For the past seven years, Variety has celebrated the best songs of the year and the hitmakers behind them with a special issue of the magazine, an accompanying online launch and a celebration in Los Angeles. We’ll be covering all of this over the coming week – including big articles on our Hitmaker of the Year, SZA; Group of the Year, Boygenius; Producer of the Year, Metro Boomin; Storyteller of the Year, Olivia Rodrigo and of course articles on the 25 songs – starting with the chart below.
Like success, the definition is usually in the eye of the beholder. But in the age of streaming and “consumption” and “video creation” and everything else in the music world that adds up to an old-fashioned “sale”, a hit is an elusive quantity. How do you count the number of hearts that have been melted by SZA’s beautiful voice and melodies? The fists pumped in the air at Morgan Wallen’s anthems? The abuelos who perked up to the familiar, centuries-old strains of Eslabon Armado’s revamped Musica Mexicana?
Like success, a hit has many parents. So, in another well-intentioned but deeply imperfect attempt to identify those parents as fairly and squarely as time and sanity will allow, we present Variety’s seventh annual Hitmakers issue, awards and event.
As we celebrate the biggest songs of 2023 and the hitmakers and hitbreakers behind them, one thing is certain: Everyone here is a winner.
