Awfulness in music came in so many forms in 2023. Nothing makes for a good annus horribilis like songs that promote xenophobia, racism or just overall divisiveness in the interest of trolling — so here’s a round of Fudge Rounds for strange bedfellows like Jason Aldean and Kanye West. But it’s understandable if you might think that the real scourge of the last year was the plague of songs built on lazy interpolations, which manage to ruin perfectly fine oldies as well as introduce fresh rottenness into the world. We’re looking at you, David Guetta, Jason Derulo, et al.

Is there anything much worse than a remake no one wanted — see 2023’s prime offenders, Fall Out Boy? How about the phenomenon of bad self-remakes… hello, Roger Waters? Duets Mixing sex, drugs and race into a questionable cocktail landed the combination of Travis Scott and the Weeknd on our list. Meanwhile, all due credit is due when someone seems to be inventing a brand new subgenre of cringe as effectively as Meghan Trainor does on the unfortunately unforgettable “Mother.”

Here’s a 20-song sampling of the misbegotten tracks from this past year that most made our ears bleed, or our spirits, or both.

• 'Try That in a Small Town,' Jason Aldean

  Aka “Try That in a Sundown Town.” This was a year when other country stars were making huge crossover strides, inviting curious new fans and even international markets to check out the genre. And what was Aldean’s contribution to that welcoming wave? Releasing a hostile anthem of proud xenophobia that basically amounted to putting up a “Stay the hell away… or else” sign. His defense of the song was that no one could be against the violent crime described in some of the lyrics, but these words — which sound like they were assembled in random order in a five-minute writers’ room session — weren’t nearly coherent enough for anyone to definitively state what the song is against, besides the big city. Legitimate protests were conflated with carjacking, both meriting a vigilante beatdown. (Also the epitome of big-city life: “cussing out a cop”… something that has never, ever happened outside a small-town bar, we’re certain.) As far as setting the music video in a historically well-known lynching setting, let’s be generous and give Aldean credit for not knowing about that sinister history before he shot the ominous visuals there. We could even give him credit for proabably not being consciously aware of how much the lyrics echoed the anti-civil-rights threats made in small towns in the ’60s. Now, imagine if we could just give him credit for something greater, like being a country music uniter instead of divider. Or just picking less hacky songs. —Willman

• 'Vultures,' Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign featuring Bump J

  “How am I antisemitic? I just fucked a Jewish bitch.” Enough said. —Horowitz