Year-End Lists

Decibel Magazine: The Top 40 Albums of 2023

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2012]

1. Ontological Mysterium
   Horrendous
2. The Enduring Spirit
   Tomb Mold
3. American Gothic
   Wayfarer
4. ...So Unknown
   Jesus Piece
5. Distortions
   Godthrymm
6. The Rime Of Memory
   Panopticon
7. Saturnian Bloodstorm
   Lamp Of Murmuur
8. Glacial Domination
   Frozen Soul
9. Hive Mind Narcosis
   Thantifaxath
10. Little Bird
    The Keening
11. Blackbraid II
    Blackbraid
12. War Remains
    Enforced
13. Only Constant
    Gel
14. Heimdal
    Enslaved
15. Fatale
    The Night Eternal
16. The Weight Of Remembrance
    Tribunal
17. Obsidian Refractions
    Cruciamentum
18. Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts
    Autopsy
19. Prosaic
    Mizmor
20. Access To The Lonely
    Rid Of Me
21. Ruiner
    Krieg
22. Objects Without Pain
    Great Falls
23. Chaos Horrific
    Cannibal Corpse
24. Find Out
    Filth Is Eternal
25. Unholy Deification
    Incantation
26. Outsider
    Night Demon
27. Untopia
    Kruelty
28. Violent Creed Of Vengeance
    Smoulder
29. VII
    Will Haven
30. Fires in the Fall
    Krigsgrav
31. Ghost At The Gallows
    Spirit Adrift
32. Mourning Moon
    Final Gasp
33. Terrasite
    Cattle Decapitation
34. Lumi Vaientaa Kysymykset
    Circle of Ouroborus
35. Incendium
    Witching
36. Air Not Meant For Us
    Fires in the Distance
37. Dying of Everything
    Obituary
38. Reclusive Decay
    Street Tombs
39. Wreath Of Bleeding Snowfall
    Kommodus
40. Black Medium Current
    Dødheimsgard

National Book Award: Fiction 2023

[see also Nonfiction 2023 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2019 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2013 • Nonfiction 2013]

Winner

• Blackouts
  Justin Torres

Finalists

• Chain-Gang All-Stars
  Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Temple Folk
  Aaliyah Bilal
• This Other Eden
  Paul Harding
• The End of Drum-Time
  Hanna Pylväinen

Longlist

• Night Watch
  Jayne Anne Phillips
• Ponyboy
  Eliot Duncan
• Loot
  Tania James
• A Council of Dolls
  Mona Susan Power
• Holler, Child
  LaToya Watkins

National Book Award: Nonfiction 2023

[see also Fiction 2023 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2019 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2013 • Nonfiction 2013]

Winner

• The Rediscovery of America

  Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
  Ned Blackhawk

Finalists

• Liliana's Invincible Summer

  A Sister's Search for Justice
  Cristina Rivera Garza
• Ordinary Notes
  Christina Sharpe
• We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I

  A Palestinian Memoir
  Raja Shehadeh
• Fire Weather

  A True Story from a Hotter World
  John Vaillant

Longlist

• King

  A Life
  Jonathan Eig
• The Slip

  The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever
  Prudence Peiffer
• When Crack Was King

  A People's History of a Misunderstood Era
  Donovan X. Ramsey
• A Man of Two Faces

  a Memoir, a History, a Memorial
  Viet Thanh Nguyen
• I Saw Death Coming

  A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction
  Kidada E. Williams

National Book Award: Poetry 2023

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2013]

Winner

• from unincorporated territory [åmot]
  Craig Santos Perez

Finalists

• How to Communicate
  John Lee Clark
• suddenly we
  Evie Shockley
• Tripas
  Brandon Som
• From From
  Monica Youn

Longlist

• Vexations
  Annelyse Gelman
• Promises of Gold
  José Olivarez
• West

  A Translation
  Paisley Rekdal
• Trace Evidence
  Charif Shanahan
• The Diaspora Sonnets
  Oliver de la Paz

The Washington Post: The 10 Best Books of 2023

[see also 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2021 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 10 Best Books of 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2020 • Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • The 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The Ten Best Books of 2014 • Top 10 Books of 2013 • The 10 Best Books of 2012]

Fiction

• The Bee Sting
  Paul Murray
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
  James McBride
• Loot
  Tania James
• The MANIAC
  Benjamin Labatut
• North Woods
  Daniel Mason

Nonfiction

• The Bathysphere Book

  Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths
  Brad Fox
• How to Say Babylon

  A Memoir
  Safiya Sinclair
• Judgment at Tokyo

  World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia
  Gary J. Bass
• King

  A Life
  Jonathan Eig
• The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts

