NPR Music - Our No. 1 songs: 2023

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

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All right, all songs considered. I'm Robin Hilton, Stephen Thompson here to talk about our number one songs from the past 25 years of the show. It's good to be here, Robin. So we are almost done. We've just got a couple more years that we're going to talk about, starting with the year 2023 now. And, you know, as we're getting into the final stretch here, I'll just remind people, these are not the Billboard Hot 100 hits, the number one songs like that. These are just the songs that meant the most to us from that year or take us back to that time. or really, you know, sort of speak to the identity of all songs considered since we are celebrating the show's 25th anniversary.

Since we are here celebrating ourselves. Celebrating, it's all about us. What do you think of when you think of music in 2023? I've got a handful of things here, but I'll let you go first. Well, and when I think of a 2023, I think of an album that had a little bit of a slow burn and really blew up in 2024. I'm going to go with this. Bardot, she showed me things, I didn't know, she did it right there, out on the deck. Put her K-9 teeth in the side of my neck.

Well, it's Chapel Rhone, but it's not the song I thought you were going to put it. It's not necessarily the biggest hit single. This is Red Wine Supernova from Chapel Rone and her album, The Rise and Fall of the Midwest Princess. This album kind of came along at a point where a lot of the discussions around pop stars and pop music were that like streaming had made it so it would be impossible for us to get any new stars. Because streaming algorithms feed people, the music they've already played, it's gotten harder and harder for new artists to break through. But Chapel Rhone ended up having that giant pop star rise. This album came out in like September of 2023, kind of perfectly timed right

at the beginning of the window of Grammy eligibility, which was a very smart move. Yeah. Because she had about a six-month rise to, to mega stardom. And I'm so pleased and proud of the fact that a part of her rise was her performance at the tiny desk, you know, which helped kind of introduce her to the world as somebody who was not just somebody who had a bunch of bubble gum pop songs, but somebody who had visuals, somebody who had thought out her persona, like her persona in a kind of a 360-degree way. Yeah. And had these intense and immense vocal chops. And so for me, this was kind of my favorite story of music in 2023 and 2024, a pop star who wasn't afraid to lean

into some of the artier sides of a pop music persona. And still blow up. And still blow up. Yeah. It's actually gotten to the point where that's such a special thing now. It didn't always used to be that way, but it's such a special thing that I've noticed some people on the music team sort of using her name as a shorthand for any time they want an artist. to have a successful art. I want them to be chapel. Rown. Can they just, can we chapel rown them?

Yeah, so, you know, again, I feel like every time you play something like that, I end up having the complete opposite song to play. But when I think of 2023, here's a song about grief. I just can't give you anything that I think is better for me personally from that year than this. Oh, this is Benfolds? Yeah, Benfolds. This is a great song, and I do know you love this song. You've played this song for me before.

Are you the same, Christine? I knew from seventh grade. Oh, it's definitely you just with a new last name. Someone who laughed a lot is what I remember the most, but the face in your profile. Just maybe not so much anymore. I got the emails. These last two years every day.

And I just don't reply because I'm not really sure what to say. Christine from the South. So listeners at home, they can't see us. This is not a video podcast. Thank God. Thank God. But Robin, that entire song, The entire excerpt of the song that we played, Robin's head was buried in his hands, and I thought to myself, there is a 30 to 50% chance that Robin is currently weeping.

Much higher than that. I thought you were going to say 30 to 50% chance he's not going to get through this. Because this song does crush me. It's a great song. It's such an incredible song. The story that he unspools. You really need to listen to the whole thing. But it's just, I think it's so affecting to me because it speaks so much to why are we even here if we're not going to connect with each other? Why are we even here if we're not going to find joy in small ways? What are we even doing if we're not going to connect with our neighbors and our friends and share in this human experience together? And what happens to us when we don't do that and we withdraw and we become more and more isolated? I think it's a... Well, so you're saying that song spoke to you in 2023?

It continues to speak to me. You know, it's, yes, it's definitely a song for the times. I think it's a song that would resonate at any time, but maybe especially now, because it also does talk about how, when we withdraw and become isolated, the way it can kind of break our minds in a way and turn us against one another.

And the refrain that he keeps repeating through the song, is, you know, the world is really actually a pretty beautiful place. There's a break in the rain, a perfect time for a walk, the smell of white leaves, the warm smiles and hellos, these things exist in the real world you know. What a shame, Christine, this disease that makes strangers of friends, but if these days it's really us is an end. Maybe you should just take me off both of the O's lists

Because it's such a short and sad and beautiful If you ever see it that way I think the fact that that song really, that you really relate to that song You know, speaks to the fact that that's very much your worldview And I think that's why it's just never done it for me You're fine with the isolation. I'm kidding. I know you're kidding.

I know you're kidding. Beautiful song. So let's just take a quick break here. And when we come back, we can talk about some of the other songs we remember most from 2023. There were a ton of great records. Obviously, these are never definitive.

We're talking about a small handful of songs each time. But like that Japanese house put out a record in 2023 called In The End it always does that I just listened to again and again. Boy Genius, you know, had their giant breakthrough that year. Fenlily put out this beautiful record. But I don't want us to Wednesday, kind of broke in 2023, big, big NPR music

favorite, rightfully so. Luke Combs did a cover of fast car that I actually really deeply love. You got a fast car and I got a plan to get us out of here you've been working at the convenience store. Manish to say just a little bit of money

won't have to drive too far just across the border and into the city And you and I can both get jobs Find to see what it means to be living See my old man's got a problem You live in the bottle, that's the way it is Said his body's too old for working His body's too young to look like his

So mama went off and left in She wanted more from life than he could give I said somebody's got to take care of him So I quit school and that's what I deal You got a fast car Is it fast enough so it's fast enough so we could fly away Still gotta make a decision

Leave tonight I'll live and die this way Remember when we were driving Driving in your car Speed so fast I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your humpfell nights

Wrapped around my shoe And I I had a feeling that I belong I had a feeling I could be someone Be someone Be someone Be someone

That created a big Tracy Chapman renaissance and what could possibly be better. But honestly, I want to play this song. Also not what I thought you were going to play. I'm sorry, man, I don't know it. This is Blame Brett. Oh, you were telling me about this song. The beaches? Oh, yeah, you were telling me about it.

And it sounded so funny. And I kept, I meant to go back and discover it. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm only going to let you down. I'm probably gonna sleep around. Don't blame me, blame Brett. Blame my ex, blame my ex, blame my ex. Such a great record.

The album is called Blame My X. The song is called Blame Brett. I talked to a friend recently about how much I love this song and they were like, yeah, when you have an ex named Brett, this song hits just that much harder. So funny. Well, I can't believe that neither of us

have mentioned this one yet. All right. Bad idea, right? Yeah, Olivia Rodriguez. Oh, God, this song is so good from the album, Guts. We talked a little bit about Olivia Rodriguez earlier in this run as we were looking through the years. But this was the album for me that really were... Yeah, it represented something of a leveling up.

You know, she came out so fully formed, you know, great live performer. You know, she comes by it, honestly. You know, she comes from... She was a child star, you know, before she was a pop star. and, you know, seem to have just been trained from birth to be this really, really dynamic presence. But so much more of her personality comes through in this record and in that song. And you just get a sense like, man, she's still so, so young. She has, think about how many great records she has ahead of her.

Well, and this has already been now a couple of years since Scots came out. So maybe in the next year or so we'll get something new. I'm greedy. Give me more. But we'll go out on this. And until next time, Stephen, and it will be the last year that, that we're doing in this series. Thanks as always. Thank you, Robin.

And for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's All Songs Considered.