It’s that time of the year when music critics start dropping their best-of lists and I realize how little I pay attention to new music outside of my own little bubble.

Looking back at the hundreds of albums released so far in 2023, the only ones with which I spent any amount of time were by these artists: Belle & Sebastian, boygenius, Lana Del Rey, Bob Dylan, Ben Folds, Jason Isbell, Olivia Rodrigo, The Rolling Stones, and Paul Simon. That’s not even enough for a top ten.

Even inside my bubble, I missed out on some new releases this year, including work by Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, Jenny Lewis, Janelle Monae, Spoon, and Carly Rae Jepsen. And I was surprised to learn about new releases by stalwarts Joe Jackson and Peter Gabriel (who put out his first new album in 12 years).

I’m assigning myself the task of listening to and writing about those albums over the next couple of months, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I thought I’d catch up on some of the most critically-acclaimed songs of 2023 by digging into the year-end lists published by major outlets. Over the next two weeks I’ll cover the top songs of the year according to online magazine Pitchfork.

Pitchfork’s #1 song of 2023 is Lana Del Rey’s ‘A&W,’ which I featured back in March. This is a standout track on my favorite album of the year, so no argument from me here.

At #2 is another song I’ve featured, ‘Boy’s a liar Pt. 2‘ by PinkPantheress and Ice Spice. This TikTok sensation was one of several songs that heralded the arrival of Ice Spice, an exciting new talent.

Pitchfork’s #3 song of 2023 is Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Will Anybody Ever Love Me?,’ the second single from his album Javelin. Stevens is a critical darling who has never really clicked for me. I’ve enjoyed some of his songs, but there’s a sameness to his work that keeps me from exploring it further.

That said, this is a nice enough song, especially when the backing vocals kick in and take things up a notch.