PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minute“The 100 Best Songs of 2023” most commonly refers to Pitchfork’s year-end ranking, published December 4, 2023. Lana Del Rey’s “A&W” took the No. 1 position, followed by PinkPantheress and Ice Spice, Sufjan Stevens, Noname, Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, NewJeans, Wednesday, Troye Sivan, and Earl Sweatshirt.
The title is easy to misread: The FADER published its own list with nearly the same name, and Apple Music maintains a separate playlist called The 100 Best Songs of 2023. This article focuses specifically on Pitchfork’s ranked feature—not an objective sales chart, an official compilation, or Apple Music’s playlist.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Nevermind | $29.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
![Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits[2 LP]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/411qOkbEPUL._SL160_.jpg)
|
Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits[2 LP] | $27.89 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | $26.97 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
![Weezer (Blue Album) [LP]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Z6SZBWlWL._SL160_.jpg)
|
Weezer (Blue Album) [LP] | $25.98 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Greatest Hits | $17.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Pitchfork’s top 10 songs of 2023
| Rank | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lana Del Rey | “A&W” |
| 2 | PinkPantheress and Ice Spice | “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” |
| 3 | Sufjan Stevens | “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” |
| 4 | Noname | “Namesake” |
| 5 | Olivia Rodrigo | “get him back!” |
| 6 | SZA | “Kill Bill” |
| 7 | NewJeans | “Super Shy” |
| 8 | Wednesday | “Chosen to Deserve” |
| 9 | Troye Sivan | “Rush” |
| 10 | Earl Sweatshirt | “Making the Band (Danity Kane)” |
This is a critical ranking assembled by Pitchfork’s editorial staff and contributors. It should not be presented as a measurement of sales, radio play, streaming totals, or universal consensus.
Why Lana Del Rey’s “A&W” is No. 1
Pitchfork’s top choice is not simply a conventional pop single. “A&W” is a roughly seven-minute composition that changes shape as it unfolds. Lana Del Rey uses autobiographical detail, unstable perspective, dark humor, and a deliberately theatrical performance to explore lost youth, predation, addiction, toxic validation, and self-mythology.
#1 Best Overall
- Nirvana- Nevermind
The song’s importance to the ranking comes partly from that structural turn. It begins as an intimate, psychologically exposed piece and develops into something stranger and more rhythmically forceful. Rather than separating “serious” songwriting from pop spectacle, “A&W” makes the tension between them its subject.
The track appears on Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, which was issued in physical formats. Readers who want to own the album behind the No. 1 song can look for Lana Del Rey Ocean Blvd vinyl; availability and editions vary by retailer and territory.
The rest of Pitchfork’s top five
2. PinkPantheress and Ice Spice — “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2”
“Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” is the most immediately buoyant song in the top five: a compact collaboration built from a Jersey Club pulse, playful vocal exchanges, and video-game-like electronic details. Its title points toward an unfaithful romantic interest, but Pitchfork’s reading emphasizes the song’s larger social energy. The real pleasure is the friendship, chemistry, and collective enjoyment created by the collaboration.
3. Sufjan Stevens — “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”
Sufjan Stevens turns a blunt romantic question into something much broader. Spare guitar, trembling vocals, and a consoling chorus give the song an unusually direct emotional quality. The question is not only whether another person will offer love; it also touches spiritual meaning, vulnerability, and the fear that longing may never be answered.
4. Noname — “Namesake”
“Namesake” is a political self-interrogation over a funk-influenced beat. Noname addresses complicity, war, celebrity spectacle, capitalism, and the uncomfortable gap between artistic principles and participation in commercial culture. Its place near the top shows that Pitchfork’s list values difficult argument as much as hooks and immediate accessibility.
5. Olivia Rodrigo — “get him back!”
The title contains the song’s central contradiction. “Get him back” can mean revenge—getting even with an ex—or reconciliation, getting the person back. Olivia Rodrigo turns that ambiguity into a messy breakup monologue, shifting between exaggerated vocal personas, a fuzzy three-chord foundation, and quiet-loud dynamics.
Rank #2
- Records have been cleaned and new sleeved.