  The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative
  Gregg Hecimovich

The Washington Post: 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2021 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 10 Best Books of 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2020 • Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • The 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The Ten Best Books of 2014 • Top 10 Books of 2013 • The 10 Best Books of 2012]

• The 272

  The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church
  Rachel L. Swarns
• Affinities

  On Art and Fascination
  Brian Dillon
• Althea

  The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson
  Sally H. Jacobs
• American Gun

  The True Story of the AR-15
  Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson
• The Art Thief

  A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
  Michael Finkel
• The Best Minds

  A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
  Jonathan Rosen
• The Big Break

  The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind
  Ben Terris
• Built from the Fire

  The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street
  Victor Luckerson
• Collision of Power

  Trump, Bezos, and the Washington Post
  Martin Baron
• Correction

  Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change
  Ben Austen
• The Country of the Blind

  A Memoir at the End of Sight
  Andrew Leland
• The Critic's Daughter

  A Memoir
  Priscilla Gilman
• Democracy Awakening

  Notes on the State of America
  Heather Cox Richardson
• The Dictionary People

  The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
  Sarah Ogilvie
• Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You

  A Memoir
  Lucinda Williams
• Fatherland

  A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets
  Burkhard Bilger
• A Fever in the Heartland

  The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
  Timothy Egan
• Fire Weather

  A True Story from a Hotter World
  John Vaillant
• George

  A Magpie Memoir
  Frieda Hughes
• Gun Country

  Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America
  Andrew C. McKevitt
• An Inconvenient Cop

  My Fight to Change Policing in America
  Eric Raymond
• Leg

  The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It
  Greg Marshall
• Liliana's Invincible Summer

  A Sister's Search for Justice
  Cristina Rivera Garza
• Lives of the Wives

  Five Literary Marriages
  Carmela Ciuraru
• Lou Reed

  The King of New York
  Will Hermes
• Monsters

  A Fan's Dilemma
  Claire Dederer
• Number Go Up

  Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall
  Zeke Faux
• Of Time and Turtles

  Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell
  Sy Montgomery
• Pageboy
  Elliot Page
• The People's Hospital

  Hope and Peril in American Medicine
  Ricardo Nuila
• The Possibility of Life

  Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos
  Jaime Green
• President Garfield

  From Radical to Unifier
  C.W. Goodyear
• The Red Hotel

  Moscow 1941, the Metropol Hotel, and the Untold Story of Stalin's Propaganda War
  Alan Philips
• The Rediscovery of America

  Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
  Ned Blackhawk
• Saying It Loud

  1966―The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement
  Mark Whitaker
• The Secret Gate

  A True Story of Courage and Sacrifice During the Collapse of Afghanistan
  Mitchell Zuckoff
• Spare
  Prince Harry
• Starkweather

  The Untold Story of the Killing Spree That Changed America
  Harry N MacLean
• The Story of a Life
  Konstantin Paustovsky
• To Free the Captives

  A Plea for the American Soul
  Tracy K. Smith
• UFO

  The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here―and Out There
  Garrett M. Graff
• Under the Eye of Power

  How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy
  Colin Dickey
• The Upside-Down World

  Meetings with the Dutch Masters
  Benjamin Moser
• The Wager

  A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
  David Grann
• Waiting to Be Arrested at Night

  A Uyghur Poet's Memoir of China's Genocide
  Tahir Hamut Izgil
• We Were Once a Family

  A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
  Roxanna Asgarian
• When Crack Was King

  A People's History of a Misunderstood Era
  Donovan X. Ramsey
• Winnie and Nelson

  Portrait of a Marriage
  Jonny Steinberg
• Without Children

  The Long History of Not Being a Mother
  Peggy O'Donnell Heffington
• The Wounded World

  W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War
  Chad L. Williams

The Washington Post: 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2021 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 10 Best Books of 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2020 • Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • The 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The Ten Best Books of 2014 • Top 10 Books of 2013 • The 10 Best Books of 2012]

