It’s time to look back to 2023. After I shared my new format My Year in Travel with you the first time, the second post about 2023 is about music. Many people likely nowadays favorite the best song over the best album – but I am a bit more on the traditional side and go for the best songs first. Ten songs each, country music and other genres… Okay, I had to prolong one of the lists below, as I just could not decide which one to kick out. Enjoy!

 

My Favorite Non-Country Songs in 2023

This should be a ten song list. But I finally had twelve ones. And just could not decide which two ones to “kill”. Sorry for the dozen 🙂 This year, I especially ran into a huge range of great German lyrics songs, which gave me a tough time of selection.

 

12. Kakao by LINA

Kakao by German pop singer LINA did not even pop up as a single release before or of her March album release 24/1. I feel that the song is really excellent, coming with the struggle just desiring to be “normal”. Bad luck that the song did not get the attention I feel it deserved.

 

11. Dear Body by Bow Anderson

That’s also possible: while the leading song of my Songs of the Week as of 20th October 2023 did not make it into this list, I added Bow Anderson’s song, which was mentioned in the same posting. Great song by the Scottish pop artist.

 

10. I Don’t Like Alcohol by Fiddler’s Green

That’s a last minute entry. The song is released today – coming as part of the The Green Machine album which I pre-featured two days before I publish this Best Songs posting. I would name it the drinking song of the year 2023 in my point of view.

 

9. Straßenjungs by Ben Zucker

With Straßenjungs, there is another rather late entry into this list from Germany. Ben Zucker released his album Heute Nicht! on 8th December 2023. The song contains a couple of really convincing tracks. However, the song Straßenjungs, which deals with childhood memories, which create a bond for life, is simply excellent.

 

8. 10 von 10 by Julia Meladin

This song is about body shaming and on the all the pressure social media anonymity creates especially on young people. The song by the German pop artist Julia Meladin lead my 14th July Songs of the Week – and kept on being in my the whole year.

 

7. End Credits by Lordi

I would rate End Credits as the most remarkable song release by Lordi (… and there is the amazing Lordiversity collection as of 2021. Mr Lordi wrote his own requiem for the March 2023 album Screem Writers Guild. Outstanding one.

 

6. Freiheit! by Ticket To Happiness

The EP Aufbruch by the German folk rock band Ticket To Happiness has been released just ten days before Christmas. However, this single release has already been published in July 2023. While it did not leave such a strong mark while I wrote the corresponding Songs of the Week post, I felt how good this song in fact is while writing the EP review. Great work!

 

5. All Forevers Must End by Steve Lukather ft. Joseph Williams

Steve Lukather released the great album Bridges in June – this slow rock song is strongly reminding of the band Lukather is best known for, Toto. Great song.

 

4. Back to the Summer by King & Potter

I did feature Back to Summer in a June release of my Songs of the Week already. However, when the Austrians finally released their album Habits! in December, I still had this track in mind. Lovely, straight and fun pop recording.

 

3. Welcome To The Show by Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper’s late August 2023 album Road definitely has a few songs, which would be worth the mention in this post. However, I went for this uplifting party song Welcome To The Show. With Cooper on stage,this song is a great potential opener – and fun is amost guaranteed the whole evening.

 

2. Immortal by Atreyu

I don’t want to give you too many insights about my next days’ postings. But the EP The Moment You Find Your Flame is definitely one of the hot candidates which might make it to my list of best ones of the year. Hard to pick the right song. I feel that Immortal is simply the best one.

 

My Favorite Non-Country Song 2023:

Nerd by Sören Vogelsang

This time, I am going for a fun listen. Sören Vogelsang is originally from my birth town Bonn. In his 2023 album Optimismus Prime, he is having a couple of great listens. None song stayed in my mind as strongly as is musical confession, “I am a Nerd”. Congrats, amazing song.

