011 (dating to the category’s 1981 inception).
Remarkably, she’s ranked among the Top Artists year-end top 10 in 14 of the last 16 years, including the last six in a row.
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Further demonstrating Swift’s sustained success on Billboard’s charts, the 14-year span from her first win as top artist in 2009 to her third in 2023 is the longest of any act. Previously, Swift and Usher were tied with the longest span of year-end victories, with six years between Swift’s first and second coronations as Top Artists (2009-15) and Usher’s pair of wins (1998-2004).
During the 2023 chart year, Swift logged 13 albums on the weekly Billboard 200 chart, including two that spent time at No. 1: her 2022 release Midnights and her third re-recorded album, 2023’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). The former finishes as the No. 2 title on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums recap. Meanwhile, her 2019 release Lover is No. 9. The latter, along with her catalog of albums, flourished in 2023 concurrent with her massive career-spanning The Eras Tour concert trek. In total on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums roundup, Swift is at Nos. 2 (Midnights), 9 (Lover), 11 (Speak Now [Taylor’s Version]), 12 (Folklore), 16 (1989), 17 (Red [Taylor’s Version]), 21 (Reputation), 29 (Evermore), 43 (Fearless [Taylor’s Version]) and 115 (Speak Now). Swift is also the year’s top finisher on the Billboard 200 Artists roundup.
On the weekly Hot 100 chart, Swift logged 44 songs during the 2023 chart year. On the year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking, she’s at Nos. 4 (“Anti-Hero”), 18 (“Cruel Summer”), 27 (“Karma,” featuring Ice Spice) and 32 (“Lavender Haze”).
Swift is the overall top female artist for a seventh year, while Morgan Wallen is the top male artist for the first time (No. 2 on the overall Top Artists list). Wallen also claims the year-end No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums recap with his 2023 release One Thing at a Time, which spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200. The album’s crossover hit “Last Night” crowns the year-end Hot 100 Songs recap. It’s the first time that the same artist has led both the year-end Billboard 200 and Hot 100 tallies since Adele in 2011 (with 21 and “Rolling In the Deep,” respectively).
Wallen’s previous year-end Billboard 200 Albums champ, Dangerous: The Double Album, which topped the recap in 2021, is No. 5 on the 2023 list, after ranking at No. 3 in 2022. It’s the first title to spend three years, consecutive or otherwise, in the year-end Billboard 200 Albums top 10 since the soundtrack to The Sound of Music (1965-67).
Regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida is the top duo/group of 2023 – the first time an act that primarily records in Spanish has achieved the feat. (They are No. 38 on the overall Top Artists recap.) During the chart year, the act placed eight titles on the weekly Hot 100 and a pair of albums on the Billboard 200. Zach Bryan is the year’s top new artist (No. 6 on the overall Top Artists list), having scored his first No. 1s on both the weekly Billboard 200 (with his-self titled set) and Hot 100 (“I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves).
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Nov. 19, 2022, through Oct. 21, 2023. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate. The Top Artists and Top New Artists categories ranks the best-performing overall acts, and new acts, of the year based on activity on the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as well as Billboard Boxscore (touring) data, for the 2023 tracking period.
MUMBAI — In a post-pandemic year when Hindi films finally returned to the cinemas in full force, their soundtracks were expected to claim back some of the audience they lost to “non-film” releases on Indian music streaming services. That didn’t happen.
In 2022, Bollywood lost some of its clout to movies from south India at the box-office — such as the Oscar-tipped Telugu blockbuster RRR. And on the audio-streaming charts, regional language and independent music proved that the growth of the non-film segment over the last two years wasn’t just a passing fad.
The past 12 months have shown India’s music industry that a hit can come from just about anywhere, such as a TV series in Pakistan or a Punjabi rapper in Canada. Or even from a pathologist and part-time Hindi singer in Chandigarh like Aditya A., whose two-year-old song “Chaand Baaliyaan” went viral on Instagram Reels, reached No. 5 on Spotify for the year and landed him a deal with Sony Music India.
Billboard’s look at the most-played (and viewed) tracks of 2022 on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube in India highlights the ways in which the country’s consumption patterns are evolving and how the nation, with its continent-like range of states and languages, is among the most dynamic music markets in the world.
