GL.23.16: Ryan Joyce (House Music)
***
It’s a coronation. You didn’t come for the suspense. You came for the festivities. You came to see the thing you came to see.
After the madcap variety of Guest List Week 2022, 2023 was a triumph of consensus. We may have had our differences this year, but we had one thing in common.
Imagine all of this as an awards show. Imagine me standing at the podium, envelope in hand, trying to wring even a hint of drama out of the most foregone of conclusions. Get on with it already.
SONG OF THE YEAR
The rules are the same as last year: We judge this based solely on the number of lists on which a song appears. Since not everyone ranks their lists, and others rank only a part of their list, it would skew the importance of ranked lists if we tried to account for where on specific lists these songs appeared. So, one point per list. Simple. (Honorable Mentions count.) Also, we’re grouping all versions of a song together: this includes remixes, edits, alternate versions, and live versions.
Your Song of the Year, by a significant margin, is “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius.
In 2022 and 2021, Song of the Year was decided by one vote. In 2020 and 2019 it was a tie. This year, it seems impossible that the result could have gone any other way.
Here’s a list of every song that appeared on three or more lists.
Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien pose for pictures with their awards before returning to their seats.
Commercial break.
The Hold Steady accept a Lifetime Achievement Award (Twenty-two 100 Songs appearances!).
Commercial break.
Inexplicable live medley of Mountain Goats songs performed by artists who may have agreed to this without knowing who the Mountain Goats are.
Commercial break.
Sarah Tudzin accepts an esoteric production-related award.
Commercial break.
What is taking so long? Just give out the big one already.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Again, same rules as last year: We’re ranking artists based on Total List Mentions. If you had three songs by a particular artist on your list, they get three points for that. Simple. We’re including all mentions, including features.
Your Artist of the Year, again in a runaway, is boygenius.
2022 was a tie. 2021 was a tie. 2020 was the year Taylor Swift released two albums, so you can imagine how that went. 2019 was a tie. As a group, we love to split a vote. We love a toss-up. We love a too close to call. But we love boygenius even more.
Here is a list of every artist with five or more points.
And with that, the credits roll on 2023.
Stereogum recently ranked their 200 Most Anticipated Albums of 2024, and here’s your top ten:
10. Car Colors
9. Sky Ferreira
8. SZA
7. Ariana Grande
6. Wet Leg
5. Vampire Weekend
4. Waxahatchee
3. My Bloody Valentine
2. Frank Ocean
1. Joanna Newsom
If we get even half of those records, I’m confident it will be a pretty good year. (The first great song of 2024 is Waxahatchee’s “Right Back To It” with MJ Lenderman.) See you back here next December!
