The Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2023

I guess it's that time of year again. And by "that time", I of course mean List Season. If you're unfamiliar with that term, though I'd presume you're not if you're reading this, every December a group of chart watchers and music reviewers independently spout out a list of their ten least favorite hit songs of the year. You may have heard of YouTubers Anthony Fantano and Todd In The Shadows, who are arguably the two biggest members of this group. Both have made reviews and lists for a long time, and their videos have impacted the way I think about music as a whole. I've been a member of this community for some time now, but I've never actually published an official list. That changes now.

2023 was a very odd year for the Billboard Hot 100. Big names like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Olivia Rodrigo all produced hits, but many of them didn't have the massive success you usually see big pop stars have. Meanwhile, country artists like Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and Zach Bryan all reached or nearly reached the top of the charts and had long-term impacts on both streaming and the radio. There were plenty more intriguing moments and trends that will be discussed on both this and my best hit songs list (which will be coming soon, don't worry), and I feel like a lot of interesting discussions took place throughout the year. Of course, there was some controversial and tedious discourse, but I won't get into that in this introduction. We have far too many songs to get to and I have some takes.

Now for some ground rules. What exactly qualifies as a hit under my rules? Well, it's complicated. The Billboard Year-End Hot 100 would be a good barometer for this, I suppose, but that leaves out multiple songs from this year that I would absolutely classify as "hits" such as "Water" by Tyla and "See You Again" by Tyler, the Creator, neither of which will be appearing on this list. So, what I've gone with is that any song that either made the top 40 or stayed in the top 100 for an extended period will be eligible for this list. This gives me more choices for the list as well as less predictability. So, now that we've cleared that up, I think it's time we start discussing the top ten worst hit songs of 2023.

#10

I did come up with a list last year, and most of it revolved around a similar theme. There were far too many songs that sampled past hits. If you followed the charts in 2022, you probably noticed this. Songs such as "Big Energy" [Latto], "First Class" [Jack Harlow], "Staying Alive" [DJ Khaled], and "Circo Loco" [Drake] all featured samples that I felt absolutely ruined the original tracks they came from. As such, my pick for the worst hit song of that year featured a truly abysmal sample that felt forced, lazy, and uninspired. That song was "I'm Good (Blue)" by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, which turned a fun Eurodance staple into a soulless club track. The song became massively successful at the end of 2022 and continued to be a massive hit into 2023, so I could theoretically put it on this list if I wanted to. However, there was a song in 2023 that took the formula of "I'm Good (Blue)", swapped a couple pieces out, and presented itself to the public. And this came from exactly who you'd expect.

10. Baby Don't Hurt Me - David Guetta feat. Anne-Marie & Coi Leray

 

The fact that this song exists just makes me sad. I had a feeling "What Is Love" would be one of the next songs sampled and desecrated, but I didn't expect it so soon. Guetta is not only ripping that song off, but he's also ripping off the aforementioned "I'm Good (Blue)" by just repeating the formula. I will give this song credit - it is better than that one - but it has some major flaws that I feel the need to address. For starters, Anne-Marie's vocal performance on this is lackluster and doesn't display any of the emotion or tension that Haddaway's original performance shows. The lyrics for the verses are disconnected from the chorus, as Anne-Marie and Coi Leray both exclaim how much they want this other person and how much enthusiasm they feel when around him, which contradicts the message of the original about how Haddaway has had his feelings shrugged off. This just shows me that nobody really put any thought into the actual meaning of the song and they just slapped 2 high-profile performers onto a remixed instrumental and called it a day. The worst part is, it's not even like that instrumental is any good. The synths are obnoxious and take any fun out of the original melody, reducing it to a soulless, corporate cash grab that feels passionless and lazy. The good news is that this didn't chart nearly as high or as long as "I'm Good (Blue)", so maybe this is a schtick that can only fool the American populous one time. You're better than this, Guetta. Act like it.

#9

When an artist releases their debut single, it's usually smart to have a good first impression. Give the audience a reason to want to seek out more of your music. If you can manage to do that, it's possible to grow your fanbase and establish yourself as a household name. We've seen this happen in the past with Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers' License" and Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road". Both are songs that display their respective artist's creativity and talent in a way that is both engaging and compelling, albeit in very different ways. So what happens if you fail to make a good first impression? The first song that comes to mind, in that case, would be Gayle's "Abcdefu", a truly awful choice for a debut single that arguably killed any chance for Gayle to continue that level of success. Number 9 on this list is pretty similar to that in the fact that, after hearing it, I don't want to ever hear from this artist again.

