Year-End
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As 2024 comes to a close, Billboard looks back at the most consequential music publishing stories of the year.
Our favorite albums from a big year for pop blockbusters.
By 
Katie Atkinson, Katie Bain, Anna Chan, Hannah Dailey, Stephen Daw, Kyle Denis, Angel Diaz, Frank DiGiacomo, Ingrid Fajardo, Josh Glicksman, Griselda Flores, Quincy Green, Paul Grein, Rylee Johnston, Elias Leight, Jason Lipshutz, Joe Lynch, Meghan Mahar, Heran Mamo, Gail Mitchell, Taylor Mims, Melinda Newman, Jessica Nicholson, Eric Renner Brown, Kristin Robinson, Jessica Roiz, Dan Rys, Michael Saponara, Damien Scott, Andrew Unterberger
Taylor Swift will have much to celebrate this New Year’s Day, with the musician taking home two major year-end accolades on Spotify to close out 2024.
And in response to the news that she is both Spotify’s most streamed artist of 2024 and the creator of the app’s most streamed album of the year — both things the platform announced Wednesday (Dec. 4) as part of its annual Wrapped — the 34-year-old pop star gushed about the feats in a heartfelt thank-you message to fans on Instagram Stories.
“Top Streamed Artist and Album on @spotify this year?!” Swift wrote incredulously. “You guys are unbelievable.”
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The end-of-year victories come just a couple days before the 14-time Grammy winner takes the stage for one last trio of Eras Tour shows Dec. 6-8 in Vancouver, B.C. Coincidentally, Sabrina Carpenter — a former opener on the nearly two-year trek — had the top-streamed song on Spotify in 2024, with smash hit “Espresso” racking up more than 1.6 billion global listens.
“What an amazing thing to find out going into our last weekend of eras shows,” she added in her post. “THANK YOU!”
According to Spotify, more than 26.6 billion global streams pushed Swift to the top of their artist list this year, with The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish respectively finishing out 2024 as the site’s second, third, fourth and fifth most streamed artists. This turn around the sun marks the second year in a row that the “Karma” artist has been the service’s top artist, having taken the crown in 2023 as well.
In addition to her post on Stories, Swift also personally thanked fans with a video message sent out to her top listeners on Spotify. “I just wanted to say thank you so much for being one of my top listeners on Spotify, that’s so nice of you,” she said, addressing in the camera while outfitted in one of her Eras Tour leotards. “Thank you for streaming the music — it’s just been such a wild ride.”
As for the most streamed album honors, that’s only the latest feather in The Tortured Poets Department‘s cap. Swift’s expansive 11th studio album has spent a total of 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2024 and was recently certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, meaning it has surpassed 6 million sales units in the U.S.
Swift’s streaming reign in 2024 wasn’t limited to Spotify, though. This year, she was also Apple Music’s top streamed artist, while Tortured Poets was the competing platform’s biggest album.
“Ahhhhhh thank you for listening to my music and TTPD so much!!!!” she wrote of the latter feat on her Story Dec. 3. “You, the fans, made The Tortured Poets Department the TOP STREAMED ALBUM of The Year on @applemusic!!!”
Billboard staffers are ranking the 10 Hottest Female Rappers of 2024. From Megan Thee Stallion to Latto to Cardi B, we’re explaining why these artists made our list. Do you agree with No. 1? Let us know who you think your Hottest Female Rapper of 2024 is in the comments below! Carl Lamarre:The Hottest Female […]
The music industry’s lawyers were busy this year — from Diddy’s downfall to Live Nation’s antitrust case to Young Thug’s gang charges to novel questions about AI.
From phone reporting to point-of-sale tracking to Luminate’s current data system, Billboard has published year-end music roundups for 80 years. Since 1943, a hit parade of swinging jazz tracks, scorching rockers and hip-hop bangers have ranked as the year’s top song. As 2023 wraps, here’s a look at the genre jubilee in our back pages.
A Jazzy Start
Based on a points system that “gives an approximation of comparative disk sales,” the Jan. 2, 1943, issue crowned Glenn Miller’s “Kalamazoo” as the “top recording” of 1942. Of the 20 entries on the list, 18 were from big bands — the exceptions being Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” and Spike Jones’ propaganda polka “Der Fuehrer’s Face.” In the Jan. 4, 1947, issue, Billboard unveiled its “First Annual Chart Count,” based on 106,000 reports from “sheet music jobbers… record dealers, disk jockeys and juke box operators [and] radio stations” — and declared Perry Como’s orchestral pop single “Prisoner of Love” to be 1946’s top tune.
