Just as Apple Music’s Spotify Wrapped rival, Replay, has finally launched for 2023, Apple has also announced the most popular songs of the year to go with it. Surprisingly, Taylor Swift has not topped the list and that spot is filled by Morgan Wallen, just two years removed from an incident that saw his music temporarily removed from the service.
The top ten streamed songs in 2023 were:
- Last Night – Morgan Wallen
- Flowers – Miley Cyrus
- Kill Bill – SZA
- Rich Flex – Drake, 21 Savage
- Snooze – SZA
- Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift
- Idol – YOASOBI
- Under The Influence – Chris Brown
- Creepin’ – Metro Boomin, The Weekend, 21 Savage
- Subtitle – Official Hige Dandism
Songs like Flowers, Kill Bill, Anti-Hero, and Under the Influence all had popular TikTok sounds this year, possibly contributing to their popularity.
A controversial winner?
In February 2021, TMZ showed a video of the country music star using racial profanities while with friends after a night out drinking. He has since apologized for this incident and donated $300,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition. Just months before this incident, he was removed from an SNL appearance for partying during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. He was invited back on SNL at a later date, where he joked about the episode.
Apple Music and Spotify both removed Wallen’s music from their services in 2021 due to his use of the slur but returned it shortly after his apology, in which he said he was “embarrassed and sorry.”
Despite only nabbing the number 6 spot, Taylor Swift won Artist of the Year for both Apple Music and Spotify. To celebrate her Spotify win, she put out “Losing Me (From the Vault)” for fans to listen to right now.
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