9. Mathematical Disrespect - Lil Mabu

Lil Mabu's "Mathematical Disrespect" is what happens if you give a 14-year-old chronic Fortnite player a mic and a beat and tell him to freestyle. By that, I mean it's one of the most obnoxious things I've ever heard. Everything about this is utterly terrible. I'll start off with the lyrics since that's most of what the song is. This song features some genuinely terrible bars. I could write better lyrics by just putting random gibberish into a Mad Libs book. From an outdated Wordle reference to calling himself a "tweep" and admitting to sleeping with stuffed animals, Mabu comes off as arrogant and unlikable throughout the entire track. The worst moment comes when he stops in the middle of the 2nd verse to explain an overly obvious punchline, and it just feels so immature and unnecessary. The thing is, I could stand some bad lyrics if the flows were any good, but the dude has no mic skills whatsoever. His rhythm is off throughout the entire song, and every line feels forced or just sounds off. Combine all of this with a truly insufferable music video that features poor editing and, of course, Fortnite of all things, and you get a song that gives me no goodwill towards the artist who made it. In fact, checking out his back catalog of songs, his most recent single is a diss track towards Blueface of "Thotiana" fame called "Mr. Take Ya B*tch", which gives you an idea of what type of artist Lil Mabu is attempting to be. I don't like being overly mean to an artist this young, but when you present yourself like this, you're setting yourself up for ridicule to follow.

#8

One thing I always consider when putting these lists together is what type of bad song makes it. The last entry was at least bad in an interesting way, as it at least attempted to do something creative and fun. I can't really say the same about this next song. 

8. Lift Me Up - Rihanna

I hate putting Rihanna on this list considering it's been so long since she's had a charting single, but releasing music like this is how you earn a spot. "Lift Me Up" is probably my pick for the biggest disappointment of any song I heard this year. It's supposed to be an earnest piano ballad, but it feels so generic and formulaic. When I listen to this, it makes me want to fall asleep. There's no complexity or interesting musical choices to this whatsoever. It's attempting to be emotive, but I just don't find this performance convincing. For a song like this to work, you have to be able to project the emotion into the music, and Rihanna just doesn't do that here. It's not like she was given much to work with, though, as the lyrics are cliche and repetitive. "Hold me down", "Keep me close", and "Safe and sound" just make me feel nothing. If you're going to go for emotion, at least do it in a way that has a bit of life. This doesn't feel like that. You have to build towards something rather than maintaining the same consistent bleakness throughout. This works for someone like Billie Eilish, who had a similar hit this year with "What Was I Made For", because her vocal style suits that type of song. Rihanna just doesn't fit that vibe very well, and that becomes very clear here.

#7

I've had some complicated feelings about music in 2023. One of those would be my reaction to the, let's say, controversial country music that was released this year. And I feel like I should address now that there were multiple country songs this year that had negative reactions from critics. Out of all of them, this one felt the most interesting to discuss due to the moral dilemma it attempts to create. Let's just say I decided pretty quickly which side of this moral "dilemma" I should be on.

7. Wait In The Truck - HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson

Domestic violence is, sadly, a very common issue in America. I personally know individuals who have dealt with it, and it's created toxic relationships and broken homes that have harmful effects on those involved. "Wait In The Truck" takes the wrong approach to solving this issue. Musically, the song is fine, but the story is where I take issue. HARDY plays the role of a man who comes across a domestic abuse survivor and immediately decides to brutally murder the guy who abused her. While I appreciate the sentiment of "domestic abuse is bad", this is the wrong way of going about it.  Domestic abuse is complicated. The answer isn’t just “he hurt you, so I’m gonna go kill this guy”. If you want to be a hero, don’t do that. It does nobody any good. Not even the one who was abused. Advocating for this type of vigilante justice only makes country music seem even more misogynistic and weird, as Hardy’s character is essentially jumping to conclusions without actually giving Lainey’s character a chance to stop him. It feels like a power fantasy more than anything. HARDY comes across like he's trying to be the "tough guy" and that's not what this song needs. It’s toxic, it doesn’t display any sense of realism or dignity, and it sets a bad precedent. Violence is not the answer in this situation. Someone else being a bad person and doing bad things is not an excuse for you to murder them. There are better ways to help domestic violence survivors. It would be smart for you to think about that before jumping to action.

