Well, it’s that time of the year again. I’ve been putting together a list of my favorite albums of the year since at least 2005, and 2023 was one of the most jam-packed I can remember. Not only did I listen to more music than ever before, but I found the quality of new releases week-to-week to be engaging and exciting. Discovering new gems and being more than impressed with the output from old favorites.

You can subscribe to my newsletter if you’re interested in a weekly rundown of the music and other entertainment I consume, and the staff compiled best of 2023 list can be found here.

2023 was absolutely S-T-A-C-K-E-D from top to bottom with some incredible music from so many talented artists. Below is a collection of my favorite albums (which include several EPs, for the first time on my year-end list, because I adored them so much), a separate call out for EPs, a playlist of my favorite songs, the best concerts I attended, my favorite books I read during the year, as well as my favorite interviews I conducted. Also, be sure to check out my favorite movies and TV shows that kept my attention in 2023. I wish all of you a very happy New Year, and I’m thrilled to spend another year with everyone on this site and in the forums.

Sometimes, the things you love leave you. Sometimes, those things come back.

Musically, 2023 for me was a year defined by the things I got back. Six of the 30 albums listed below were made by artists or bands I thought would never release music again. All six were artists who played key roles in extremely formative moments of my life; then they all went dormant for extended periods of time. Three of the six had been out of action for a decade or longer; one’s been gone for 23 years. Getting all six back – plus a few other long-awaited returns not represented on this list – felt like a little gift from the music gods, and made 2023 feel so special. There’s a Dawes song I love that goes, “May all your favorite bands stay together.” 2023’s blessing, for me, was more like “May all your favorite bands get back together.”

2023 was also the year that I wandered back out into the live music world, after being extremely hesitant about doing so in 2021 and 2022. While that post-pandemic return to normal didn’t come without its costs – I definitely contracted COVID-19 at a Taylor Swift concert – it felt so wonderful and so life affirming to be a part of a deafeningly-loud audience again. Getting that sensation back in 2023 – and having a couple of my very favorite concert experiences ever along the way – was a gift of its own.

So, here’s to getting things back, whether that’s the bands you love or the kinds of communal live music experiences you weren’t sure you’d ever have again. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the past five years, it’s to never, ever take anything for granted, and I tried to instill that spirit into the making of this list. To quote yet another Dawes lyric, “Most people don’t talk enough about how lucky they are.” Most people also don’t talk enough about why they love the music they love, so here’s 30 albums from 2023 that I love – and more importantly, the “why.”

Man, what a year. It was dominated by Taylor Swift and I wrote one of my favorite pieces about attending two stops of The Eras Tour. I attended Furnace Fest for the third year in a row, but didn’t write about it this time. It’s been a tough year with a lot of loss. But music has really helped me through. It’s been the year of the EP, with some absolute juggernauts represented below including as my AOTY. Gonna share some of my favorite songs of the year interspersed with their albums. Definitely check them out if you haven’t. Happy New Year!

I’ve been putting together a list of my favorite albums since at least 2005. And here we are at the end of another year, so I suppose it’s time to once again figure out what albums I should decide are those that best defined my last twelve months. I listened to more music in 2022 than any year I can remember (let alone that I’ve tracked), and trying to distill it all down is harder than ever. But, we might as well try.

You can subscribe to my newsletter if you’re interested in a weekly rundown of the music and other entertainment I consume, and the staff compiled best of 2022 list can be found here.

This past year brought a ton of exciting music styles and a plethora of great releases from so many talented artists. I found myself extremely motivated to continue to write, and thus my list is hyperlinked to a lot of my past work from 2022. I hope you find something new that you’ll enjoy, in not only my list, but in also all of the other talented contributors’ lists. I wish everyone a very happy New Year, and I can’t wait to start talking about our Most Anticipated Albums list in a few more weeks!

As the years go on, I find myself interested by how differently I’m using music from one year to the next. In high school, music was purely an emotional soundtrack to all the upheaval that time of your life brings. In college, it was the soundtrack to the thousands and thousands of miles I drove to keep a long distance relationship alive. In the years immediately following college, it was background music as I found my way as a freelance writer. And then later, as I picked up songwriting, I studied the music I loved almost academically, trying to figure out what made it work from lyrical, musical, and production standpoints.

The last few years have brought new utilities for music in my life. In 2020, music was a crutch, something I relied on to get me through hard times. In 2021, it felt like so much of the music I loved was about communicating and amplifying the euphoria of being able to get back to some semblance of a normal life. This year, music was jet fuel. I spent 358 hours running this year and covered 3,131.3 miles, first in preparation for my first marathon, then for a variety of other races and goals. Music was a companion across most of those miles, pushing me forward and giving me the inspiration and the confidence to push harder — to drop the pace another 30 seconds per mile, or to keep going on those 20-mile days when my legs were burning and even my brain felt tired.

I think I’ll always have a special connection to these albums for how they accompanied me on that brand-new journey. There will be other marathons and many more miles to run, but 2022 will always be the year that I pushed myself to do something that even 28-year-old me never would have thought I could do, and the music on this list will always remind me fondly of pushing those limits and discovering that no human being is limited. Here’s to pushing a few more limits in 2023.

I once again find myself writing a best of the year list. Just like I have done so many times before. But this year is interesting because 2021 signaled a music renaissance of sorts in my life. I’ve always listened to a lot of music, but about mid-way through the year, I found a fire lit inside of me that re-sparked the passion. I started seeking out new music like I hadn’t in years; I started returning to old favorites and keeping them on repeat; I revisited albums and bands that never clicked for me to see if I had missed something. And now I am faced with the impossible task of trying to put all of that in a tidy little list. I’ve done my best and, like usual, included my entertainment rankings as well.

You can subscribe to my newsletter if you’re interested in a weekly rundown of the music and other entertainment I consume, and the staff compiled best of 2021 list can be found here.

This year was overwhelming in a lot of ways, right? Overwhelming with the possibility of another full year of dealing with a never-ending pandemic, and the overwhelming amount of content (in all mediums) that came out this year that helped us get through another crazy year. The music was fantastic, the TV shows that were being released were equally thrilling on various streaming platforms (as the networks quickly caught on to everyone “cutting the cord” of cable), the movies coming out were being simultaneously released at home as they were hitting theaters while they re-captured our imaginations, as well as several great books were released rekindling my love for the glory days of our scene. This year really had a lot of everything to it, and since this year was so unique, I expanded my year-end blog this year to cover a lot of those mediums that I don’t usually have enough time to talk about (besides a quick plug in the Chorus.FM forums). 

On top of my favorite 30 albums from this year, I’ve also dedicated key sections of this blog to an “honorable mention” category, my Top 10 EPs, my Top 10 Interviews I conducted, as well as my Top 5 Books, TV Shows, and Movies I really enjoyed during this year. Thanks again for all of the kind words you have shared about my writing, and I hope I have helped you discover new bands, and/or revisit records from a past life, as it makes contributing to this site such a labor of love. I wish everyone a very Happy New Year as we look ahead to more great content ahead.

unfortunately 2021 felt a lot like 2020, huh? we’re fighting another wave of covid as I type this, our government is still putzing around, 40% of the country refuses to listen to science, etc. so that’s a major bummer but thankfully I’m vaxxed and boosted and if you are too, thank you. for me personally, the past 12 months were a whirlwind. my wife and I bought our first house this fall and a month ago we welcomed our first child into the hell world, a beautiful baby boy. so I can’t be anything but thankful for that. hopefully 2022 brings better things for all of us. anyways, below are the albums and EPs I liked the most – thanks for reading as always.