• After the Funeral and Other Stories
  Tessa Hadley
• After Sappho
  Selby Wynn Schwartz
• Age of Vice
  Deepti Kapoor
• Barbara Isn’t Dying
  Alina Bronsky (translated by Tim Mohr)
• Birnam Wood
  Eleanor Catton
• Blackouts
  Justin Torres
• Chain-Gang All-Stars
  Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Confidence
  Rafael Frumkin
• Crook Manifesto
  Colson Whitehead
• Dayswork
  Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel
• Devil Makes Three
  Ben Fountain
• Enter Ghost
  Isabella Hammad
• Family Meal
  Bryan Washington
• Family Lore
  Elizabeth Acevedo
• The Faraway World
  Patricia Engel
• The Fraud
  Zadie Smith
• The Guest
  Emma Cline
• A Haunting on the Hill
  Elizabeth Hand
• Hello Beautiful
  Ann Napolitano
• The House of Doors
  Tan Twang Eng
• The House on Via Gemito
  Domenico Starnone
• The Iliad
  Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
• I Have Some Questions for You
  Rebecca Makkai
• I Will Greet the Sun Again
  Khashayar J. Khabushani
• In Memoriam
  Alice Winn
• Let Us Descend
  Jesmyn Ward
• Lone Women
  Victor LaValle
• The Madstone
  Elizabeth Crook
• The Most Secret Memory of Men
  Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
• My Father's House
  Joseph O'Connor
• My Name Is Iris
  Brando Skyhorse
• The New Naturals
  Gabriel Bump
• No One Prayed Over Their Graves
  Khaled Khalifa
• Old God's Time
  Sebastian Barry
• Open Throat
  Henry Hoke
• Our Share of Night
  Mariana Enriquez
• The Reformatory
  Tananarive Due
• Same Bed Different Dreams
  Ed Park
• Small Mercies
  Dennis Lehane
• Straw Dogs of the Universe
  Ye Chun
• The Sunset Crowd
  Karin Tanabe
• Tom Lake
  Ann Patchett
• Tremor
  Teju Cole
• The Unsettled
  Ayana Mathis
• Up With the Sun
  Thomas Mallon
• Vengeance Is Mine
  Marie NDiaye
• Victory City
  Salman Rushdie
• Vintage Contemporaries
  Dan Kois
• The Wren, the Wren
  Anne Enright
• The World and All That It Holds
  Aleksandar Hemon

Rough Trade: UK Albums of the Year 2023

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019]

1. Strange Disciple
   Nation of Language
2. Javelin
   Sufjan Stevens
3. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
   Caroline Polachek
4. False Lankum
   Lankum
5. Heavy Heavy
   Young Fathers
6. Black Classical Music
   Yussef Dayes
7. I Thought I Was Better Than You
   Baxter Dury
8. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
   Armand Hammer
9. Good Lies
   Overmono
10. Chaos For The Fly
    Grian Chatten
11. Rat Saw God
    Wednesday
12. Stereo Mind Game
    Daughter
13. The Nation's Most Central Location
    Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan
14. Aşk
    Altın Gün
15. Chronicles of a Diamond
    Black Pumas
16. Wait Til I Get Over
    Durand Jones
17. Fuse
    Everything but the Girl
18. Blondshell
    Blondshell
19. I've Seen a Way
    Mandy, Indiana
20. Brain Worms
    RVG

Mojo Magazine: 75 Best Albums of 2023. I took the liberty of changing #56 to the recent Janelle Monáe album instead of the one that came out in 2013, which I imagine is what they meant.

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Ballad of Darren
   Blur
2. I Inside the Old Year Dying
   PJ Harvey
3. False Lankum
   Lankum
4. The Candle And The Flame
   Robert Forster
5. Heavy Heavy
   Young Fathers
6. Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
   Lana Del Rey
7. Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
   Jaimie Branch
8. Seven Psalms
   Paul Simon
9. Fuse
   Everything but the Girl
10. The Greater Wings
    Julie Byrne
11. Cousin
    Wilco
12. Sea of Mirrors
    The Coral
13. Travel
    The Necks
14. Chaos For The Fly
    Grian Chatten
15. The Last Rotation Of Earth
    BC Camplight
16. Love in Exile
    Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily
17. the record
    boygenius
18. Imagine This Is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities
    James Holden
19. Council Skies
    Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
20. Relentless
    The Pretenders
21. Maps
    Billy Woods & Kenny Segal
22. Mercy
    John Cale
23. Nothing Lasts Forever
    Teenage Fanclub
24. All Of This Is Chance
    Lisa O'Neill
25. This Stupid World
    Yo La Tengo
26. My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross
    Anohni and the Johnsons
27. Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! and the Possibilities of Modern Shopping
    Mozart Estate
28. London Ko
    Fatoumata Diawara
29. Cacti
    Billy Nomates
30. The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
    Sparks
31. Javelin
    Sufjan Stevens
32. Jump On It
    Bill Orcutt
33. Joan Of All
    Sarabeth Tucek
34. Black Rainbows
    Corinne Bailey Rae
35. Memento Mori
    Depeche Mode
36. Archangel Hill
    Shirley Collins
37. UK Grim
    Sleaford Mods
38. Turn the Car Around
    Gaz Coombes
39. everything is alive
    Slowdive
40. Dead Meat
    The Tubs
41. I Play My Bass Loud
    Gina Birch
42. On Pain
    Lloyd Cole
43. Animals
    Kassa Overall
44. Defiance Part 1
    Ian Hunter
45. Blómi
    Susanne Sundfør
46. Pieces of Treasure
    Rickie Lee Jones
47. Isn't It Now?
    Animal Collective
48. The Feminine Divine
    Dexys
49. Intercepted Message
    Osees
50. The Window Is The Dream
    Jana Horn
51. Curyman
    Rogê
52. Angel Numbers
    Hamish Hawk
53. Space Heavy
    King Krule
54. Jelly Road
    Blake Mills
55. Sundown
    Eddie Chacon
56. The Age of Pleasure
    Janelle Monáe
57. Weathervanes
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
58. Oh Me Oh My
    Lonnie Holley
59. Hit Parade
    Róisín Murphy
60. Every Loser
    Iggy Pop
61. Being
    Baaba Maal
62. Angels & Queens
    Gabriels
63. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
    Mitski
64. Everything Harmony
    The Lemon Twigs
65. End of World
    Public Image Ltd.
66. Eat the Worm
    Jonathan Wilson
67. Mélusine
    Cécile McLorin Salvant
68. Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth
    Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth
69. Tracey Denim
    Bar Italia
70. O Yinne!
    Alogte Oho and his Sounds of Joy
71. Reflections of a Soul Dimension
    Edgar Jones
72. Valley Of Heart's Delight
    Margo Cilker
73. Protect Your Light
    Irreversible Entanglements
74. Silver
    Say She She
75. Black Bayou
    Robert Finley