#6

I'll be honest here, I don't know much about this specific type of hip-hop, but that's not going to stop me from putting this song on the list. Clearly, there's a market for this, as there were a ton of songs like this on the year-end chart, but this was arguably the worst example. If you want your song to end up on this list, all you have to do is be completely inept at every single facet of music.

6. Area Codes - Kaliii

I'd never heard of Kaliii before this song, but just like Lil Mabu before her, I don't think I really want to hear from her again. "Area Codes" is one of the worst rap songs I've ever heard. To start, the instrumental is overly basic and is bad in a very boring way. There's no substance, no meat on the bones of this track. Just a lifeless bassline and trap beat that sounds like it was put together in 20 seconds on GarageBand. This is made even worse when you add the actual rapping of the song, and oh boy is it bad. Kaliii as an MC comes off as completely arrogant and obnoxious, with generic lyrics about guys sending her money in a way that seems simp-ish. The worst part is that there's nothing to distract from the awful lyrics because the beat sounds like nothing. I honestly don't know how this became a hit because this is one of the laziest rap performances I heard this entire year. Not only that, but this song completely butchers the Ludacris song of the same name. Bad sampling continues to plague the charts this year, and honestly, this makes it even more embarrassing. If this lack of effort or charisma is what it takes to get a charting single, I should be making music instead of writing this list.

#5

I've gotta be honest with you on this one. I really didn't like the hip-hop of this year. Every single entry on the rest of the top 10 is a hip-hop track (spoiler alert), and there's a pretty good reason why. Hip-hop had a down year commercially and critically, and I'd blame part of that on the fact that the biggest artists of this year put out absolute duds. For example...

5. Slime You Out - Drake feat. SZA

This spot was originally going to go to Chris Brown's "Under The Influence" before I realized that that song was eligible for the 2022 list instead. Instead, we get another moody Drake track where he comes off as douchy. This song is just soooooo boring. There is nothing going on in this song. Well, apart from the lyrics, that is. The term "sliming you out" is very gross and I do not enjoy listening to Drake wail it out for multiple minutes. From "whipped and chained you like American slaves" to an awful intro monologue where he complains about wanting to micromanage a girl (?), this song just does not have any bright moments. This song also goes on for sooooo long. That's what Drake does. Moody and dour hip-hop that goes on for much longer than it has any right to. SZA is fine on this I guess, I'm just sick of Drake. Why is this guy the biggest hip-hop artist alive? I'll never get it. 

#4

As I said in the last entry, I feel like hip-hop had a pretty disappointing year overall in 2023. Big releases from Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Nicki Minaj, and Travis Scott didn't really do much for me apart from a couple of songs, and there was a lot of bad music. Arguably the biggest name in hip-hop in 2023 was a producer, and while he had some massive hits and even other great songs, nothing in particular is redeeming about this one.

4. Superhero (Heroes & Villains) - Metro Boomin feat. Future & Chris Brown

I don't really know what I was expecting here. Future's always been difficult to listen to (take songs like "Wicked" for example) and combining him with this production makes it nearly impossible. This song's instrumental is easily one of the worst I've heard in a long time. It slogs up and down with the same creepy synth riff over and over again throughout nearly the entire song and never does anything different or interesting with it until the end. Future's lyrics are incomprehensible, and the few you can make out are just rap cliches about doing drugs and... pissing on a casket? I feel like this song could've gone a little further with the "superhero" theme rather than just mentioning it once at the beginning. And then there's the obvious point of controversy. Metro, you didn't need to bring in an actual villain for the ending. Chris Brown's part is just so obnoxious and is the main reason this is as high as it is on the list. The beat switches to a piano riff that honestly sounds fine, but instantly is ruined by Brown complaining about haters who "wanna bring you down" and "don't wanna see you winnin'". Chris Brown of all people does not have the right to complain about haters considering there is a legitimate reason for people to not want his continued success. "So who's really the villain?" You are, Chris, you punched a woman. Multiple times. This is just a complete misfire on all sides from Metro Boomin, Future, and especially Chris Brown. Do better.

#3

This next entry is probably the most personal. It comes from an artist I've been a huge fan of for years. His first 4 albums are still among some of my favorites of all time. He's shown the ability to make some incredible music, which makes it so difficult for me to put him on this list. All I can really say is... NF, I expected better from you.

