In This Issue:
Top Hard Rock, Metal, and Punk(ish) Tours of 2023 by total ticket sales, including Metallica, Muse, Paramore, Iron Maiden, and more.
The Best Albums of the Year lists have begun!
I collected the top entries from Decibel Magazine, Exclaim!, Louder Than War, Loudwire, PopMatters, Treble, Ultimate Classic Rock, and Rolling Stone.
I plan to collect more as they arrive.
More than 25 artists added to the Spotify Wrapped 2023 post, including Ace Frehley, Amorphis, Breaking Benjamin, Brujeria, Cavalera Conspiracy, Code Orange, Cory Marks, Dirty Heads, Dope, Exodus, Fear Factory, The Funeral Portrait, Gwar, Ice Nine Kills, Loathe, Mike’s Dead, New Found Glory, Nonpoint, The Rasmus, Soulfly, Spiritbox, Steel Panther, Tommy Lee, and Twiztid.
New Signing ✍🏻
Sunny Day Real Estate w/ Frank Management & Shelter Music Group
Top Tours 2023
Hard Rock, Metal, Punk(ish)
By Attendance (as per Billboard)
Metallica 1.2M tickets / 19 shows
Muse 1M tickets / 45 shows
Trans-Siberian Orchestra 914k tickets / 98 shows
Guns N’ Roses 888.2k tickets / 31 shows
Nickelback 731k tickets / 50
Måneskin 713k tickets / 55 shows
blink-182 692k tickets / 45 shows
Red Hot Chili Peppers 658k / 18 shows
The Cure 643k tickets / 43 shows
Jelly Roll 629k tickets / 50 shows
Paramore 563k tickets / 49 shows
Iron Maiden 453k tickets / 32 shows
The Offspring 452k tickets / 35 shows
Journey 382k tickets / 38 shows
Disturbed 358k tickets / 32 shows
Shinedown 332k tickets / 43 shows
Greta Van Fleet 314k tickets / 35 shows
The Smashing Pumpkins 278k tickets / 28 shows
Decibel Magazine
Horrendous Ontological Mysterium
Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit
Wayfarer American Gothic
Jesus Piece …So Unknown
Godthrymm Distortions
Panopticon The Rime of Memory
Lamp Of Murmuur Saturnian Bloodstorm
Frozen Soul Glacial Domination
Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis
The Keening Little Bird
BlackBraid Blackbraid II
Enforced War Remains
GEL Only Constant
Enslaved Heimdal
Fatale The Night Eternal
Tribunal The Weight of Remembrance
Cruciamentum Obsidian Refractions
Autopsy Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts
Mizmor Prosaic
Rid Of Me Access to the Lonely
Krieg Ruiner
Great Falls Objects Without Pain
Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific
Filth Is Eternal Find Out
Incantation Unholy Deification
Exclaim!
Hard Rock, Metal Punk(ish)
Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirit (No. 4 overall)
100 gecs 10,000 gecs (No. 12 overall)
MSPAINT Post-American (No. 19)
Paramore This Is Why (No. 28)
Home Is Where the whaler (No. 32)
Jeff Rosenstock HELLMODE (No. 36)
Agriculture Agriculture (No. 39)
BIG|BRAVE nature morte (No. 41)
Militarie Gun Life under the Gun (No. 42)
The HIRS Collective We’re Still Here (No. 45)
Loudwire
25 Best Rock + Metal Albums of 2023 (Alphabetical)
Avenged Sevenfold Life is But a Dream…
blink-182 ONE MORE TIME…
Cannibal Corpse Chaos Horrific
Creeper Sanguivore
Dirty Honey Can’t Find the Brakes
Drain Living Proof
Filter The Algorithm
Foo Fighters But Here We Are
Godsmack Lighting Up the Sky
Greta Van Fleet Starcatcher
In Flames Foregone
Jelly Roll Whitsitt Chapel
Jesus Piece …So Unknown
Mammoth WVH Mammoth II
Metallica 72 Seasons
Nitra Strauss Call of the Void
Paramore This Is Why
Periphery Periphery V: Djent is Not a Genre
Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman…
Sanguisugabogg Homicidal Ecstasy
Sevendust Truth Killer
Sleep Token Take Me Back to Eden
The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds
VV Neon Noir
Zulu A New Tomorrow
PopMatters
The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2023
Anti-God Hand Blight Year
Kostnatění Úpal
Body Void Atrocity Machine
Sea Mosquito Igitur
Khanate To Be Cruel
Afterbirth In But Not Of
Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current
Ulthar Anthronomicon
Ulthar Helionomicon
Ascended Dead Evenfall of the Apocalypse
Frozen Dawn The Decline of the Enlightened Gods
Treble
Tomb Mold The Enduring Spirt
BIG|BRAVE nature morte
Gridlink Coronet Juniper
Ragana Desolation’s Flower
Body Void Atrocity Machine
Kostnatění Úpal
Thantifaxath Hive Mind Narcosis
Baroness Stone
Horrendous Ontological Mysterium
Great Falls Objects Without Pain
Ultimate Classic Rock
The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds
Paul Simon Seven Psalms
Pretenders Relentless
Iggy Pop EVERY LOSER
Depeche Mode Memento Mori
Peter Gabriel i/o
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Weathervanes
Foo Fighters But Here We Are
Duran Duran DANSE MACABRE
Metallica 72 Seasons
Mammoth WVH Mammoth II
Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman…
Rolling Stone
Hard Rock, Metal, Punk(ish) Entries
Paramore This Is Why (No. 6 overall)
Militarie Gun Life under the Gun (No. 51)
100 gecs 10,000 gecs (No. 74)
Metallica 72 Seasons (No. 93)
Godflesh Purge (No. 97)
Louder Than War
Hard Rock, Metal, Punk(ish)
Benefits Nails
House Of All House of All
JOHN A Life Diagrammatic
Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee Los Angeles
Mudhoney Plastic Eternity
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Land of Sleeper
Evil Blizzard Rotting in the Belly of the Whale
Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman…
Frankie And The Witch Fingers Data Doom
The Shits You’re a Mess
GEL Only Constant
The Damned Darkadelic
See all the latest Spotify Wrapped additions here: