Defining song of 2023

[mikerivera]

The year is now almost over, and with the Christmas songs now taking over for the month, it's time to ask which song was the flagship for the year as a whole. I included all the songs that I felt had a legitimate claim. 

I usually include the song with the highest one week total, but this year, that would mean including Try That in a Small Town. It probably has a case, but frankly, I don't want to include it.

[TheOutcast]

Oof this is a tough one. Despite Last Night getting the YE #1 and other songs like Flowers, Calm Down, and Ella Balia Sola also making a lot of noise, I’m going to give it to Cruel Summer. Out of all of the songs that have made a resurgence in the past Cruel Summer has to be THE BIGGEST. And it started with the fans making some noise before Taylor’s team. It also goes along with Taylor being the biggest name in music this year with her eras tour breaking multiple records and such.

[musiciscool]

Yeah, Cruel Summer hands down.

[SabrinaFan]

Cruel Summer for sure.

[jdanton2]

Flowers for me . i am saying this since it is favorite .globally it was bigger than the US .

[Ｓｏｕｎｄｃｌ🕤ｃｋ]

I always respect other people's opinions, but I think the only correct answer is Flowers.
Everyone was talking about the song, it was e v e r y w h e r e, it's the most streamed song of the year easily (more than 2,5B on YT and Spotify), it reached #1 in 37 countries, spent 24 weeks at #1 on the mediatraffic global chart (record) and it's already #24 on the all-time list.

Maybe the situation in the US isn't as clear as it is WW, because Cruel Summer made a bigger impact in the US than WW, but I still think it's not close. Flowers holds the top 3 streaming weeks this year (#1 59,8M #2 52,6M #3 48M) and almost finished the year at #1.
And yes, CS success is historic and impressive, but FOR ME, Flowers is even more impressive - the fact that Miley's last big hit in the US was 10 years ago and she still managed to DEBUT at #1 with crazy numbers and score the biggest hit of her career without the help of any current A-lister...is just amazing.

Also, the difference between Flowers and Cruel Summer is that Taylor's success helped the song, and Flowers basically revived Miley's career.

[sportytheartist]

I’m gonna pick two, for each half of the year:

January-June 2023: Flowers - Miley Cyrus, this song if I’m being honest, is what led me to become a chart watcher.
July 2023-present: Cruel Summer - Taylor Swift, my song of the summer!

Its gonna take a while for me to get used to not seeing Flowers be in the top 40 of the hot 100 after the holidays are over (not counting recurrents)

[Fire]

either fast car or last night tbh both represented the country music boom on the charts, for better or worse, but you could make a case for any of the others as well

[wjr15]

Flowers definitely. That song blew up like crazy at the start of the year. Between a music video that became a cultural moment, a very catchy & quotable chorus, and the crazy streaming numbers and staying power on the charts, it’s easily the defining song of 2023.

I’d say Cruel Summer and Kill Bill round out the top 3. Last Night was the defining country song but I wouldn’t say it crossed demographics the same way as the other songs mentioned.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Kill Bill

[Ling-Ling]

I lean towards "Flowers" for the reasons stated above.

[• Господин Умљеновић •]

Personally : One of your girls by Troye Sivan
From those : Flowers

[Forever Winter]

Cruel Summer will end up the biggest but Flowers had the biggest peak

[Chelsea Press 2]

"Flowers" for sure. It had the impact and chart success.

[avamaxstan]

I'll never forgive America for making that utterly basic song by a racist the year-end #1 over a pop masterpiece, a cultural phenomenon and one of the biggest songs of all time.

[notgoodenglish]

flowers is BY FAR the biggest song worldwide

[Eternal]

Flowers will be a modern classic

[.indulgecountry]

Miley seemingly had the charts in a stranglehold for over half the year, so her. Taylor's is a not-too-distant second.