A great track can be great for all sorts of reasons. A new sound from a new artist. A return to form for an old artist. An intro, outro, verse, refrain, bridge or breakdown that gets your blood pumping. A comfy jam or avant garde grinder…
There’s no single recipe for what a top track sounds like, but they should all accomplish at least one thing: serve as a springboard into a whole sound world. Top tracks are not dead ends – they’re links in a chain that leads you on to the next adventure.
Genre and rank are a shitty way to divvy up music, so we’ve included some “vibe clouds” below to help you navigate 20 tracks to take into 2023.