The Best Music of 2023: Rich Rewards Outside the Mainstream

Most of the biggest music news of 2023 had little to do with the release of a new album. Taylor Swift owned the year, with her still-running and record-setting Eras Tour—the receipts of which helped make her a billionaire—along with a concert film, a re-recorded LP that topped the charts, and just the right amount of drama from her budding relationship with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs to keep her in the spotlight 24/7. And yet her most recent record of new material, “Midnights,” came out in 2022.