Our Favorite Albums of 2023On its surface, 2023 was a big year for already-massive pop stars. Artists like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé both traversed the globe with elaborate stage shows, capturing them on camera and releasing highly lauded concert films for fans unable to shell out hundreds — or in some cases, thousands — of dollars to attend in person. (Maybe 2024 will be the year someone finally holds Ticketmaster responsible for jacking up ticket prices, huh?) Olivia Rodrigo made her highly anticipated return, and Billie Eilish made us all weep with “What Was I Made For?”, her contribution to the Barbie movie. In some ways, it’s a bit of a frustrating Tale of Two Cities situation: the rich get richer, while more and more independent artists find themselves unable to afford to tour. It’s harder than ever to be a working musician, and one can only hope that the playing field levels out a bit in the coming year. That said, 2023 still saw plenty of stellar album releases from artists of all varieties, whether they were favorites like Wilco and The National or relative newcomers like Laufey. With that in mind, we’re rounding up our favorite records of the past 365 days. As always, we’re not interesting in comparing apples to oranges or squabbling over which is the “best.” These are personal picks, the albums that stuck with us the most on this particular trip around the sun. | 