International music’s share is shrinking
A sole English-language track, short format video sensation “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, is on Spotify’s year-end top 10. None appear on Apple Music, on which “Heat Waves” was also the most-heard international song of 2022 (it’s in the top 15 on the platform). A year ago hits in non-Indian languages represented 40% of 2021’s top 10 tunes on both services. However, this doesn’t mean that listenership of international music is falling. As Spotify and Apple Music — global platforms whose early adopters were English-speaking users in large cities — expand their customer bases in India, consumption is increasing in absolute terms, even though the overall share of foreign tracks on the services is decreasing. Significantly, international hits account for nearly 30% of Spotify’s top 100 of 2022. Short format video fueled the streaming success of a majority of these songs, such as Ruth B.’s “Dandelions” from 2017 and Elley Duhé’s “Middle Of The Night” from 2020.
Bollywood isn’t as big as it used to be
Bollywood or Hindi film music’s share of overall listenership has been steadily falling over the last three years and this is reflected once again in 2022’s biggest hits. The percentage of Bollywood songs in Spotify’s year-end top 10 fell from 80% in 2020 to 30% this year, a proportion that includes two older tracks, “Raataan Lambiyan” and “Ranjha” from Shershaah, which were No. 1 and No. 2 for all of 2021. This time, the highest-ranked Hindi film hit is another ballad, “Kesariya” from Brahmastra, at No. 3. On Apple Music’s year-end top 10, the decline has been more gradual, from 50% in 2020 to 40% in 2021 and 30% in 2022, a share made up of the aforementioned “Ranjha” and “Kesariya” and “Doobey” from Gehraiyaan. Surprisingly, there’s not a single Bollywood smash in YouTube’s list of top 10 music videos, which only lists 2022 releases. There were two in 2020 and in 2021 when the No. 1 video of the year was “Lut Gaye” from the movie Mumbai Saga.
Regional language music rules YouTube
The consumption of music in Indian regional languages — songs in languages apart from Hindi, Urdu and English — has been increasing exponentially as internet penetration rises and streaming services gain users across the country’s smaller cities, towns and rural areas. Regional language music streamers’ first port of call is YouTube on which the 2022 top 10 includes tracks in Tamil (the official music and lyric videos of “Arabic Kuthu” from the film Beast), Haryanvi (“Kacha Badam”, a remake of a viral Bengali hit), Bhojpuri (“Le Le Aayi Coca Cola” and “Nathuyina”), Telugu (“Oo Antava Mawa Oo Oo Antava” from the movie Pushpa: The Rise) and Punjabi (“Pasoori” from the Pakistani version of music TV series Coke Studio). Notably, the three Hindi tracks that make up the rest of the chart — “Srivalli,” “Saami Saami” and “Oo Bolega Ya Oo Oo Bolega” — are dubbed versions of Telugu tunes from the soundtrack of Pushpa, an action drama that was also released in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil.
Punjabi music has crossed over into the mainstream
Out of all of India’s regional languages, Punjabi music has the largest listenership, thanks partly to its similarity to Hindi. Over the last two decades, it’s become increasingly common for Hindi film songs to have Punjabi lyrics. Punjabi’s music popularity has even spread to parts of the country where it isn’t widely spoken. Evidence of this is seen on Apple Music’s top 10 for 2022 on which Punjabi hits comprise the top eight. Five of them feature Canadian hip-hop artist A. P. Dhillon whose breakthrough smash “Brown Munde” was No. 1 for 2021 and whose “Excuses” was No. 1 all this year. “Excuses” tops Spotify’s list too. But the Punjabi music party is not limited to one act. “No Love” by Canadian rapper and singer Shubh is No. 4 on Spotify and “Bijlee Bijlee” by pop singer and actor Harrdy Sandhu is No. 7 on Apple Music.
