Chartmetric's 2023 Year-in-Music Report is Here

09 February 2024 - Press release

 

Here are some of the key highlights:

Growing Global Artist Diversity: In 2023, the United States, Brazil, and India were the top three nations by their share of new artist profiles created, followed by Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Quantity is only one metric to consider here, as there is also artist growth. The highest number of emerging artists in 2023 came from the US, followed by Brazil, Mexico, and South Korea.

Unwavering Top 10 Artists of 2023: After ranking artists each month by their peak Chartmetric artist score (an aggregated metric of various measures of success), a narrative emerged: the top 10 artists remained steady throughout the year.  The top artist slot was in flux early on but by summer, Taylor Swift cinched the lead and stayed on top for the rest of the year. The same six artists made the top 10 every month: Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake, and The Weeknd.

Artists Struggle to Breakthrough the Noise: The year-end report reveals that very few artists moved from Chartmetric’s “undiscovered” to “developing” category and only 19.16% of artists on Spotify have over one thousand monthly listeners, indicating the need for artists to explore solutions to navigate the oversaturated music landscape.

Gender Imbalance Among Artists: While female acts like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Ice Spice dominated the spotlight in 2023, Chartmetric’s data reveals a significant gender imbalance within the solo artist category. Of the solo artists for which Chartmetric has self-identified or publicly sourced pronoun information on (467.9k), a substantial 77% use he/him pronouns, while only 18% use she/her pronouns and 5% use they/them. 

Non-English Speaking Music Genres Continue to Surge: Unsurprisingly, Latin music carried its meteoric rise over the past few years into 2023 as its sound continues to expand and grow. K-pop also keeps growing in strength and has been one of the most talked about genres in the 2020s. Despite there being a relatively modest number of releases compared to other genres, the marketing prowess of the K-pop industry ensures its phenomenal success rate. Other genres to watch include Indian music, African music (like Afrobeats and amapiano), and J-pop, which are starting to gain traction globally.

Social Media/Pop Culture's Influence on Niche Genre Renaissance: Cutecore's pink and sparkly aesthetic revolutionized rap and hip-hop, offering a fresh voice for emerging female artists. The release of the Barbie movie in 2023, with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice's "Barbie World," reignited Eurodance. Meanwhile, TikTok fueled the rise of Sad Girl Indie, dominated by queer female artists like Mitski and boygenius, amplifying their presence in the music scene.

Chartmetric's 2023 Year-End Report offers invaluable insights for music enthusiasts, industry professionals, and journalists alike.

Here is the link to the full report,