This segment originally aired on "In the Moment" on SDPB Radio.
Depending on your source, the most streamed artist of the year was: Canadian rapper Drake, Taylor Swift, country singer Morgan Wallen or Mexican singer-songwriter Peso Pluma. And there are more.
One commentator said that there is so much choice, there is almost no choice at all. It’s what you get when approximately 120,000 songs are added to streaming each day.
Highlights of 2023:
NPR listeners' favorite album of 2023 was Boy Genius, a trio of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. They had twice the number of votes as the nearest contender.
And there was new music from the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, plus the announcement that the Stones tour is sponsored in part by AARP.
Looking forward to 2024:
There will be plenty of good music to keep us sane.
We already have new albums from Kali Uchis, Green Day, Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Lenny Kravitz, Judas Priest, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Smile and Sonic Youth.
And coming soon are albums from Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes, Shabazz Palaces, The Black Keys, The Cure, Vampire Weekend and hopefully new music from Bruce Springsteen. Stay tuned.
We wind up this edition of Fresh Tracks with some musical surprises.
First is Lana Del Rey’s rendition of John Denver’s 1971 classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads." She had planned on an album of American standards and classics a few years ago but it never materialized. Maybe someday.
And a song that will certainly be on this team's best of 2024: Charley Crockett’s "Killers of the Flower Moon." The song is not featured in the movie, but it is based on the book by David Grann and follows the book’s outline. It would have made a wonderful ending to a great movie.
Next time, we'll dive into music for people with short attention spans. Until then, good listening.