“Pasoori” proves a cross-border sensation
Strained relations between India and Pakistan have led to a ban on Indian films in Pakistan and a similar restriction on the hiring of Pakistani actors and singers in India. But when it comes to the charts, both nations love thy neighbor. The only hit to feature across the year-end top 10s of Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube is “Pasoori” by singer-composer Ali Sethi, vocalist Shae Gill and producer Zulfiqar ‘Xulfi’ Jabbar Khan. The song, created for the fourteenth season of Coke Studio Pakistan. “Pasoori,” was the third highest streamed track on Indian streaming platform Wynk Music after “Kesariya” and “Arabic Kuthu.” It was also the most-played tune on Amazon Music in India, which is currently available only to subscribers of its Prime service. Conversely, Indian hip-hop stars A. P. Dhillon, Shubh and King feature in the top 10 of 2022 on Spotify in Pakistan.
Top 10 Songs of 2022 on Spotify in India
1. “Excuses”, A. P. Dhillon, Gurinder Gill and Intense, Run-Up Records
2. “Pasoori” (from Coke Studio Pakistan 14), Shae Gill and Ali Sethi, Giraffe Pakistan
3. “Kesariya” (from Brahmastra), Pritam, Arijit Singh and Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sony Music
4. “No Love,” Shubh
5. “Chaand Baaliyan,” Aditya A., Sony Music
6. “Raataan Lambiyan” (from Shershaah), Tanishk Bagchi, Jubin Nautiyal and Asees Kaur, Sony Music
7. “Heat Waves,” Glass Animals, Polydor
8. “Tu Aake Dekhle,” King, Kingsclan Records
9. “Arabic Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo” (from Beast), Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi and Sivakarthikeyan, Sun Pictures
10. “Ranjha” (from Shershaah), Jasleen Royal and B. Praak, Sony Music
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Top 10 Songs of 2022 on Apple Music in India
1. “Excuses,” A. P. Dhillon, Gurinder Gill and Intense, Run-Up Records
2. “Desires,” A. P. Dhillon and Gurinder Gill, Run-Up Records
3. “Pasoori” (from Coke Studio Pakistan 14), Shae Gill and Ali Sethi, Giraffe Pakistan
4. “Insane,” A. P. Dhillon, Shinda Kahlon, Gurinder Gill and Gminxr, Run-Up Records
5. “Ranjha” (from Shershaah), Jasleen Royal and B. Praak, Sony Music
6. “Spaceship,” A. P. Dhillon, Shinda Kahlon and Gminxr, Run-Up Records
7. “Bijlee Bijlee,” Harrdy Sandhu, B. Praak and Jaani, Desi Melodies/Universal Music
8. “Tere Te,” A. P. Dhillon and Gurinder Gill, Run-Up Records
9. “Kesariya” (from Brahmastra), Pritam, Arijit Singh and Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sony Music
10. “Doobey” (from Gehraiyaan), OAFF, Savera, Lothika and Kausar Munir, Sony Music
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Top 10 Music Videos of 2022 on YouTube in India
1. “Srivalli” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Javed Ali and Raqueeb Alam, T-Series
2. “Arabic Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo – Lyric Video” (from Beast), Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi and Sivakarthikeyan, Sun Pictures
3. “Saami Saami” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Sunidhi Chauhan and Raqueeb Alam, T-Series
4. “Kacha Badam,” Bhuban Badyakar and Amit Dhull, Bajewala Records
5. “Le Le Aayi Coca Cola,” Khesari Lal Yadav, Shilpi Raj, Prakash Barud and Sarvind Malhar, Gannayak Films
6. “Oo Bolega Ya Oo Oo Bolega” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Kanika Kapoor and Raqueeb Alam, T-Series
7. “Oo Antava Mawa Oo Oo Antava” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Indravathi Chauhan and Chandrabose, Aditya Music
8. “Pasoori” (from Coke Studio Pakistan 14), Shae Gill and Ali Sethi, Giraffe Pakistan
9. “Arabic Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo” (from Beast), Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi and Sivakarthikeyan, Sun Pictures
10. “Nathuyina,” Khesari Lal Yadav, Priyanka Singh, Krishna Bedardi, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Majrooh Sultanpuri, Saregama
December means more for the Billboard charts than just the coming onslaught of Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé — it also means it’s year-end season. Today, Billboard revealed its many year-end charts for 2022, including the Year-End Hot 100.
