The first hit songs of 2023

And so here we are officially into the second week of January of 2023. As I have done annually during the past two decades or so, I now take stock of what sounds are currently selling, what are carry-overs from the year just passed and what are showing signs of dominating the hit charts of the new year.

This process was pretty much cut and dried. Take a look at what tunes are selling and then listen to the new titles for an idea of the new trends. But the arrival of social media has changed that. The purchasing power of the public no longer dictates the hits. All that fans have to do is go online, click, like, share, stream, download, whatever. If a song gets a lot of these, it will become a hit.

What I like about this is that while social media has killed the store that sold physical records, you know, singles, cassettes and CDs, not LPs, which now caters to the upscale vinyl market, it keeps old releases in the market and gives under-rated artists a chance to shine. Note that stores usually get rid of non-sellers after a month or two because they take up space while lesser-known artists often get buried under the big-selling stars.

Fallen, a two-year-old song by Lola Amour, has gotten its new lease on life.

Check out this week’s tabulation from Billboard Global Philippines and you will find two interesting instances of how social media has changed the creation of hit songs. In the past copies of these songs would have already been recycled or left unheard in warehouses.

One is Jopay from 2014 by the 20-year-old band Mayonnaise. This was written as a tribute to a Sexbomb dancer nicknamed Jopay. The song owes its second life to the movie Ngayon Kaya. Then it went viral after it was used by fans in TikTok videos.

The other one is the two-year-old Fallen by the pop funk band Lola Amour. I do not know how the sleek Fallen has gotten its new lease on life. I believe that the fun, animated video now raging in YouTube helped a lot. But in both cases, I can say that these two recordings do not sound like other local releases nowadays and are therefore stand-outs.

Meanwhile, Pinoys still love listening to Taylor Swift a lot. Her Anti-Hero remains at No. 1. R&B is also making a comeback with new releases by Chris Brown making it to the hit list. Isn’t it great to find Ikaw Lang by Nobita still in the chart after over 40 weeks. And can it be true? Have the Pinoys gotten over its fascination with K-pop? There is not one in South Korean act in the tabulation.

Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero remains at No. 1.

Here now are the Top 25 tunes that made the grade last week:

Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift; Kill Bill by SZA; Mahika by Adie and Janine Berdin; Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez; Wet the Bed by Chris Brown ft. Ludacris; Made You Look by Meghan Trainor; Jopay (2014) by Mayonnaise; Here with Me by d4vd; Under the Influence by Chris Brown; Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras; Fall in Love Alone by Stacey Ryan; Midnight Rain by Taylor Swift; Die for You by Joji.

Babalik sa ‘yo (from 2 Good 2 be True) by Moira dela Torre; Ikaw Lang by Nobita; Left and Right by Charlie Puth and Jung Kook; Die for You by The Weeknd; Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter; Fallen by Lola Amour; As It Was by Harry Styles; Nobody Gets Me by SZA; Angel Baby by Troye Sivan; All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey; The Shade by Rex Orange County; and Isa Lang by Arthur Nery.

R&B is also making a comeback with new releases by Chris Brown making it to the hit list.

Ikaw Lang by Nobita is still in the chart after over 40 weeks.