Mambo, No. 1
Latin music spiced up 1955, and the Jan. 7, 1956, Billboard reported that Pérez Prado’s mambo hit “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” was the “top popular record” per “retail sales [and] juke box plays.” That year, rock was crowned king thanks to Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.” “As could be no surprise to anyone, [Presley] has had a larger number of records on the national pop retail chart this year than any other recording artist,” the Dec. 22, 1956, issue reported. “Rhythm and blues and rock and roll together represent a big chunk of the singles market.”
First Timer
The Dec. 30, 1972, Billboard declared Roberta Flack’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” to be the year’s top Hot 100 song. The Dec. 29, 1973, issue said soul music was becoming “more sophisticated, with ‘productions’ rather than the raucous music traditionally associated with soul.” Plus, the genre was receiving “a great deal more attention on television” thanks to Soul Train and variety shows, which fueled sales.
Hollywood Hits
The silver screen’s power to promote hits peaked in the 1990s. Dangerous Minds helped make Coolio featuring L.V.’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” the biggest Hot 100 song of 1995 — the first hip-hop track to achieve the feat. “It’s the fourth time in the ’90s that the top single of the year has come from a motion picture,” the Dec. 23, 1995, issue noted. “Singles from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves [by Bryan Adams], Boomerang [by Boyz II Men] and The Bodyguard [by Whitney Houston] headed the year-end charts in 1991, 1992 and 1993, respectively.”
Pop Life
When Kesha’s “Tik Tok” was crowned the Hot 100’s top song of 2010, Billboard reported that “pop reigned supreme.” By 2018, hip-hop was dominating the charts, with rappers credited on seven of the 10 biggest songs. Drake’s “God’s Plan” was the top track, and the Dec. 15, 2018, issue reported that he “rewrote the record for the most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 by any artist in a single year.” For 2023, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” ruled — the first Hot Country Songs chart-topper to do so since Faith Hill’s “Breathe” in 2000.
This story will appear in the Dec. 16, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Seeing the list of stars we’ve lost in the calendar year is always a shock. But there’s something comforting about British artist Chris Barker’s annual visual homage to stars who’ve left this mortal coil, which this year includes yet another unfathomable tally of beloved singers, actors, public figures and personalities.
As always, Barker organizes the faces using the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover as the template, with this year’s model featuring Pogues singer Shane MacGowan front-and-center above the bass drum, flanked by Tina Turner and Sinead O’Connor. Just a few spots down, Tony Bennett smiles next to British guitar great Jeff Beck, with beloved comedian/actor Pee Wee Herman copping a squat in the foreground.
In a statement to Billboard about his eighth go-round, Barker — who has frequently pledged to make each year his last — says that after cramming all his work into November in the past, this year he began compiling his list in September because he knew this year would be jam-packed with subjects.
“This is the most overwhelming number of huge significant losses I remember in the eight years doing this since 2016. The front two or three rows are all really recognizable legends. It’s a bit much to be honest,” Barker says of the list that includes the above mentioned, as well as beloved British actor Barry “Dame Edna” Humphries, Raquel Welch, Friends star Matthew Perry, CSNY singer David Crosby, composer Burt Bacharach, De La Soul’s Trugoy the Dove and Calypso singer/civil rights activist Harry Belafonte.
Barker said he was glad that Pogues and Smiths fans were sharing the image of MacGowan and Smiths bassist Andy Rourke. He pointed out some other small touches he was happy to include were late artist Jamie Reid’s Sex Pistols flag under Herman’s feet, replacing the flag more earnestly commemorating Queen Elizabeth II in last year’s montage. “I also quite like the way I’ve used Steve Mackey from Pulp’s actual cardboard cutout from the Different Class album cover,” he says.
“I know it’s a very sad topic, it’s a very strange hobby and I really don’t know how I’ve ended up as this weird custodian of international grief, but people do really seem to like it so I’m kind of stuck with it now!” Barker says.
Among the other faces in the crowd are: actors Richard Roundtree (Shaft), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Lance Reddick (The Wire), Angus Cloud (Euphoria), Suzanne Somers, Richard Belzer, Gina Lollarigida, Jerry Springer and game show host Bob Barker, singers/musicians Sixto Rodriguez, Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Jimmy Buffett, Yukihiro Takahashi (Yellow Magic Orchestra), Tom Verlaine (Television), Robbie Robertson (The Band), Steve Mackey (Pulp), Tim Bachman (BTO), John Gosling (The Kinks), Fred White (EW&F), Lisa Marie Presley, Randy Meisner (Eagles), Anita Pointer (Pointer Sisters), Astrud Gilberto, Dwight Twilley, Van Conner (Screaming Trees), Jane Birkin, The 45 King, Gary Wright, Paul Cattermole (S-Club 7), Gary Young (Pavement), Denny Laine (Wings) and Smash Mouth’s Steve Harwell.
In keeping with Barker’s comprehensive determination to keep the image as up-to-date as possible, the most recent iteration features two images of Hollywood icons we lost just last week, Love Story star Ryan O’Neal and legendary sitcom producer/writer Norman Lear (Good Times).