- 2 LP release.
- Made in Spain.
Its appeal is not that the narrator reaches a perfectly consistent conclusion. The song captures the unstable psychology of wanting to punish someone and wanting them to return at the same time. The album containing the track, GUTS, is available in physical formats; readers looking for the release can search for GUTS vinyl or GUTS CD.
Ranks 6 through 10
6. SZA — “Kill Bill”
SZA’s “Kill Bill” turns revenge fantasy into an irresistibly polished R&B-pop song. Its cultural footprint was enormous, but its inclusion also fits the list’s interest in songs that make emotional contradiction entertaining: woundedness, jealousy, humor, and menace coexist inside a highly memorable hook.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
7. NewJeans — “Super Shy”
“Super Shy” represents the sleek, internationally dominant K-pop current running through 2023. Its lightness is part of its craft: the song is concise, rhythmically nimble, and built around a chorus that feels almost weightless while remaining extremely sticky.
8. Wednesday — “Chosen to Deserve”
Wednesday’s “Chosen to Deserve” brings the ranking toward guitar music and the band’s combination of rough-edged indie rock, emotional directness, and noisy release. It provides a useful contrast with the highly engineered pop songs near it: the performance feels physical, imperfect, and deliberately unpolished.
9. Troye Sivan — “Rush”
“Rush” is a dance-floor record driven by physical confidence and communal momentum. Troye Sivan’s performance, the song’s propulsive production, and its open celebration of desire place it firmly within 2023’s revival of exuberant club-pop.
10. Earl Sweatshirt — “Making the Band (Danity Kane)”
Earl Sweatshirt’s entry is more inward and elliptical than the dance-oriented tracks around it. Its inclusion illustrates Pitchfork’s willingness to treat dense, unconventional rap writing as a central part of the year’s musical story rather than a specialist side category.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsA list that moves across scenes rather than staying in one genre
Pitchfork’s 100 positions are best understood as a map of simultaneous musical currents. The list moves from globally dominant pop hooks to local rap anthems, DIY electronics, lush studio production, regional Mexican music, Afrobeats crossovers, club music, and a 22-minute ambient-jazz work.
Rank #3
- Released: 2014-12-15...
- Format: Vinyl...
- Format: Vinyl...
- Genre: Rap...
- Best Sellers: Top Seller...
Its entries and tags span hip-hop, R&B, rock, electronic, experimental music, folk and country, K-pop, drum and bass, house, dancehall, cumbia, reggaeton, grime, jazz, and modern classical. That breadth matters because the ranking is not organized like a genre chart. It does not attempt to award an equal number of places to each style. Instead, it reflects what Pitchfork’s editors and contributors considered the most compelling songs across a fragmented musical year.
Examples from the middle and lower part of the ranking
The less familiar selections prevent the feature from becoming merely a list of the year’s biggest singles. Representative entries include:
- Mary Jane Dunphe — “Stage of Love,” No. 100
- Marina Herlop — “La Alhambra,” No. 99
- Peso Pluma, Gabito Ballesteros, and Junior H — “LADY GAGA,” No. 98
- MSPAINT featuring Militarie Gun — “Delete It,” No. 97
- Kiko el Crazy — “Pa Que Baile,” No. 89
- Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro — “VAMPIROS”
- Skrillex, Fred again.., and Flowdan — “Rumble”
- Aphex Twin — “Blackbox Life Recorder 21f”
- Mitski — “My Love Mine All Mine”
- 100 gecs — “Hollywood Baby”
These examples show why the ranking should not be reduced to its top five. Regional Mexican breakthroughs, Latin pop, experimental electronic music, alternative rock, and left-field pop all sit within the same editorial field. The lower placement of a song also should not be read as a quality score in the ordinary sense; a No. 89 entry may simply be serving a different artistic purpose from a No. 1 selection.
Recommended Free Tools
How to listen to the list
Pitchfork links selections from its feature to Spotify and Apple Music. Those links are the most direct way to hear the publication’s choices, but listeners should check that they are following the Pitchfork playlist or linked selections rather than a similarly titled third-party compilation.