The chart is led by Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” — hardly a shock, given that it set the all-time Hot 100 record for longest stay on the chart this October — followed by Harry Styles’ “As It Was” and The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber’s “Stay.” Bad Bunny and Doja Cat tie for the most entries on the chart with seven each, while Bieber is the lone artist with multiple top 10 entries, also landing at No. 8 with “Ghost.”
How relevant do these top songs and artists feel to the year that was? And what lessons can we take from the chart on the whole? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. So, “Heat Waves”: Seem about right for a 2022 Year-End No. 1? If not, which song from the top 10 would you have picked to define the musical year?
Rania Aniftos: Seeing this year-end chart reminds me how long a year really is. I thought for sure that Harry Styles’ “As It Was” had the No. 1 spot in the bag, but I completely forgot about how “Heat Waves” just dominated the music space at the beginning of 2022. Given how quickly the song beat The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as the longest charting song in Hot 100 history, it’s not surprising that “Heat Waves” has the top spot this year.
Stephen Daw: At first, I was a bit surprised to see “Heat Waves” at the top of the chart — but upon reflection, this is the right song for the No. 1 spot. With such a record-breaking run up to the No. 1 spot, and a healthy domination of TikTok, radio and streaming services, “Heat Waves” was unstoppable hit of 2022. Sure, a chart-smasher like “As It Was” dominating that top spot for 15 weeks is worthy of recognition — but the crossover success of “Heat Waves,” despite the odds, is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime moment that deserves its flowers.
Josh Glicksman: To be honest, it doesn’t! That’s not to say “Heat Waves” isn’t worthy of the accomplishment — its No. 1 status and record-breaking 91 weeks on the Hot 100 would surely indicate otherwise — but given that it debuted on the chart in January 2021, it feels more definitive of last year than this one. Instead, I’d pick its runner-up, Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” as more apt for 2022: a year often highlighted by megahits from music’s biggest superstars. And with Styles setting the record for the longest-running No. 1 by a solo act in Hot 100 history this year (15 weeks), it’s a bit surprising to not see it finish atop the list.
Jason Lipshutz: It makes sense on paper when compared to the year-end No. 2 single, “As It Was,” since “Heat Waves” had a three-month head start on Harry Styles’ smash, which was released in early April. Yet the fact that “As It Was” spent 15 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100 in 2022 — months-long ubiquity, resulting in the longest-leading No. 1 single by a solo artist in the chart’s history — makes the Styles single feel more year-defining than Glass Animals’ unstoppable hit. Hard to argue with “Heat Waves,” especially after it set the Hot 100 longevity record with 91 weeks on the chart, but I’ll remember 2022 as the year of “As It Was.”
Andrew Unterberger: It’s a ranking that certainly ends more to quirks of timing and Billboard chart math than an undeniable cultural dominance — especially considering many of us reached our fill point with the song in 2021, if not all the way back in 2020. But as for if “Heat Waves” feels like 2022… yeah, sorta. It’s a vibey, melancholy, genre-less song that has long since eclipsed its makers, went viral on TikTok several times without ever going viral viral, and is probably still getting played on dozens of radio stations across the country as we speak. If that’s not a description of a hit song in 2022 I don’t know what would be.
2. While Bad Bunny, with his Year-End Billboard 200-topping Un Verano Sin Ti album, is a predictable artist to appear on this Year-End Hot 100 with seven entries, it’s a little less obvious that Doja Cat — who didn’t even release an album this year — would be right alongside him with seven songs of her own. Does her volume of entries surprise you? Does she seem like a fair representative for the year in chart pop?
Rania Aniftos: To me, it does and it doesn’t at the same time. It’s surprising only because, compared to 2021, Doja Cat’s presence seemed less prominent this year. However, with that being said, Doja’s also the queen of low-key relevance. By that, I mean that whether or not she’s actively promoting her music, it’s always used on TikTok, it’s always playing on the radio and it’s always on various Spotify playlists. I find that I’m often listening to her music whether I intend to or not, so it makes sense that she was a pop chart staple of the year.
Stephen Daw: Despite her “retirement” announcement, Doja still managed to be inescapable throughout the year. Whether it was with a reimagined, Elvis-inspired smash in “Vegas,” the Afrobeats-tinged “Woman,” or a featured slot on Post Malone’s “I Like You (A Happier Song),” Doja practically never left the Hot 100 in 2022, and did so with a cadre of hits that felt truly varied and different — much like pop music itself.
