Though The Bias List is first and foremost a K-pop review blog, each month I spotlight a handful of “global pop” tracks that have been on my playlist. This culminates in a countdown of my favorite forty tracks of 2023.
This year, I’m doing things a little differently. Rather than focus solely on singles, I’ve decided to expand eligibility to any song released within the year. Because of this, I’ve also decided to limit each artist to a maximum of three songs on the countdown. Otherwise, a few albums would certainly dominate.
Read on for the the second half of this year’s countdown: songs number twenty to one!
20. Alok & Ava Max – Car Keys (Ayla)
A trance-powered workout that catches both artists at their catchy best.
19. Jake Shears – Devil Came Down the Dance Floor (ft. Amber Martin)
A disco throwdown of the highest order. All hail Amber Martin on that mighty second verse!
18. Dua Lipa – Dance The Night
Probably the biggest grower of the year, and another ironclad hit for Dua.
17. Sigala – Feels This Good (ft. Mae Muller, Caity Baser & Stefflon Don)
Life-affirming dance music is Sigala’s schtick, and this effusive chorus certainly gets the job done.
16. Slayyyter – Miss Belladonna
Gaga-esque theatricality meets a generous supply of power notes in this ravishing pop track.
15. Troye Sivan – Got Me Started
This is how you do subdued pop music. Find a sticky groove and luxuriate in it.
14. Kylie Minogue – Things We Do For Love
Power dance pop honed to perfection by an icon of the genre. It drips with singalong melody.
13. Tyla – Been Thinking
The year’s most addictive groove, and one that only grows more entrancing as we reach the breathless climax.
12. Kylie Minogue – Hold On To Now
The latest in a line of euphoric, emotional pop highlights, Hold On To Now is Kylie in peak form.
11. Darin – Satellit
Punchy and to the point, with a great vocal and chugging tempo.
10. Theoz – Mer Av Dig
This is just a ball of bounding sunshine. It’s an instant mood lifter, and one of the catchiest tracks all year.
9. The Scarlet Opera – I’ve Been Waiting For You
I love nothing more than an dynamite blast of dramatic pomp rock. This song absolutely soars.
8. Loreen – Tattoo
A mammoth sound from an artist who made a very welcome return this year. The passion in the vocal is goosebump-inducing.
7. Gunship – Weaponised Love
One of the most accessible tracks on the excellent Gunship album, Weaponised Love is 80’s sleaze pop with bite. Think INXS, but more electronic.
6. Jake Shears – I Used To Be In Love
That swirling strings loop! Years into pop music’s disco revival, the genre continues to scale new heights. This is everything I love from Jake.
5. Slayyyter – Out Of Time
My favorite track from an incredible album, Out Of Time is a perfect electro dance thumper with memorable storytelling and a bravura crescendo.
4. Neea River – All The Way
Neea River has been one of my favorite discoveries this year, and All The Way encapsulates why her music is so phenomenal. Synthwave meets powerful, emotive vocals and cathartic peaks of singalong melody.
3. Rêve – Contemporary Love
I mean, this is just a perfect pop song, right? The multi-pronged chorus is so satisfying and the chugging electro-disco beat carries the torch from Dua’s Future Nostalgia era.
2. Chappell Roan – Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
Boasting the year’s biggest chorus, Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl slaps you around in the best possible way. It’s a shout-from-the-rafters classic.
1. Benjamin – Hoida Mut
Hoida Mut was unveiled within the first weeks of 2023 and never left my top spot. The melodies and production are absolute perfection, tied together by Benjamin’s charismatic performance.
And as a bonus… My Top Three Pop Albums of the Year!
3. Jake Shears – Last Man Dancing
2. Kylie Minogue – Tension
1. Gunship – Unicorn
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I only discovered Contemporary Love about two weeks ago and I was instantly hooked.
my favorite pop album of the year would probably be Diamonds and Dancefloors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great list! I look forward to spending more time with the songs I’m not familiar with here. Every year, I usually find about 10 Western pop songs to really love, but this year, there’s like easily 50 or so. Either it’s been a really strong year, or my tastes just aligned with what came out this year. It’s really hard to put my favorites in order, but roughly it looks like this:
1. SZA – Kill Bill
2. Kylie Minogue x Oliver Heldens – 10 Out of 10
3. PinkPantheress, Ice Spice – Boy’s a liar Pt. 2
4. Troye Sivan – Rush
5. SHAKIRA – BZRP Music Sessions #53
6. Tyla – Water
7. Charli XCX – Speed Drive
8. Rema, Selena Gomez – Calm Down
9. Kylie Minogue – Padam Padam
10. Benjamin – Hoida mut
11. Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding – Miracle
12. Jessie Ware – Begin Again
13. Chappell Roan – Red Wine Supernova
14. LOREEN – TATTOO
15. Carly Rae Jepsen – Shy Boy
16. Ava Max – One Of Us
17. Miley Cyrus – Flowers
18. Jessie Ware – Pearls
19. Doja Cat – Paint The Town Red
20. Troye Sivan – One of Your Girls
21. Peggy Gou – (It Goes Like) Nanana
22. Janelle Monáe – Float
23. Chappell Roan – Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
24. RAYE, 070 Shake – Escapism
25. Dua Lipa – Dance the Night
26. Kali Uchis – Moonlight
27. Doja Cat – Agora Hills
28. Bad Bunny – Monaco
29. Carly Rae Jepsen – Psychedelic Switch
30. Amaarae – Angels in Tibet
31. Käärijä – Cha Cha Cha
LikeLiked by 3 people
Discovering Chappell Roan (via your Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl tweet) was probably my music highlight of the year, her debut album ended up being my AOTY.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Man that’s a really stunning list!
This year, I got to explore a lot of the global pop songs you recommended and I didn’t regret every single bit of it. I was also able to rediscover artists that I listened to over the past decade and had been releasing some stellar music imo.
Here’s a longlist of songs of the year that caught my eye haha (in no particular order):
Loreen – Tattoo
P!NK – Trustfall, Runaway
Slayyyter – Out Of Time, Memories Of You
Ava Max – One of Us, Cold As Ice (I wanna put Maybe You’re The Problem since that’s my favorite song of the album but that was a pre-release from last year 😦 )
Ellie Goulding – Like A Saviour, Cure For Love
Troye Sivan – Rush, Got Me Started
Kylie Minogue – Padam Padam, Hold On To Now
Zara Larsson – Can’t Tame Her, End of Time
Bebe Rexha – Call on Me
The Weeknd – Popular (with Playboi Carti and Madonna) (Let’s pretend the show doesn’t exist and that it is a stand-alone single lol)
Olivia Rodrigo – vampire, love is embarrassing
Dua Lipa – Dance The Night, Houdini
Kim Petras – Revelations, King of Hearts, uhoh
Carly Rae Jepsen – Shy Boy, Psychedelic Switch
Latto – Lottery (feat. LU KALA)
Conan Gray – Killing Me
Tyla – Been Thinking, Water
Jonas Brothers – Waffle House
Charli XCX – Speed Drive
Tove Lo – Borderline
Addison Rae – I got it bad
Alok – Car Keys (Ayla) (with Ava Max)
WayV – On My Youth
Madeon – Gonna Be Good
Skrillex – Rumble (with Fred again.. and Flowdan), Supersonic (with Noisia, Josh Pan, and Dylan Brady), Still Here (with Porter Robinson and Bibi Bourelly)
Oliver Heldens – 10 Out of 10 (feat. Kylie Minogue), Oops (with Karen Harding)
The Living Tombstone – Join Us for a Bite (Remix)
Calvin Harris – Miracle (with Ellie Goulding)
If I were to pick my global pop SOTY of the year (really hard tbh), it’d have to be Loreen’s “Tattoo” because I just love the dramatic chorus so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh btw did u ever check out the tracks i showed u in the comments of ur top 10 jpop post? and if so what did u think
LikeLike
Love the inclusion of Chappell Roan, her album is criminally underrated. BTW have you checked out Caroline Polachek’s album released this year (Desire, I Want To Turn Into You)? It’s got some beautifully produced pop bangers and is my pop album of the year!
LikeLike
Man, Contemporary Love absolutely rules. Benjamin can’t stop, won’t stop. I’m a bit surprised to not see Diamante’s 1987 on here, though.
Others on my list: Olivia Rodrigo – vampire, WOLFCLUB – Cryastalise, Diamante – 1987, The Weeknd – Like a God, Troye Sivan – Like One Of Your Girls, Ultraboss – Like a Man That’s In Love (think you would like this one!)
Diamonds & Dancefloors, Tension, and GUTS! my 1, 2, and 3 top pop albums. Metallica 72 Seasons for rock.
Thanks again for covering the global pop stuff. You always seem to find some gems.
LikeLike