Apple Music also maintains its own playlist called The 100 Best Songs of 2023. It is a separate in-house editorial product, not the Pitchfork ranking. Apple Music describes its playlist as limiting the selection to one track per artist, and it currently displays 99 songs. Pitchfork’s article is a 100-position ranking and can include more than one song by an artist.
Rank #4
- Supported by three singles `Buddy Holly', `Undone' and `Say It Ain't So' - this debut album brought Weezer mainstream success and eventually became certified triple-platinum in the United States
For clarity, use labels such as:
- Pitchfork’s 2023 ranking when referring to the article.
- Pitchfork’s list of the 100 best songs of 2023 when discussing the ranked feature.
- Apple Music’s 2023 playlist when referring to Apple’s separate selection.
- The FADER’s 2023 list when referring to that publication’s separate ranking.
Was December 2022 music eligible?
Yes—under Pitchfork’s stated eligibility rule, songs released in December 2022 could qualify if they arrived after Pitchfork’s Best of 2022 list. “Of 2023” therefore describes the publication’s editorial year rather than applying a rigid January 1 through December 31 release-date filter.
This is a useful distinction when comparing year-end lists. Different publications set different cutoffs, and a song’s placement may depend on whether it was considered for an earlier year-end package.
Can you buy a physical copy of the 100-song list?
No single physical product represents Pitchfork’s article. It is an editorial ranking, not a book, boxed set, licensed compilation, soundtrack, or officially issued vinyl collection. There is no exact-title CD or record that contains all 100 selections.
Physical media still makes sense if the goal is to own albums containing the best-known entries. For example, “A&W” appears on Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, while “get him back!” appears on Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS. These are album recommendations adjacent to the article—not a physical version of Pitchfork’s list.
For the other 98 selections, format availability differs widely. Some songs appear on albums with standard CD or vinyl editions; others are singles, collaborations, digital releases, or parts of catalogs where pressing information and stock change over time. A specialist record retailer, an authorized label store, or a catalog marketplace can be more useful than searching for one nonexistent “100 Best Songs of 2023” box set.
Best Value
- Format: Vinyl...
- Genre: Rock...
- Released: 2018-05-04...
- Format: Vinyl...
- Released: 2018-05-04...
How to interpret the ranking
The fairest conclusion is that Pitchfork’s list documents a musical landscape rather than settling an argument. Its top positions reward songs that combine strong identity with formal or emotional ambition: Lana Del Rey’s dramatic transformation, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s collaborative brightness, Sufjan Stevens’ direct vulnerability, Noname’s political self-critique, and Rodrigo’s deliberately unresolved breakup logic.
At the same time, the complete feature makes room for songs that work through club rhythm, regional traditions, experimental texture, guitar noise, rap density, and long-form atmosphere. That combination is the list’s real subject. It presents 2023 as a year in which mainstream pop, internet-shaped collaborations, international scenes, and adventurous underground music existed alongside one another rather than following a single dominant sound.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the definitive list of the 100 best songs of 2023?
No. This article refers to Pitchfork’s December 4, 2023 ranking. The FADER published a separate list, and Apple Music created a separate playlist with a similar title. “Best” is an editorial judgment, not an objective measurement.
What song did Pitchfork name the best of 2023?
Pitchfork ranked Lana Del Rey’s “A&W” at No. 1.
How is Pitchfork’s ranking different from Apple Music’s playlist?
Pitchfork published a 100-position ranking that can include multiple songs by one artist. Apple Music’s separately titled playlist uses a one-track-per-artist rule and currently displays 99 songs.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Can I buy the complete Pitchfork list on vinyl or CD?
No. There is no single official physical compilation of the article’s 100 selections. You can instead buy individual albums containing selected tracks, such as Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd or Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Pitchfork’s 100 Best Songs of 2023 is a critical snapshot of the year, led by Lana Del Rey’s “A&W,” not a universal chart or a physical compilation. Its value lies in the range of music it puts into conversation—from major pop and K-pop singles to political rap, regional Mexican music, club tracks, experimental electronics, and ambient jazz.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