Check out the image and the key for the 2023 edition below.
12/11/2023
This year’s picks for top 10 tracks include music from Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll, Tyler Childers and more.
12/11/2023
Multi-genre superstar Kanye West is Billboard’s Top Gospel Artist of 2023, marking three straight years that he claims the top honor. He’s the first act to be the year-end Top Gospel Artist in three years since 2017, when Tamela Mann claimed her third triumph.
On the Billboard charts dated Sept. 11, 2021, Donda started with a bang. It debuted in the penthouse on the all-genre weekly Billboard 200 plus Top Gospel Albums and Top Christian Albums with 309,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S., according to Luminate.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2023 Year-End Charts
It marked West’s 10th Billboard 200 leader and his second No. 1 on Top Gospel Albums (as well as Top Christian Albums).
Donda followed his first spiritual LP, Jesus Is King, which crowned both lists as well, plus the Billboard 200. King started with 264,000 weekly units in November 2019, which was a record at the time on the two faith-based lists.
On the Top Gospel Albums year-end tallies, Donda is No. 1 and Jesus Is King is No. 5.
Also, Donda has ranked at either No. 1 or No. 2 on the weekly Top Gospel Albums chart so far this year. Jesus Is King has also remained strong, holding in the Top Gospel Albums top 10 throughout 2023.
Since Top Gospel Albums launched in 1983, Donda is the longest running No. 1 (over 100 weeks), and Jesus Is King is second (over 65 frames).
Billboard’s top duo/group of 2023 and No. 2 among all acts is the Atlanta-based worship collective Maverick City Music. The popular act repeats from 2022 in the rankings.
Old Church Basement, the collaborative project with Christian act Elevation Worship, ranks as the Top Gospel Albums No. 2 LP of 2023. The set, which opened at No. 1 on Top Gospel Albums in May 2021 with 19,000 units and spent 17 frames at the summit, has been in the top five for all of 2023.
The Nos. 4, 6 and 10 albums of 2023 are also from Maverick City Music. At No. 4 is Kingdom: Book One, a collaboration with gospel star Kirk Franklin. The LP opened at its No. 2 peak in July 2022 with 8,000 units. Maverick City, Vol. 3: Part One is the No. 6 set of 2023; and No. 8 is Move Your Heart with Upperroom.
Maverick City Music finished 2023 with the release of The Maverick Way Complete: Complete Vol. 2 with Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine. It arrived atop the weekly Top Gospel Albums list dated Nov. 11 (which places it within the 2024 chart year) with 11,000 equivalent album units. Concurrently, it also crowned the weekly Top Christian Albums chart.
Also, the year-end No. 1 on Hot Gospel Songs is “Jireh,” a collaboration from Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine. The song debuted at No. 1 in April 2021 and has spent the sum of 2023 in the top three.
Gospel icon CeCe Winans is the leading woman of 2023, ruling the year-end Top Gospel Artists – Female tally, and No. 3 on the overall Top Gospel Artists recap. Her hit “Goodness of God” led Gospel Airplay for four weeks starting on the Feb. 18-dated tally, giving Winans her fourth leader. It’s No. 5 on the year-end Gospel Airplay Songs roundup. Plus, it’s the leading track of the year on Gospel Digital Song Sales.
The No. 1 Gospel Airplay Song of 2023 is Erica Campbell’s “Feel Alright (Blessed),” which dominated the weekly version of the chart for two frames beginning July 29, 2023. Campbell, who has tallied three Gospel Airplay chart-toppers so far, comes in as the that chart’s leading artist of the year. In the top female category, Campbell finishes fourth. Billboard’s Top New Gospel artist of the year is the Hampton Roads, Va.-based choir Voices of Fire, which is led by Bishop Ezekiel Williams, who is Pharrell Williams’ uncle. Voices of Fire’s “Joy (Unspeakable)” featuring Pharrell Williams peaked at No. 7 on Hot Gospel Songs in July.
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.
Just as he did in 2021 and 2022, 30-year-old singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen is Billboard’s Top Country Artist. Concurrently, the Sneedville, Tenn.-born star is Billboard’s Top Country Artist – Male. He also wraps the year with No. 1 placings on the year-end recaps for Hot Country Songs, Hot Country Songs Artists, Country Airplay Artists, Country Airplay Songs, Country Digital Song Sales Artists, Country Streaming Songs, Country Streaming Songs Artists, Top Country Albums Artists and Top Country Albums.
Wallen won the day in plenty of categories in 2023, and if there’s one area where he added to his portfolio, it’s pop radio, where the country star is officially a crossover artist now on the strength of “Last Night,” which reached No. 5 on both Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2023 Year-End Charts
“Last Night,” which is the leading song of the year on the streaming-, airplay and sales based Hot Country Songs chart as well as the top Country Airplay track of the year, also became Wallen’s first song to top the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. It’s also the year-end No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs recap.
