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Saluting the Hitmakers Behind 2023’s Top 25 Songs

Contributors

’Tis the Season of Uncertainty • Hollywood usually ends the year with at least one surefire blockbuster, but this holiday lacks another ‘Avatar’

Striking a Balance • AI companies applaud measured approach in union contracts to regulating the tech

Geese Spread Their Wings

It’s the Pictures That Got Small: Movies Recut as TV Shows

The Biopic Finds Its Moment • It was once the cheesiest of genres. How did it become the most thrilling?

The Final Straw for Musk’s ‘Free Speech’ • Marketers exit X af ter tech mogul is accused of supporting antisemitic conspiracy theory

Five Boroughs Bellwether • How one New York critics group is revealing this Oscar race’s front-runners

HITMAKERS

SZA RISING • With a culture-shifting album and nine Grammy nominations, Solana Rowe proves the power of digging deep and baring your soul

SZA’s Support System • How manager and label chief Terrence ‘Punch’ Henderson helped SZA soar

BOY POWER • The ladies of Boygenius revel in the magic of making music with BFFs

Hitmakers Top 25 of 2023

‘Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2’ • PINKPANTHERESS & ICE SPICE

Peso Pluma • The fast-rising singer and rapper is breathing new life into the U.S. charts with his trap-infused Mexican corridos

‘Flowers’ • MILEY CYRUS

Maren Morris • The firebrand singer isn’t looking to burn Nashville down, but she is looking to make some good trouble

Republic Records • CEO Monte Lipman on the company’s blockbuster 2023 and owning nearly half of the Hitmakers top 25

‘Die for You’ • THE WEEKND

Team Morgan Wallen • The country superstar gets an essential boost from his tightknit posse of songwriters and producers

Ashley Gorley • Meet Nashville’s most successful songsmith, a driving force behind ‘Last Night,’ ‘One Thing at a Time,’ ‘Thinkin’ Bout Me’ and ‘You Proof’

Sabrina Carpenter • The singer-actor gets an ‘Eras Tour’ boost as she leaves her Disney days behind

‘Anti-Hero,’ ‘Cruel Summer’ • TAYLOR SWIFT

Mark Ronson • The blockbuster film’s songs and visuals are as intricately intertwined as a musical

Billie Eilish and Finneas

‘Fast Car’ • LUKE COMBS

‘Rock and a Hard Place’ • BAILEY ZIMMERMAN

Metro Boomin • With two of the year’s top songs and the ‘Spider-Man’ soundtrack, the superproducer proves his mettle as an artist

On the Making of ‘Heroes & Villains’

‘Calm Down (Remix)’ • REMA AND SELENA GOMEZ

Olivia Rodrigo • Now 20, the singer-songwriter is giving voice to — and growing up with — her audience

‘Rich Flex’ • DRAKE & 21 SAVAGE

‘Golden Hour’ • JVKE

Eslabon Armado ft. Peso Pluma • Eslabon Armado’s ‘Ella Baila Sola’ is the official anthem of música Mexicana’s chart-busting year

‘Favorite Song’ • TOOSII

‘Sure Thing’ • MIGUEL

Michael Sticka • With alums that include Billie Eilish, Finneas and Maren Morris, the Grammy Museum Foundation is L.A.’s coolest school

‘Something in the Orange’ • ZACH BRYAN

Jaime Zeluck Hindlin • The founder of Nonstop Management is the glue behind a spectrum of hits from Miley Cyrus, Morgan Wallen and Rema with Selena Gomez

‘La Bebe (Remix)’ • YNG LVCAS FEATURING PESO PLUMA

Uncharted Awards Territory • Despite an organizational overhaul making the Golden Globes tricky to predict, these are the revamped ceremony’s top contenders.

Globes Newcomers • Among ceremony refreshes for 2024 are two new Globes...