It’s not even December yet, but the big music streaming services are unleashing their end-of-year roundups and rankings.
Apple Music’s have dropped this afternoon, getting in ahead of fierce rival Spotify’s Wrapped promotion, whose launch is imminent.
Apple had already announced that Taylor Swift is Apple Music’s artist of the year for 2023. The company says 65 of her tracks reached its Global Daily Top 100 chart in the first 10 months of the year, and that she was the service’s most popular artist.
“All told, more Apple Music subscribers listened to Taylor Swift in 2023 than to any other artist in the world, and this set a new all-time record for the most listeners for any artist in a single year on Apple Music,” is how the company explained it.
However, Swift did not have the biggest track on Apple Music this year. That honour goes to country artist Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night’, which is the first country song since ‘Old Town Road’ in 2019 to top these rankings.
In its announcement, Apple noted that 11 country tracks are in its top 100 for 2023, up from just four last year. Wallen also had the most popular album on Apple Music this year with his ‘One Thing at a Time’ long-player.
It caps his comeback following a fall from grace in 2021 after footage of him using a racial slur was published, leading to his music being removed from TV rotation, Wallen being disqualified from prominent awards ceremonies, an apology video and rehab.
Other trends highlighted by Apple Music in its end-of-year charts are the popularity of Afrobeats, with Rema’s remix of ‘Calm Down’ featuring Selena Gomez being its 12th biggest track of the year. The song also topped Apple’s separate chart of most-Shazamed tracks.
Other noteworthy trends include two Japanese pop (J-Pop) tracks in the top 10 of Apple Music’s global songs chart, with one of them – Yoasobi’s ‘Idol’ – the most popular track on the service’s karaoke-style ‘Sing’ feature.
There are four Música Mexicana tracks in the top 100 overall, making 2023 the first year any tracks from the Mexican genre had made the rankings. The scene’s breakout star, Peso Pluma, had the highest entry (with Eslabon Armado) with 18th-placed ‘Ella Baila Sola’.
Apple Music added that there are 14 R&B tracks in its top 100 for 2023, up from 11 last year with three of them inside the top 10.
We mentioned Spotify Wrapped earlier, and it’s fair to say there are some competitive shenanigans afoot between the two companies as they compete for media coverage in the pre-Christmas period.
Apple Music’s equivalent, Replay, is a year-round feature showing users insights into their listening. However, it includes a Wrapped-style ‘year-end experience’ which is rolling out today, showing people their top songs, albums, artists, genres and more.
Apple says it will be spotlighting superfans this year, telling them if they are in the top 100 listeners of their favourite artist or genre. Listeners will also get a personal top 100 chart of the tracks they have been hammering over the past 10 months.
Today’s headlines and social buzz are Apple Music’s, then. As for Spotify, TikTok, YouTube and other platforms who like to make a festive splash… we’ll keep you posted on when their annual roundups are going live.
In the meantime, the top 20 tracks on Apple Music in 2023 were…
1. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night”
2. Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”3. SZA, “Kill Bill”4. Drake & 21 Savage, “Rich Flex”
5. SZA, “Snooze”
6. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”
7. YOASOBI, “IDOL”
8. Chris Brown, “Under the Influence”
9. Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”10. OFFICIAL HIGE DANDISM, “Subtitle”
11. Drake & 21 Savage, “Spin Bout U”
12. Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”
13. Lil Baby, “Freestyle”
14. Harry Styles, “As It Was”
15. Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer”
16. Sam Smith & Kim Petras, “Unholy”17. Future, “WAIT FOR U” (feat. Drake & Tems)
18. Eslabon Armado & Peso Pluma, “Ella Baila Sola”19. NewJeans, “Ditto”
20. Morgan Wallen, “You Proof”
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