Rosy Overdrive has already chosen its favorite albums, EPs, and compilations/reissues of 2023, but we’re closing out our year-end list season by handing it over to you, the readers. We asked you about your favorite albums, songs, EP, and label of the year, and you certainly answered–we received 61 different ballots from November 27th to December 26th. You voted for 397 different albums, 356 different songs, 44 different EPs, and 29 different record labels. Some of these results surprised me, but the biggest takeaway from this poll isn’t shocking at all: Rosy Overdrive readers have great taste. Pat yourselves on the back.
Your top choices are revealed below; for more detailed and complete results, here’s a spreadsheet with everything that got at least one vote on it. For albums and songs, your top choice got ten points, second place got nine, et cetera; tiebreakers were broken via number of ballots something appeared on and number of first-place votes received.
Of course, I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to turn these results into a playlist, so here’s one of every song that either A) appeared on multiple ballots and/or B) got a first-place vote (Spotify, Tidal).
If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here. To anyone who participated in this poll, or even if you didn’t, if you shared the blog or even just regularly read it this year: thank you very much. I’ll see you all in 2024!
Your Top 50 Albums of the Year:
49. [TIE] Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – Dancing on the Edge (Sophomore Lounge) / John R. Miller – Heat Comes Down (Rounder) / Rosie Tucker – Tiny Songs Volume 1 (Sentimental)
48. Nation of Language – Strange Disciple (Play It Again Sam)
47. Superviolet – Infinite Spring (Lame-O)
46. Melenas – Ahora (Trouble in Mind)
45. Seablite – Lemon Lights (Mt.St.Mtn.)
44. McKinley Dixon – Beloved! Paradise! Jazz? (City Slang)
43. Teenage Tom Petties – Hotbox Daydreams (Safe Suburban Home/Repeating Cloud)
42. Sharp Pins – Turtle Rock (Tall Texan/Hallogallo)
41. Hurry – Don’t Look Back (Lame-O)
40. Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)
39. JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown – Scaring the Hoes (AWAL)
38. Pearla – Oh Glistening Onion, the Nighttime Is Coming (Spacebomb)
37. Mo Troper – Troper Sings Brion (Lame-O)
36. Connections – Cool Change (Trouble in Mind)
35. Pile – All Fiction (Exploding in Sound)
34. Landowner – Escape the Compound (Born Yesterday)
33. Ex Pilot – Ex Pilots (Smoking Room)
32. Labrador – Hold the Door for Strangers (No Way of Knowing)
31. Buddie – Agitator (Crafted Sounds)
30. Alex Walton – I Want You to Kill Me (Youth Against Satan)
29. Lewsberg – Out and About (12XU)
28. Cory Hanson – Western Cum (Drag City)
27. Protomartyr – Formal Growth in the Desert (Domino)
26. Tee Vee Repairmann – What’s on TV? (Total Punk)
25. Water from Your Eyes – Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
24. Bully – Lucky for You (Sub Pop)
23. Slowdive – Everything Is Alive (Dead Oceans)
22. Sun June – Bad Dream Jaguar (Run for Cover)
21. The Pretty Flowers – A Company Sleeve (Double Helix)
20. The High Water Marks – Your Next Wolf (Minty Fresh)
19. MJ Lenderman – And the Wind (Live and Loose!) (Dear Life/Anti-)
18. The Lost Days – In the Store (Speakeasy Studios SF)
17. Greg Mendez – Greg Mendez (Forged Artifacts/Devil Town Tapes)
16. Upper Wilds – Jupiter (Thrill Jockey)
15. En Attendant Ana – Principia (Trouble in Mind)
14. Ratboys – The Window (Topshelf)
13. Pardoner – Peace Loving People (Bar None)
12. Boygenius – The Record (Interscope)
11. Golden Apples – Bananasugarfire (Lame-O)
10. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Weathervanes (Southeastern)
9. Liquid Mike – S/T (Kitschy Spirit)
8. Frog – Grog (Audio Antihero)
7. The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble in Mind)
6. Washer – Improved Means to Deteriorated Ends (Exploding in Sound)
5. Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty)
4. Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)
3. Sweeping Promises – Good Living Is Coming for You (Feel It/Sub Pop)
2. Diners – Domino (Bar None)
1. Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World (Matador)
Your Favorite Record Labels of the Year:
4. [TIE] Lauren / Meritorio / Repeating Cloud / Slumberland / Trouble in Mind
3. Exploding in Sound
2. Feel It
1. Lame-O
Your Favorite EP of the Year:
[TIE] Dogwood Tales – Rodeo (WarHen) / Smelter – New Skin (Tiger)
Your Favorite Songs of the Year:
22. Hotline TNT – I Thought You’d Change (Third Man)
21. Mo Troper – For You to Sing (Lame-O)
20. Boygenius – Not Strong Enough (Interscope)
19. Diners – Domino (Bar None)
18. Sufjan Stevens – Will Anybody Ever Love Me? (Asthmatic Kitty)
17. The Drin – Mozart on the Wing (Feel It)
15. (TIE) Wednesday – Bath County (Dead Oceans) / En Attendant Ana – Wonder (Trouble in Mind)
14. Bonny Doon – Crooked Creek (Anti-)
13. Worriers – Pollen in the Air (Ernest Jenning)
12. Frog – New Ro (Audio Antihero)
11. Frog – Maybelline (Audio Antihero)
10. Wednesday – Quarry (Dead Oceans)
9. Lana Del Rey – A&W (Polydor)
8. Frog – Black on Black on Black (Audio Antihero)
7. Diners – The Power (Bar None)
6. Wednesday – Chosen to Deserve (Dead Oceans)
5. TV Repairmann – Bus Stop (Total Punk)
4. MJ Lenderman – Rudolph (Anti-)
3. Dim Wizard featuring Steve Ciolek, Jeff Rosenstock, and Illuminati Hotties – Ride the Vibe (Self-released)
1. [TIE] Graham Hunt – Emergency Contact (Smoking Room) / The Tubs – Wretched Lie (Trouble in Mind)
Artists You Thought Should’ve Been on the Song of the Year List, But Couldn’t Settle on a Track:
Yo La Tengo (Miles Away, Fallout, Aselestine, Tonight’s Episode, and Sinatra Drive Breakdown all received a vote)
Ratboys (I Want You (Fall 2010), Black Earth, WI, Morning Zoo, and The Window all received a vote)
Hurry (Didn’t Have to Try, Beggin’ for You, and Like I Loved You all received a vote)
Liquid Mike (American Record, Holding in a Cough, and BLG all received a vote)
Stuck (The Punisher, Do Not Reply, and Time Out all received a vote)
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