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2023 100 top tracks pivot

From Bedroom Beats to Orchestral Epics

In 2022, you lived in lo-fi beats (10.7%) and jazz-funk grooves. In 2023, you abandoned that for orchestral spectacle: soundtrack surges to 17.2%, medieval enters at 9.9%, and your top artist is Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us). Dub resurfaces from rank 30, trip-hop re-enters, and the jazz trinity nearly vanishes. This is a hard turn from intimacy to epic narrative. Film composers dominate—Jeremy Soule, Thomas Newman—alongside the unexpected medieval discovery. 2023 stands singular: the year you chose epics over grooves.

Open “Your Top Songs 2023”
Top tracks
100
your top songs 2023
Distinct genres
82
across the list
Sound of the year
soundtrack
most-weighted genre
Most-played artist
The Kiffness
by track count
New genres
6
vs 2022
Top genres · what the year sounded like
soundtrack17.2%
Orchestral film scores and video game compositions now dominate what was once intimate listening. 17.2% of your year.
medieval9.9%
A brand-new discovery commanding 9.9%—epic fantasy soundscapes and historical orchestration emerge as primary listen.
dub5%
Resurges from rank 30 to rank 3: electronic decay and spatial experiment find renewed appeal amid the orchestral turn.
soul4.4%
Fades from 5.2% to 4.4%, yet remains as warm refuge amid the year's shift toward cinematic scale.
funk3.4%
Drops from 7.7% to 3.4%: grooves recede as orchestration and narrative structure dominate the soundscape.
jazz3.3%
indie soul3.3%
jazz rap2.2%
trip-hop2%
exotica2%
nu jazz2%
neo-psychedelic1.7%
Most-played artists · by tracks in the list
The Kiffness7 tracks
Seven tracks of cinematic orchestration and vocal mashup energy: the internet's meme account also composes.
Gustavo Santaolalla6 tracks
Oscar-winning composer of The Last of Us and Brokeback Mountain: six tracks of melancholic, emotive film scoring.
Jeremy Soule4 tracks
Skyrim's and Oblivion's soundtrack architect delivers four tracks of epic fantasy orchestration.
Juan Luqui4 tracks
Four tracks of medieval and cinematic narrative, anchoring the year's orchestral turn.
Two Worlds II4 tracks
David Fenn3 tracks
Thomas Newman3 tracks
Air2 tracks
David Arkenstone2 tracks
Emapea2 tracks
What changed · vs 2022
New
soundtrackmedievaldubindie soultrip-hopexotica
Climbing
dub 30→3trip-hop 23→9jazz 10→6
Faded
lo-fi beatsjazz funkjazz beatsclassic soultrip hopnorthern soul

Lo-fi beats, jazz funk, jazz beats vanish. Soundtrack (17.2%) and medieval (9.9%) dominate. Dub resurges from rank 30. Jazz funk, beats, rap nearly disappear. A hard pivot from grooves to epics.

The arc · 2014 → 2025
2014neoclassical·2015soundtrack·2016ambient·2017downtempo·2018trip hop·2019trip-hop·2020nu jazz·2021nu jazz·2022lo-fi beats·2023soundtrack·2024soundtrack·2025retro soul

After eight years of electronic intimacy (neoclassical/ambient, downtempo/trip-hop, nu-jazz/lo-fi), 2023 returns to orchestral narrative—the first time since 2015 that soundtrack dominates—fused now with the medieval discovery.

All years
2025 · retro soul2024 · soundtrack2023 · soundtrack2022 · lo-fi beats2021 · nu jazz2020 · nu jazz2019 · trip-hop2018 · trip hop2017 · downtempo2016 · ambient2015 · soundtrack2014 · neoclassical