Uncut Magazine: 75 Best Albums of 2023

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. False Lankum
   Lankum
2. Seven Psalms
   Paul Simon
3. Cousin
   Wilco
4. I Inside the Old Year Dying
   PJ Harvey
5. This Stupid World
   Yo La Tengo
6. Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
   Lana Del Rey
7. Oh Me Oh My
   Lonnie Holley
8. First Two Pages of Frankenstein
   The National
9. The Greater Wings
   Julie Byrne
10. Mercy
    John Cale
11. Weathervanes
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
12. everything is alive
    Slowdive
13. The Ballad of Darren
    Blur
14. Black Rainbows
    Corinne Bailey Rae
15. Valley Of Heart's Delight
    Margo Cilker
16. I Am Not There Anymore
    The Clientele
17. All Of This Is Chance
    Lisa O'Neill
18. Hackney Diamonds
    The Rolling Stones
19. Sea of Mirrors
    The Coral
20. Jump for Joy
    Hiss Golden Messenger
21. Travel
    The Necks
22. Archangel Hill
    Shirley Collins
23. Dear Departed
    Sam Burton
24. The Candle And The Flame
    Robert Forster
25. Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing
    Kassi Valazza
26. the record
    boygenius
27. An Ever Changing View
    Matthew Halsall
28. Joan Of All
    Sarabeth Tucek
29. Memento Mori
    Depeche Mode
30. Rat Saw God
    Wednesday
31. Being
    Baaba Maal
32. Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
    Jaimie Branch
33. Love in Exile
    Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily
34. Anarchist Gospel
    Sunny War
35. Nothing Lasts Forever
    Teenage Fanclub
36. Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth
    Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth
37. Sundown
    Eddie Chacon
38. My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross
    Anohni and the Johnsons
39. villagers
    Califone
40. Ozarker
    Israel Nash
41. V
    Unknown Mortal Orchestra
42. The Last Rotation Of Earth
    BC Camplight
43. Jelly Road
    Blake Mills
44. Fuse
    Everything but the Girl
45. Multitudes
    Feist
46. No Fixed Point In Space
    Modern Nature
47. She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living
    Cian Nugent
48. The Returner
    Allison Russell
49. Strays
    Margo Price
50. Standers
    Craven Faults
51. London Brew
    London Brew
52. The Feminine Divine
    Dexys
53. Amatssou
    Tinariwen
54. 12
    Ryuichi Sakamoto
55. Relentless
    The Pretenders
56. She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living
    Cian Nugent
57. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
    Kara Jackson
58. Goodbye, Hotel Arkada
    Mary Lattimore
59. The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
    Sparks
60. Shone a Rainbow Light On
    Setting
61. London Ko
    Fatoumata Diawara
62. Emotional Contracts
    Deer Tick
63. Furling
    Meg Baird
64. Intercepted Message
    Osees
65. Consciousology
    Dot Allison
66. Hands That Bind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    Jim O’Rourke
67. Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You
    Bonnie “Prince” Billy
68. UK Grim
    Sleaford Mods
69. Come With Fierce Grace
    Alabaster DePlume
70. Isn't It Now?
    Animal Collective
71. Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet
    Steve Gunn & David Moore
72. Javelin
    Sufjan Stevens
73. Chaos For The Fly
    Grian Chatten
74. Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay
    Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay
75. III
    Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble