Music Harvest… What are the most popular songs of 2023?
It is true that rhythms and tones have slowed down in the last quarter of 2023 after the outbreak of war in Gaza, but the first part of the year saw a brisk movement of music releases.
Among the works published this year reached the highest number of listens, with the Egyptian works particularly standing out. Artist Amr Diab is the number one listener in the Arab world, according to statistics from music streaming site Anghami.
Not a month goes by without Diab releasing one or more new songs. From “You're Laughing At Us” at the beginning of 2023, to the album “Your Place” at the end of it, Diabe's credit for the year exceeded 20 songs, the first of which was “The Party” with 23 million streams on Angami. ”. Also on the list of the year's most-listened-to songs are “Promise You,” “Single” and “Ya Lail,” featuring Diab with his son Abdullah.
Among the Egyptian stars who have completed a great journey this year is Ahmed Saad with two new songs, “My Choices” (132 million streams on YouTube) “Mr. Saad has lent his voice to a group of film and series songs, and he collaborated with Egyptian artist Ruby on the song “Ya Layali” in the summer of 2023. served
Among the most popular Egyptian songs of the year were “I Tell You” by Muslim and “Rest Easy, Sheikah” by Baha Sultan, who released 9 songs as he returned to the Arab music scene following his production career.
Eliza calmed the wait of her fans by giving them two songs in Egyptian dialect in the summer of 2023. The beginning was with “Swinging to the Beat”, which was unconventional in terms of melody and style, and then the Lebanese artist added it to the song “Agreement”. While waiting for her promised album, Elisa will close out her year by participating in the “Night of the Arabian Stars” during the Riyadh season in Saudi Arabia.
From Egyptian rhythms to Iraqi music, and Mahmoud al-Turki's “A Crazy Lover,” it's like no other summer evening. On YouTube alone, the song has amassed nearly 200 million streams.
For the Gulf, and among the songs released in 2023, artist Majid Al-Muhandis achieved success with “Badith Atyab” (38 million listens on YouTube) and “Eternal Love”, which brought him together with artist Asala. The song “Your Place” by Saudi artist Abdul Majeed Abdullah also distinguished itself. Abdullah's songs “Ya Ibn Al-Awadem” and “My World Breathes You” released in 2022 have retained high positions in the Gulf Songs race.
According to numbers from music streaming platform Spotify, the most streamed songs in 2023 were produced from previous years. The number one listen on Spotify is Mohammad Saeed's “They Said to You” from last year. The same applies to the song “Bakht” by the Egyptian rapper Wix. Although it was released in February 2022, “Bhakt” is still at the top of the most listened songs.
Like Wijaz and “Al-Baqd” and Nawal Abdel Shafi'i and “Makshamak”. The song, which was released a year and a half ago, hasn't left the charts this year. With its fast rhythm and simple lyrics, “Makshamak” has collected more than 140 million streams on YouTube and is one of the top 20 songs of the year on both Anghami and Spotify.
If the phenomenon of singles or “singles” has not yet subsided, this does not mean that there are no albums in 2023 releases, and the new album of the Egyptian artist Hamza Namira, entitled “Rayek”, received a lot of attention. ”, released in September, includes 13 songs. “Wind of Life” and “I'm Good” stood out among them.
Among the albums of the year, “Roma” by Egyptian band “Khairoqi” topped the list with 12 songs, including “Basara Wa Adwa”, “I Love You” and “James Dean”.
One of the most important albums of 2023 is “After Years” by Lebanese artist Heba Tawaji with producer and composer Osama Rahbani. For his part, after a gap of more than two years from releasing albums, Syrian artist Nasif Zaytoun presents his fans with the 8-song album “With Dreams”.
Moving towards major musical hits in the West, 2023 could be said to be Taylor Swift's best year yet. With the launch of her “Eras Tour” concert, the American singer broke revenue records, grossing more than a billion dollars in ticket sales. Thus, Swift's worldwide concert became the highest-grossing in music history.
Swift didn't stop there. The film, which opened in theaters alongside her tour, grossed $250 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the world in terms of box office revenue. Swift also deserves the title of “Person of the Year” by “Time” magazine.
Among the international music tours that achieved great success and significant sales figures this year was Beyonce's tour, titled “Renaissance”. The American artist toured between Europe and the United States from the beginning of May to the end of September 2023, earning about 600 million dollars.
To celebrate her four-decade artistic career, Madonna embarked on her “celebration tour.” Madonna began her tour in London in October 2023, after being postponed by a serious illness.
From tours to songs, Miley Cyrus' “Flowers” was the song of the year. On YouTube alone, the song has amassed over 650 million views, while on global playlists, it has held the top spot for 13 consecutive weeks. Cyrus followed up this successful release with the album “Endless Summer Vacation” featuring 14 songs.
One of the most important Western releases of 2023 was Shakira's track with BZRP, in which the Lebanese-born Colombian singer delivered a direct and poignant message to her ex-husband, Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique, following her betrayal.
Western artists who have distinguished themselves this year include Billie Eilish, Kylie Minogue, Lana Del Rey, Doja Kate and SZA with releases that resonate globally. As for the final note of the 2023 musical tour, it was the return of the Beatles with the song “Now and Then”, which was written and recorded by John Lennon in 1977, but which was not released at the time. Artificial intelligence played a key role in extracting Lennon's voice and combining it with the voices of the rest of the British team.
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