3. HOPE - NF

I've seen a lot of people calling "Motto" one of the worst songs of the year, but I was much more inclined to dislike "Hope", which comes across as obnoxious and moody in a way that only NF could. I can tell Nate is trying his hardest to be motivational, but he makes it so tedious and overly personal that I just can't stand it anymore. The first verse features NF getting into an argument with himself, which is just played out, as I've heard him doing this same thing so many times. What separates this from any other NF song? This being the lead single was a terrible choice, as you have to have an idea of who NF is to even be able to comprehend most of it. The lyrics in the second verse are just generic pump-up garbage that attempts to be motivational but just puts me off entirely. What's worse is that this song was used extensively by ESPN and the Pac-12 throughout the college football season, which constantly reminded me just how much I hate this. The most awful moments come in the last verse, where NF yells "thirty years of [insert generic emotion here]" over and over. WE GET IT. YOU ARE 30 YEARS OLD. BIG WHOOP. I think I finally get why so many people don't like NF now. I thought the album had some good moments, but I just did not enjoy it the same way I enjoyed his previous albums. In fact, this song taints those previous albums with the line "thirty years of fake". What are you implying, Nate? Are you saying that none of what you have done in the past 30 years is "real"? It was all baloney? What's the point of listening to any of your old music now since you clearly believe it was bogus? NF, I expected better from you. I guess that's what I get for having hope.

#2

I'm gonna keep this next entry short, as there's not much I really want to say about it. Earlier this year, there was a song that went viral due to its contents. It was an AI song that replicated the voices of Drake and the weeknd. While I thought the song was actually quite good on a technical level, it quickly dawned on me how horrifying it is that we're able to replicate the voices of famous musicians and what kind of consequences this could have for the industry as a whole. Then I realized - when it comes to Drake, that would probably be a good thing.

2. Search and Rescue - Drake

"Search and Rescue" is the most artificial-sounding song I've ever heard. Honestly, I have no clue what the appeal of Drake is anymore. Every song sounds the exact same and his voice has become increasingly monotone over the last few years. I've put a Drake song on my list each of the past 3 years ("Falling Back" in 2022, "Way 2 Sexy" in 2021, and "Popstar" in 2020), but this is easily the worst song he's ever made. The instrumental is a boring, repetitive piano riff. Drake sounds the most bored he's ever sounded and I don't feel any sense of passion in this whatsoever. This also features some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard. "I know I'm a pitbull, but dale mami" and "That's why I American expre-e-e-ssss my love for you" were candidates for the worst lines I heard in a song this year. What puts this over the top is the blatant controversy bait where he features a sample of a conversation between Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner to try and stir up beef with notable lunatic Kanye West, which is arguably the most interesting thing about this song. It goes on way too long, as this is 4 minutes and 33 seconds long, and doesn't really go anywhere with that time. At this point, I think America needs to do what's best and just stop listening to Drake. Then we'd avoid disasters like this.

And now, before I reveal my pick for the worst hit song of 2023, we have to talk about the songs that just missed out.

Dishonorable Mentions

DM. Bongos - Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion

Did anybody really want "WAP (Part 2)"? I will admit that this is probably better than "WAP", but this is still obnoxious and overproduced. The beat drowns out the vocals, which is probably a good thing since the lyrics of this song are just the same type of sexualized nonsense that Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion put out in all of their other songs. There was no reason for this to exist other than to capitalize on the success of "WAP", so what further discussion is there to even have?

DM. Vampire - Olivia Rodrigo

I know I'm not the target audience for this, but that doesn't mean it's immune from my criticism. This feels like Olivia's attempt to recreate "Happier Than Ever", and it just doesn't work for me. The build-up feels mediocre at best, and the vampire metaphor feels a little too on the nose. It doesn't reach the highs its attempting to, and its lows are much lower than anything she's done before this. "Fame fucker" is also on my list of worst lyrics of the year, as the censored version ("dream crusher") does this much better. At least "bad idea right?" was good, because this was a disappointment.

DM. Last Night - Morgan Wallen

This was the biggest song of the year, huh? I actually didn't mind this at first even if I thought it was the weakest of Morgan's singles, but it just wore out its welcome over time. Once Todd In The Shadows compared it to Maroon 5 I realized he was absolutely right. We did not need a country Maroon 5. Legitimately any of Morgan's other eligible songs would've been a better single than this.

