The Best Music of 2023

It’s been a year of great change for the music industry: Generative AI rose to prominence. Concert ticket prices skyrocketed. Hollywood went on strike. Bandcamp imploded and Spotify changed the way they pay artists. The world’s biggest pop stars went on record-breaking tours and then brought those shows to the big screen. Indie artists stood their ground on being paid fairly by venues. More new music was released than could possibly be listened to in the span of a year. Some of it was incredible. Some of it wasn’t.

The staff of Pitchfork listened to thousands of albums and songs to bring you our package celebrating the best music of 2023. Join us as we revisit the sounds that made an impact this year across rock, rap, pop, electronic, experimental, and Spanish-language music, plus the best books, music video choreography, and more. Curious about what our readers were listening to? Find the Readers’ Poll results below to see your favorites, too. Happy reading, and happy listening!