The Pop Corporation

A great song doesn’t necessarily appear on a great album. A great song might not be on any album at all. So with that, we’re rounding up our favourite songs of the year and there’s a variety of ways you can consume these.

If you don’t like turning the volume up on your phone under any circumstance, then we’ll write some words just for you. For those who need things in your ears, you’ll get a radio show and a more comprehensive Spotify playlist which is very long and varied and fun.

Of course, you might be tempted to shout “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T INCLUDE [insert song here]!“, but we’d like to point out that you haven’t told us about your favourite songs, and you may have even been gatekeeping them for this exact moment now. It doesn’t make you look cool. Quite the reverse. Also, you are more than welcome to make your own playlists and shout from the rooftops about them. No-one likes a drag, and bands need you to crow about their music and if you’re not doing that, you’re missing out on half the fun.

There’s also a couple of non-song things in there. You’ll spot them. You’re smart enough to see what’s going on. If you want a radio show, click below. You don’t need a tracklist, because in the show, you’re told what the songs are. No, you can’t pre-vet it.

Let’s round the year up for one last time, eh?

BEST OF 2023 RADIO SHOW

LIST OF OUR FAVES OF 2023

Song of 2023: Dina Ogon: ‘Mormor’ – we’ve waxed lyrical about this band countless times in countless places. They’re our band of the year and this is our favourite song by them. What more is left to say, other than reiterate that they’re absolutely perfect and we can’t wait to hear more music from them and hope they get to do a decently sized UK tour.

Best Pop Song 2023: Kylie’s ‘Padam Padam’ and Miley’s ‘Flowers’ have been huge hitters this year, but for us we have to give it to Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne and her fabulous UKG banger ‘Don’t Say Love’. Infectious, bouncy, and easily one of the best solo singles released by someone breaking out from a group in years. We love it.

Best Dance Track 2023: Sofia Kourtesis’ ‘Si Te Portas Bonito’ just pipped DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, Yune Pinku, Gayance, Afriqua and more with a sublime and stylish house number.

Best Remix 2023: This was a tough choice between Rochelle Jordan teaming up with Keys N Krates on ‘What You Done’ and our eventual winner, the Frost Children remix of Fever Ray’s ‘Even It Out’. Why? Big, massive, nasty wubs and growls. It’s a ferocious piece of dancefloor dynamite.

Best Psychedelic Track 2023: There was a lot of good psychedelic music in 2023, but the one we get jizzing about was Sao Paulo’s Bike, and their fantastic fuzz monster, ‘O Torto Santo’. The whole album – ‘Arte Brut’ – is a gem, top to bottom, and you should absolutely get on it.

Best Hip Hop Track 2023 Cakes Da Killa’s ‘Cakewalk’ stole our hearts and is a firebrand, cocky, tremendous piece of music that we can’t stop listening to. We really liked ‘Transactions’ by Gabe Nandez and Noname’s LP, but this is the one that captured out attention the most, alongside the Paris Texas LP.

Best R&B Track 2023: It came late in the year, but for a throwback jam that sounds great in the earphones and will sound mega in a DJ set, Essosa’s ‘Tell Nobody’ is a magic bit of music. Old heads will love it, younger listeners too. It’s got soul and doesn’t sound like it’s swimming in prescription drugs.

Most Violently Disturbing Track 2023: Anyone who heard Lankum’s ‘Go Dig My Grave’ this year came away from it changed as a person. It’s a fully harrowing experience, and all the better for it. Scott Walker would have loved it.

Best Ultra Specific Music Podcast 2023: The guys behind the Yacht Rock show and podcast – the lads who literally invented the term – have an insanely funny new podcast called The Billion Dollar Record Club where the premise is getting cheap LPs and talking about them, allowing you to buy them for a couple of bucks. As they increased the value of yacht LPs, they’re giving you the ‘opportunity’ to get in on cheap LPs before they are worth ‘billions’. The way they talk about the records will have you laughing literally out loud on the bus to work or in the street. It’s perfection. Do not miss out on it (and yes, we’ve bought some of the LPs they’ve covered, so we’re going to be billionaires before the end of 2024).

Best Song That Makes Us Wish We Were Dancing On A Beach On A Sunny Afternoon On Holiday 2023: Did anyone listen to Jim’s ‘Still River Flow’ this year and not immediately wish they were dancing on the sand somewhere really nice, having something euphoric to dab your finger in? Surely not.

Best Music Book of 2023: Michael Cragg’s ‘Reach For The Stars’ is an potted history of UK pop music’s last hurray before it all got super slick. Tales of Steps, Sugababes’ revolving door, Atomic Kitten, Spice Girls, Louis Walsh being a dick, it’s bursting with joy on every page and funny, smart and super cute. No music book got close to it this year. Buy yourself a copy for Xmas.

Best Nu Age Track That Is Kinda Balearic But Isn’t Really 2023: Lena C’s been making ace music and doing killer DJ sets for a bit now, so hearing her track ‘Breeze’ was so great, because we want her to be great, and she made a great thing.

Best Jazz Track 2023: Walt Weiskopf’s ‘The Blues You Played Last Summer’ was a peach of a jazz track, but Shutaro Matsui’s ‘Hypnosis’ from ‘Steps of the Blue’ LP made our hair stand on end. A Japanese trumpeter with an insanely talented band, the track is loose jam and then suddenly, it makes you go ‘oooooooooop!‘ when it kicks into gear. Tremendously exciting stuff. Hard bop. Get on it.

Best Synthpop 2023: Jenn Champion’s ‘Good News Bad News (We’re All Gonna Die)’ just loses out this year to the magic ‘Time Keeps Slipping’ from Samantha Urbani. Both titles are very indicative of the time we live in, but both are bubbly and fun too, so add them to your playlists.

Best Pre-loader Having A Bev Before Going Out Track 2023: There was a lot of competition for this, but we’ve gone for Souleance and Kit Sebastian teaming up on ‘Out of Touch’. It just sounds like a great record collection is behind it and it’s good enough for a night out all by itself, but it’s kinda laid back too, so you can have a bottle of rosé with it before jumping in the taxi.

Best Comeback From The Dead 2023: It’s not The Beatles with ‘Now and Then’. It’s not the Stones teaming up with Lady GaGa. It’s Steely Dan and the lazarus like reviving of ‘The Second Arrangement’. Assumed long lost as the master tape was accidentally recorded over in the ‘Gaucho’ sessions, it was found and cleaned up and shared on YouTube. No official release as yet, but please, for the love of god, get it out Fagen and take our money.

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST OF THEPOPCORPS FAVE SONGS OF 2023