Musically speaking, 2023 was characterised by the comeback of well-known female pop performers, chart-topping musical diversity, and a worldwide music climate that gave rise to influential genres.
In the realm of podcasting, producers are reacting promptly to prevailing trends, while listeners are utilising podcasts as a means of participating in broader cultural dialogues.
As usual, these trends are mirrored in our 2023 Spotify Wrapped campaign, as our top lists demonstrate how over 574 million listeners globally engaged with music this year.
Continue reading to find out more about the best musicians, tracks, compilations, and podcasts of 2023, and then check out the Wrapped user experience, which honours your own listening year.
The Top Songs, Artists, Podcasts, and Listening Trends of 2023 Revealed
With more than 26.1 billion global streams since January 1, Taylor Swift is the artist of the year, and fans everywhere will be ecstatic to see her in the top spot. She has set records with her world tours, reimagined rereleases, and vibrant friendship bracelets.
Spotify unveiled 21 jigsaw pieces with Taylor Swift-themed Easter eggs on advertisements from Sao Paulo to Jakarta in the 48 hours before this historic moment. The culmination of these hints was a highlight video with references to her universe, including her iconic red lips and cats.
When you play one of her songs on Spotify, you may see the progress bar alter and sparkle to match the colour of the song’s era for a limited time.
The top global songs of 2023
Miley Cyrus’s stunning song “Flowers,” which broke records when it was released and continued to gain incredible traction over the summer, is currently the most streamed song of the year with over 1.6 billion plays worldwide. Harry Styles’ “As It Was” and SZA’s “Kill Bill” are ranked second and third, respectively.
Jung Kook’s song “Seven (feat. Latto)” and Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s song “Ella Baila Sola” are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
The top global albums of 2023
Given that multiple of the top five albums of this year were released before 2023, listeners turned to the past while deciding which albums to play. With over 4.5 billion plays worldwide, Bad Bunny’s album Un Verano Sin Ti became the most streamed album of the year for the second consecutive year, ahead of Taylor Swift’s Midnights. Third place goes to SZA with SOS. Starboy by The Weeknd and MAANA SERÁ BONITO by KAROL G are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
The top global podcasts of 2023
According to the most recent Edison Research data, Spotify is the most popular audio podcast platform in many major global countries and the top podcast publisher in the United States. The Joe Rogan Experience wins the title of best podcast of the year worldwide for the fourth consecutive year.
Call Her Daddy comes in second for the second year, followed in third by Huberman Lab, anything goes with Emma Chamberlain, and On Purpose with Jay Shetty. Nine of the top 25 podcasts in the United States and eight of the top 25 podcasts worldwide are Spotify-owned and licenced podcasts.
These podcasts, along with a tonne more, highlighted major events in pop culture throughout the year, encompassing everything from technology to music to films.
There was no shortage of female- and woman-driven media in the spring and summer. The popularity of the Barbie movie, Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, and Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour brought forth cultural discussions regarding economics and entertainment in a variety of podcast genres.
The advancement of artificial intelligence throughout the year fascinated, irritated, and occasionally alarmed the world. A critical and nuanced perspective on the emerging tech trend was provided via podcasts.
View the complete year’s trends in podcasts here.
The world events that influenced our year
These artists, songs, albums, and podcasts with the highest streaming counts weren’t the only benchmarks for 2023. Trends in pop culture, such as song spikes and themed playlists, also encourage listening.
This year’s Eurovision was very influential, as both the winning song “Tattoo” by Loreen and the runner-up song “Cha Cha Cha” by Käärijä made it into the top 10 worldwide daily charts the day following the final.
Gen Z is still embracing the genreless/genre-hybrid movement, refusing to fit neatly into one genre and instead blending sounds together. Additionally, they embrace their moods, searching for music and playlists that best capture the state of mind they’re in.
There was also a notable upsurge in Colombian interest in Mexican music this year. With an 85% growth in Mexican music consumption over the course of the year, Colombia ranked as the fifth-largest consumer of the genre in 2023.
Indian classical instrumental music is becoming more and more popular on Spotify, both domestically and internationally. India’s use of Spotify for classical music has increased by about 500% in the past 24 months. More than half of Spotify users who listen to Indian classical music are less than 25 years old.
One of the Spotify genres with the quickest growth is afrobeats, which has increased by 550% since 2017 as new listeners from Mexico and India join the scene. The Afrobeats artist-led song “Calm Down” by Rema became the first to reach one billion Spotify plays in 2023.
With well-known performers like Jay Chou, JJ Lin, and Eason Chan, mandopop has amassed over 500 million monthly streams worldwide—a nearly 45% rise in only the last year.