 

My Favorite Song during 2023, which has been recorded in previous years

Husavik – My Home Town by Will Ferrell & My Marianne (in fact: Molly Sanden)

The The Story of Eurovision: Fire Saga movie on Netflix, one of my favorite places in Iceland, the town of Husavik or visiting the Eurovision Exhibition there. This song definitely accompanied me this year and also became my second-most listened song on Spotify in 2023. In fact, My Marianne is vocally replaced by Swedish Molly Sanden, who also gave an amazing performance at the 2021 Oscars with this song. Bad luck it did not get that award it deserves. Vera með þér, með þér, i Húsavík við Skjálfanda
i heimabærinn minn. (“To be with you, with you, in Húsavík at the  Skjálfanda
My hometown”).

 

My Favorite Country Songs in 2023

Even though other genres are more and more pushing for importance, country music is still my key genre. Enjoy my ten favorite songs of this genre (including sub-genres like country-pop) released in 2023.

 

10. What If by Sylvia Aimee

I am so proud of Sylvia Aimee, who is managing her career very well. Currently, she is working on cruise ships. In June 2023, though, she gave us her EP Identify. The EP has been a blast – and maybe you like this song by the Dutch artist as well. I definitely do.

 

9. Broadway Cowboy by TracieLynn

There have been a couple of female country artists, who could persuade me with powerful and energetic country songs this year. One of them is definitely the Virginia artist TracieLynn. Broadway Cowboy is the opener of her August 2023 EP release More Than a Bad Habit.

8. Redneck Rockstar by Royale Lynn

Royale Lynn is another female artist, who is doing country rock songs. She is even rather touching hard rock regions with her music. Redneck Rockstar has been an amazing listen, when the song has been released in March 2023.

 

7. Tom Petty Song by Whiskey South

Whiskey South are a country and rock band from Memphis in Texas. In June, they released this beauty about one of the biggest names in North American songwriting. Lovely track.

 

6. Tulsa by Elle King

Tulsa has been something like the country music wake up call for 2023. The energetic single has been the first big song of the year, released on 6th January 2023. King had the great album Come Get Your Wife later this year.

 

5. Ich glaub’ ich bin Country by Nik Wallner

Nik Wallner fans know that song from his live shows since years – but in fact, Ich glaub’ ich bin Country has been released with Wallner’s debut album Landkarte. Unfortunately, I absolutely missed to keep capacity free for the album review. This German modern country song is absolutely worth this mention, though.

 

4. Fires Don’t Start Themselves by Darius Rucker

I recently played around with the stats of the Country Music Playlists for 2023. Darius Rucker is one of the most intensely featured artists during the last year in here. I am s that his 2024 tour will be amazing. The October album release Carolyn’s Boy is definitely a good listen.

 

3. Tell Me Not To by Restless Road

Another band I am really looking forward to see live on stage in Germany is Restless Road. The band already come with some stage experience in my home country, but will be more in focus in and around the Country To Country shows in March 2024.

 

2. Cowboy Boots by Dierks Bentley feat. Ashley McBryde

Cowboy Boots by Dierks Bentley has been the last feature single of his early 2023 album release. For this song, he opted for nobody but Ashley McBryde to accompany him. Gravel & Gold comes with a couple of really fine recordings – but Cowboy Boots is my favorite.

 

My Favorite Country Song 2023:

Alcohallelujah by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real

I really love what the Nelsons are doing – and I especially like the music of Lukas Nelson and his band Promose of the Real. This year, they released another really good album, Sticks and Stones. The iconic Alochallelujah is the second track, just after the title song. Nelson and his band also put the song out as a single feature a few weeks before album release. I really love this track, which is my favorite country song of the year 2023.

 

Title picture: Alcohallelujah single cover by Lucas Nelson & POTR

 

All “classic” blog posts

No reviews – just debating and certain topics – these are my “traditional” blog posts in the categories Just blogging, Just blogging on music and Sports Blogging:

 

Flyctory.com Featured Artists

I grant special focus and support to the Flyctory.com Featured Artists. Here are all postings related to at least one of them: