2023 Power Rankings

Albums


Ranked albums of 2023 as rated by the committee of one.
RANKARTISTALBUMGENREPOWER
INDEX
RATINGTREND
1
City And ColourThe Love Still Held Me NearMellow Alternative72. 2
NEW
ENTRY
2
Indigo De SouzaAll Of This Will EndAlternative71. 3
NEW
ENTRY
3
JOSEPHThe SunFolk-Rock70. 8
NEW
ENTRY
4
DaughterStereo Mind GameDream Pop70. 6
NEW
ENTRY
5
Unknown Mortal OrchestraVAlternative68. 7
NEW
ENTRY
6
A R I Z O N AA R I Z O N APop67. 4
NEW
ENTRY
7
Eddie ChaconSundownAlternative61. 9
NEW
ENTRY
8
Lana Del ReyDid You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean BlvdAlternative54. 4
NEW
ENTRY
9
Andy ShaufNormAlternative50. 8
NEW
ENTRY
SCROLL →
Spotify

The Fine Print

  • The aFIREintheattic Power Index formula is top secret… but here’s a frivolous hint since we like you: It’s sort of like a logarithmic function on the weighted mean of the committee’s song ratings, which is then standardized-ish and scaled from 0 to 100.   Talk nerdy to me.
  • All songs on an album or EP are rated and contribute to its Power Index.   As a result, releases that are cohesive and consistently good, with fewer filler tracks, will invariably score higher than those with only a handful of great songs and a bunch of throwaways. Here, a release cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. For rankings that take that phenomenon into account, look to the aFIREintheattic Awards at the end of each year.
  • Note that EPs can tend toward higher scores than albums because sometimes an EP is a precursor to a full album and that album will contain the songs from the EP but with the addition of filler tracks that drag the Power Index score down.
  • Albums with a Power Index of 80 or higher and EPs with a Power Index of 70 or higher are a solid bet for a top 10 finish. The two highest scoring albums of all-time are Radiohead’s Kid A at 100.0 and OK Computer at 99.9 and the highest scoring EPs are Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter at 96.7 and James Bay’s The Dark Of The Morning at 94.7. And we’ll be forthright: they probably always will be.
  • If a release is in the power rankings but is not in the playlist above, it’s not available on Spotify. The playlist is made up of the most popular song from each album in order based on its current power ranking.

EPs


Ranked EPs of 2023 as rated by the committee of one.
RANKARTISTEPGENREPOWER
INDEX
RATINGTREND
1
UtahWhat A MemoryChillbeat79. 0
NEW
ENTRY
2
Biig PiigBubblegumAlternative71. 4
NEW
ENTRY
3
Dustin TebbuttChangeopheliaAmbient Folk70. 8
NEW
ENTRY
4
Beach HouseBecomeDream Pop70. 2
NEW
ENTRY
T5
MichiganderIt Will Never Be The SameIndie Rock66. 7
NEW
ENTRY
T5
Wild PartyGet UpIndie Pop/Rock66. 7
NEW
ENTRY
7
Kota The FriendLyrics To GO, Vol. 4Rap62. 0
NEW
ENTRY
8
BLÜ EYESThe Last Songs I'll Write About YouPop59. 9
NEW
ENTRY
9
Astrid SFelt Cute Might Delete LaterPop56. 6
NEW
ENTRY
10
Tep NoI Will Hold YouTropical House55. 5
NEW
ENTRY
11
Angel OlsenForever MeansAlternative40. 8
NEW
ENTRY
12
KidnapTech Me AwayTech House0. 1
NEW
ENTRY
SCROLL →
Spotify

The Fine Print

  • The aFIREintheattic Power Index formula is top secret… but here’s a frivolous hint since we like you: It’s sort of like a logarithmic function on the weighted mean of the committee’s song ratings, which is then standardized-ish and scaled from 0 to 100.   Talk nerdy to me.
  • All songs on an album or EP are rated and contribute to its Power Index.   As a result, releases that are cohesive and consistently good, with fewer filler tracks, will invariably score higher than those with only a handful of great songs and a bunch of throwaways. Here, a release cannot be greater than the sum of its parts. For rankings that take that phenomenon into account, look to the aFIREintheattic Awards at the end of each year.
  • Note that EPs can tend toward higher scores than albums because sometimes an EP is a precursor to a full album and that album will contain the songs from the EP but with the addition of filler tracks that drag the Power Index score down.
  • Albums with a Power Index of 80 or higher and EPs with a Power Index of 70 or higher are a solid bet for a top 10 finish. The two highest scoring albums of all-time are Radiohead’s Kid A at 100.0 and OK Computer at 99.9 and the highest scoring EPs are Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s Winter at 96.7 and James Bay’s The Dark Of The Morning at 94.7. And we’ll be forthright: they probably always will be.
  • If a release is in the power rankings but is not in the playlist above, it’s not available on Spotify. The playlist is made up of the most popular song from each album in order based on its current power ranking.