Musical geography and other reflections on the music of 2023

It’s time for the 2024 music wrap-up, and we never did one on 2023. So, here are a few thoughts, because the old traditions will carry on, even if blogging is long dead and the world is burning to the ground as we speak.

One thing that has curiously stuck in my head about the 2023 year in music was the geographical musical matches that Spotify Wrapped presented last year (and didn’t do in this year’s mediocre version). Spotify found my music played during that year to be most attuned to the tastes of Christchurch, New Zealand, based upon plays of Madonna, Meat Loaf and The Motels. It comes as no surprise to me that I am more of a mind with folks on the other side of the globe from me. 

I can explain how Spotify came up with the match:  There’s always a Madonna song in my current playlist; I cycled through several Meat Loaf songs after his death, particularly focusing on Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, and I was also exploring some of his less successful output from the ‘80s; and I had The Motels’ “Remember the Nights” in rotation for a good chunk of the year. It wasn’t one of their big hits, but it’s one of the best songs from those pensive ‘80s pop-rockers.

Overall, 2023 feels a bit unremarkable for me, musically. My most played song released in or near 2023 was Texas’ “After All,” a new song included on a new best-of compilation. Everything but the Girl placed at #53 (based on my airplay as tabulated by last.fm and including songs old and new) with “Run a Red Light,” which I got into late in the year and would make more of an impact in the 2024 roundup. One of the Pet Shop Boys’ best and most haunting songs to date, “The Lost Room,” from the Lost EP, was also split between the two years, finishing at #51 for ’23. Interest in Tears for Fears’ outstanding 2022 album The Tipping Point carried over to make it the most played current album again in 2023.

Click here to go down the rabbit hole of past years' roundups back to 2005.