Josh Glicksman: Not at all surprising to me. Doja Cat is a perfect representation for the year in chart pop: she’s more than capable of providing a down-the-middle in the genre, but at a moment’s notice, she can switch over to R&B, hip-hop, or some combination of all three. At a time when popular music is more genre-agnostic than ever, she blurs the lines as well as anyone else out there. Plus, she dominates at multiple formats — Doja Cat has eight top 10s on both Billboard’s Radio Songs and Streaming Songs charts since 2020.
Jason Lipshutz: Not a surprise at all: Doja Cat has become one of the most reliable hitmakers in modern pop, and the long-tail commercial viability of her last two albums is arguably even more impressive than their immediate success. Plenty of artists are notching hits with the early singles to their full-lengths, as Doja did with Hot Pink’s “Say So” and Planet Her’s “Kiss Me More”; very few are spinning off top 20 entries with their fifth singles, as she did with “Streets” and “Get Into You (Yuh).” Her ability to dig deep into her projects and mine new hits allows her to pop up seven times on the year-end Hot 100 without breaking a sweat.
Andrew Unterberger: I mean, it’s no secret that Doja has remained ubiquitous in the year post-Planet Her, so in theory this shouldn’t be that surprising. But that number: seven. Any pop star worth their glitter can luck into two or three enduring hits off-cycle, and it’s certainly not unheard of for the great ones to find their way to four or five. But seven? That’s just silly, and shows that Amala’s golden touch in pop right now should really not be underestimated.
3. What song from outside the chart’s top 10 would you have either expected to appear higher, or feel was more significant for the year than its ranking suggests?
Rania Aniftos: “Running Up That Hill” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno!” Those songs were everywhere! No shade intended here, but how did Gayle’s “abcdefu” rank higher?
Stephen Daw: Considering his absolute dominance of streaming as well the album charts, I thought Bad Bunny might eke out a year-end top 10 in “Tití Me Preguntó.” The track may not have made it to the No. 1 spot, but Benito’s Un Verano Sin Ti was the most unavoidable smash-hit album of 2022, no questions asked. The significance that has for the industry at large when talking about Latin music’s crossover into become one of the most popular genres of the day is massive, and Bad Bunny’s role in making that crossover happen cannot be understated.
Josh Glicksman: “About Damn Time.” Sure, its release date coming in April narrows its window, but it felt like for a span of a few months, Lizzo’s Special lead single was just about everywhere — be it TikTok (more than 2 million videos on the platform have been created using the song as its backing track) or the radio (No. 1 on Radio Songs for nine weeks). Its runner-up finish on Billboard’s 2022 Songs of the Summer chart encapsulates as much, but I would’ve expected that to translate to a top 10 placement as well.
Jason Lipshutz: Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” never reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 and only spent a few months in and around the top 10 of the chart, so it’s not shocking that it finishes as low as No. 23 on the year-end chart… but the fact that a song from 1985 climbed that high, wholly thanks to its use in one television show (albeit a pop culture-commanding one), is still wildly impressive, and will have reverberations within the mainstream for years to come. “Running Up That Hill” represents a tipping point for older songs being revived into new hits, and in this era of TikTok resurrections, songs like this will feel less like lightning-in-a-bottle moments and appear more often on the year-end charts.
Andrew Unterberger: Remember how for the first three months of this year, it seemed like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was basically the only hit song in existence? Encantomania in general feels a decade old at this point, and obviously the song’s relative lack of radio support means it doesn’t have the long tail songs need to really threaten the top of the Year-End charts. But man, after all that, for the song to only finish at No. 24 — 10 lower than the third-biggest single from Lil Nas X’s Montero — feels more than a little underwhelming for the Disney Hot 100 GOAT.
4. Keeping in mind that there’s almost always a little carry-over between Billboard‘s year-end charts — which song from this year’s top 100 would you expect to have the endurance to still make a strong showing on next year’s top 100 as well?
Rania Aniftos: Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy.” While it’s at No. 98 right now, to even rank on the list given it was just released in September is pretty impressive, and I think we’ve only just started to see the lasting power of that song.