In March, “Last Night” — which was authored by John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin and Ryan Vojtesak — blasted from 5-1 on the Hot 100, marking the artist’s first leader on the all-format list. “Last Night” is from his 36-track album, One Thing at a Time, released March 3.
When “Last Night” led the Hot 100 for its first week on the March 18 dated tally, it was also stationed atop Hot Country Songs.
It marked the first track to lead both tallies since Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” on the charts dated Nov. 27, 2021 – and the first by a solo male unaccompanied by any other acts in more than 42 years, since Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love a Rainy Night” ruled Hot Country Songs for a week in January 1981 and the Hot 100 for two weeks that February-March.
“Last Night” dominated Hot Country Songs for 25 frames commencing in February, becoming the fourth-longest-ruling title since the chart was launched in 1958. The longest is Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s crossover smash, “Meant to Be,” which spent a whopping 50 weeks in the penthouse beginning in December 2017.
“Last Night” is also the year-end No. 1 on Country Airplay Songs. It dominated the weekly chart for eight weeks starting in May, giving the artist his ninth of 10 No. 1s. He added his 10th in October with “Thinkin’ Bout Me.”
Wallen’s One Thing at a Time album, which houses 36 songs, opened atop Top Country Albums as well as the all-genre Billboard 200 with the largest streaming week ever for a country album, as well as the biggest week by equivalent album units (501,000 in the tracking week of March 3-9, according to Luminate) for any album, among all genres.
The artist made history that week by taking over Hot Country Songs with an unprecedented nine tracks in that week’s top 10.
One Thing at a Time is both No. 1 on the year-end Top Country Albums recap and the all-genre Billboard 200 Albums roundup.
Swift Leads Women: On the strength of her release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift is country music’s top woman of 2023. Speak Now is the No. 4 LP on the Top Country Albums list of the year.
Released July 7, the set — the third of Swift’s planned six re-recorded albums — arrived with 716,000 equivalent album units earned, with 507,000 in traditional album sales.
With Speak Now, Swift earned her eighth No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Also that week, Swift lobbed seven songs into the Hot Country Songs top 10.
Megan Moroney Shines: Singer-songwriter Megan Moroney, who hails from Savannah, Ga., scored her first top 10 on the weekly Top Country Albums chart in May when her first entry, Lucky, arrived at its No. 10 peak with 18,000 equivalent album units.
The set marked the first top 10 debut for a woman’s first title on the chart since Gabby Barrett’s debut LP Goldmine arrived at No. 4 in July 2020.
Moroney, a graduate of the University of Georgia, also claimed her first top 10 on Country Airplay as well as Hot Country Songs with rookie appearance “Tennessee Orange,” which hit No. 4 on Country Airplay and No. 10 on Hot Country Songs.
There’s no doubt that 2023 was a huge year for country music.
In July, country songs filled the top three rankings on the Hot 100: Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” topped the list, followed by Wallen’s “Last Night,” with Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” at No. 3.
It marked the first time that country hits occupied the Hot 100’s top three spots in a single week, dating to the chart’s inception in August 1958.
A little controversy also hovered over one of country music’s top stars. Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” created a stir when its video was pulled from rotation by CMT after just three days on the air, creating a firestorm of media coverage.
Aldean addressed the polarized response to the video during his Highway Desperado Tour stop July 21 at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center. “It’s been a long week and I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this, suggesting I’m that,” he told the crowd. “I feel like everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think something all you want to; it doesn’t mean it’s true. What I am is a proud American. I’m proud to be from here … I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that, I can tell you that right now.”
The contention didn’t hurt sales. “Try That in a Small Town” is the No. 1 title for 2023 on Country Digital Song Sales. On the July 29 dated tally, “Small Town” hit No. 1 with 228,000 sold. It became Aldean’s first Hot 100 leader while also reigning on Hot Country Songs for two weeks, becoming the artist’s 10th No. 1 on the latter list.
Meanwhile, the No. 2 Hot Country Songs title of 2023 is Luke Combs’ version of Chapman’s Hot 100 top 10 from 1987, “Fast Car.”
Combs’ update of “Fast Car” led Hot Country Songs for its first of four weeks on the Sept. 30 dated survey giving the artist his sixth No. 1. Here’s what Combs told Billboard when he heard the news: “What an awesome way to end the ride for ‘Fast Car’,” said the artist. “It has been so cool to see everyone enjoying this song over the past few months, whether it was people who were hearing the song for the first time or people [for whom] it brought back memories of Tracy’s timeless recording. I’m just glad this song got another life because it deserves to be around forever; it will always be one of my favorites. I’m glad we got to park Tracy’s song at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart, where it should be.”
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.