It’s amusing to do a midyear song list in 2023. This year, maybe more than any other, has led us to ask: What does it even mean for a song to be from “this year”? On those principles, the Billboard charts are more perplexing than ever: With 2023 Hot 100 successes from Lady Gaga, Miguel, and Tyler, the Creator all originally released in the 2010s, and a No. 1 from The Weeknd coming via a fresh remix of a 2016 deep cut, old is new again on top 40, and the divide between catalogue and current has never been thinner.
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Despite the fact that the past is now always competing with the present, 2023 has managed to provide us with an incredible abundance of genuinely new music — songs making their debut or making their first appearance on the charts — to keep us from drowning in reruns. Rising stars have reached new heights with their biggest crossover moments to yet, new sounds and situations have made a global impact, and unexpected partners have helped drive one another to greater chart success. And, of course, some of the most well-known names have returned with completely new songs as well as older ones, proving that they can still become popular without TikTokers having to go into their back catalogue.
Here are the Billboard staff’s 20 favourite songs of the year so far, still sticking to tracks that were either released or first truly impacted the charts, while acknowledging that our definitions will have to alter with the times. In 2023, pop music is a wild and unexpected place, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.