DM. Need A Favor - Jelly Roll

If "Last Night" is country Maroon 5, then this is country Nickelback. I loved "Son of a Sinner", but this follow-up isn't really my thing. It's too grating in the wrong ways for me to really enjoy it. Maybe every once in a while it won't get on my nerves, but this was not made to be a mainstream country hit. Bailey Zimmerman and Morgan Wallen both did better jobs invoking religion this year, just saying.

DM. Rich Men North of Richmond - Oliver Anthony Music

Here's where the controversy kicks in. Oliver Anthony Music's "Rich Men North of Richmond" debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after going viral amongst conservative influencers, and its placement on its list honestly has nothing to do with its politics, as I couldn't even focus on that. I couldn't get past this vocal performance, man. This guy just can't sing. He's like if Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen, and Chad Kroeger got merged into one singular entity. Then there's the obvious part. "God, if you're 5 foot 3 and you're 300 pounds, taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds" goes against the entire rest of the song and turns this from a poor man's rallying cry to a nothing burger. Why this went viral is beyond me.

DM. Try That In A Small Town - Jason Aldean

This is easily the most controversial song of the year. And I get why. The music video features footage from BLM protests as well as a courthouse that was the site of a lynching in 1927. The lyrics support vigilante justice in a way you don't often hear in mainstream country hits. Jason Aldean contradicts his former statements about how "guns are too easy to get" by suggesting that the government should not regulate guns. I get all that. So why isn't it on the list proper? It's pretty simple, actually. I just don't want to. I refuse to. The discourse around this song was obnoxious enough already, and the fact that I'm contributing anything at all to it drives me up a wall. Outside of these overly-talked issues, it's just a typical Jason Aldean song that doesn't attempt to be anything special. I'm not going to discuss this any further.

And now that, we have those out of the way, it's time to reveal my pick for the single worst hit song of 2023.

#1

I debated what my pick for the worst hit song of the year was going to be for a while. I thought about it for months. Earlier in the year, I thought for sure it was going to be Lainey Wilson's "Heart Like A Truck", but once they stopped playing the commercials featuring it all of the time, I realized it wasn't actually that bad. "Hope" and "Search and Rescue" were both obvious picks that I definitely could've chosen. I know the most common pick among critics is going to be "Try That In A Small Town", but I've already addressed why I'm not doing that. Then I realized something. When you get a song that combines arguably the worst lyrics of the year, the worst-sounding instrumental of the year, and my least favorite breakthrough artist of the year, you have a recipe for the worst song of the year. And when you have a recipe for something, you need ingredients. To get those ingredients - you go to the deli.

1. Deli - Ice Spice

This may be a fairly surprising pick to some of you, as at first glance, this doesn't seem to do anything as offensively bad as some of the other picks. However, this song takes the most obnoxious trends of 2023 and turns them up to 11. To start, the rise of Ice Spice completely baffles me. She's not very good as a rapper and her skills as a songwriter are very limited at best. Her collaborations with Taylor Swift, PinkPantheress, and Nicki Minaj saw her get outshined by her co-stars, and her solo hits ("Munch" and "In Ha Mood") were pretty mediocre. "Deli", however, is easily her worst single. The beat to this song is atrocious, as it gives a creepy, malevolent vibe that I'm not certain Ice Spice was going for. I'd also like to point out the atrocious lyrics, which include “he want the WAP, but I just want the fetty”, "she a baddie, she showing her panty" and “I’m that shit, I’m that bitch, I’m Miss Poopie”, which is by far the worst lyric of the year. Are those enough to put this at number one on this list? Not by themselves. The music video for this song is what put this at number one. The video features a 16-year-old girl twerking, which, whether Ice Spice knew it or not, is inherently disgusting and makes me feel really uncomfortable. If you think that's not a big deal, I'd encourage you to rethink your mindset. The fact is, this type of sexualization should not be promoted for minors, especially when there's a large, adult male audience for this song. Even without that context, I still hate the song, but adding that in makes this easily my pick for the worst hit song of the year.

Thank you for reading this far. If you enjoyed it, feel free to leave a comment below. I'll be coming out with more posts soon, including my list of the ten best hit songs of the year, so I hope you stick around to read those when they release. I'm Lando of the Landoman Experiment, and I'm signing off.