Stephen Daw: It’s gotta be “As It Was.” Part of what made the song so huge was that it kept coming back — after an album release, after massive tour dates, after headline-making semi-controversies around Harry’s film Don’t Worry Darling, “As It Was” refused to fall off the charts. The song even had the momentum to get Lil Nas X sweating about his record as the longest-running Hot 100 hit. There is not a world in which “As It Was” doesn’t make an appearance higher than we would intuitively expect on the 2023 Year-End chart.
Josh Glicksman: This might be a loophole of an answer, but I’d go with Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Given its track record since first reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2019, the holiday classic’s placement on the year-end list feels like nothing short of a lock until further notice. Still, that feels like dodging the question, so if pressed on something from this year, I’d go with Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy.” Its late release in 2022 — combined with the hit’s staying power — should give it plenty of momentum into 2023 and boost it higher than this year’s No. 98 finish.
Jason Lipshutz: Way down at No. 98 on the year-end Hot 100 is Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” — a single that has already hit the top of the Hot 100, stays still at No. 3 this week, and has a lot of juice left to push into 2023 (when Smith will also release their new album, Gloria, in late January). Maybe “Unholy” never makes it back to the top of the Hot 100, but I could see it hanging around the top 10 for the opening few months of 2023 and making a stronger showing on the next year-end chart.
Andrew Unterberger: “Unholy” is the safe bet, but I”ll go a little bolder and say that Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” (No. 39) hangs around long enough — especially if country radio ever fully kicks in for it — to make it to the 2023 Year-End Hot 100 as well. (By the way, worth noting that Taylor Swift only has one song on this year’s chart, and none from Midnights. Imagine that will not be the case next year!)
5. Zooming out to look at the Year-End Hot 100 in its entirety, what do you think it suggests was the most consequential trend impacting 2022 popular music?
Rania Aniftos: There are two trends I’ve seen the most since the beginning of the year, and they’re polar opposites. The first is really raw, emotional songs about deep topics like heartbreak and mental health, like “Fingers Crossed” by Lauren Spencer-Smith and Adele’s “Easy on Me.” The second is what I like to call “baddie songs,” a.k.a songs you listen to while getting ready to go out to feel confident, or songs that you post a thirst trap to on Instagram. We’ve proven to be quite complex as a society and as music listeners, if these two trends are any indication.
Stephen Daw: That there is no formulaic path to “success” in this inudstry (I understand that this sounds like a cop-out — I promise it’s not). “Heat Waves” being at No. 1 on this chart is unlikely-yet-understandable given the song’s massive appeal across platforms; “As It Was” became synonymous with pop radio; “Stay” was an absolute streaming monster; “ABCDEFU” was a viral sensation on TikTok. Whenever someone comes forward with their idea of the “definitive way to ‘make it’ in the music industry,” I roll my eyes, because this chart shows that there isn’t a set way to achieve success on the charts. There are a lot of different avenues to take today (and you probably need to be on more than one if not all of them) to earn that chart-smashing hit.
Josh Glicksman: It’s hard not to immediately be struck by all of the songs impacted by viral moments on TikTok. Particularly for artists that may be visiting the year-end Hot 100 songs chart for the first time, the platform has been a staple in yielding breakthrough hits.
Jason Lipshutz: If you asked 100 people to name the five defining pop artists of 2022, I doubt many of them would name Justin Bieber… but there he is with two songs in the year-end top 10, “Stay” with The Kid LAROI and “Ghost,” both holdovers from 2021 that just refused to disappear after months of radio play and millions of streams. Pretty surprising to see them up so high… but if the Biebs comes back with a gargantuan 2023, those two tracks could be considered harbingers to his sustained success.
Andrew Unterberger: The biggest thing for me is rap taking a very clear backseat to pop — no rap songs at all in the chart’s top five, hybrid rappers like Lil Nas X and Doja Cat outperforming any core hip-hop radio artists, and the two best-performing rap songs (Jack Harlow’s “First Class” and Latto’s “Big Energy”) both being built around enormous pop samples. Not shocking given recent popular music trends (and the inherently pop-skewing nature of the Hot 100), but still a little stark compared to the chart landscape of a half-decade ago.
