Top 10 Music Producers of 2023

From Spanish-language crossovers to psychedelic rap, 2023 was a year full of musical surprises. Presented in no particular order, let’s take a moment to recognize the top 10 music producers in 2023 who were the creative forces behind this year’s most captivating sounds. 

Mark Ronson

A perennial fixture on any list of top music producers, Mark Ronson managed to pull off a new trick in 2023—producing the soundtrack for the year’s biggest movie, Barbie. The first single from the album, Dua Lipa's “Dance the Night,” hit the top of the charts in ten countries, and cracked the top ten in another 25. The followup singles by artists Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Charli XCX, and Ice Spice were also massive global hits. But clearly, the song that will live forever in the hearts of movie lovers for generations will be the Ronson-produced (and co-written) “I’m Just Ken.”

Jack Antonoff 

Coming hot off the heels of co-producing Taylor Swift’s record-breaking album Midnights, Jack Antonoff once again showed his ability to make great records that capture the zeitgeist of modern music in 2023. This year, his work with Lana Del Rey on her album Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd proved to be both a critical and commercial success, earning the three-time Grammy winner yet another nomination for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical). 

Taylor Swift

Did she train as an engineer? No. Did she pay her dues in the studio by making tea for some producer? Nope. (Although if she did make any tea, it was certainly as a kind gesture and not as a dues-paying exercise). But has she dominated music for 17 years straight and somehow topped herself every year? Absolutely. While she never really bills herself as a producer, she did co-produce two, #1 albums in 2023. In fact, she co-produced every single album she’s made since her sophomore release Fearless in 2008. Not only that, she’s arguably the best A&R in the business if you’re judging by who she chooses as collaborators. Her selection of producers includes indie-rock icons like Aaron Dessner, electronic music pioneers like Imogen Heap, and established hitmakers like Max Martin, proving she has a pulse for who the best of the best really are. For anyone who thinks Taylor Swift isn’t “really” a producer, we invite you to write, record, and produce 14 hit records in a row. Then come back to us. 

Andrew Watt

Perhaps one of the biggest musical surprises in 2023 was the release of Hackney Diamonds by the Rolling Stones, their first album of all-new material in 18 years. What’s even more surprising is how damn good it is. But perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise considering super-producer Andrew Watt was behind the board. Watt is a unique, multi-talented music maker who’s shown a rare ability to move between genres while sounding like a master of all of them. Not only did the former Justin Beiber guitarist produce some of the best rock albums in 2023 (including Iggy Pop’s fantastic Every Loser), he continued to dominate in pop and hip hop with hit records from Post Malone, The Kid Laroi, and Ellie Goulding. His success is a testament to being a producer who doesn’t just love one type of music, but being a producer who loves music. 

Bizzrap

Every few years, the American entertainment industry gets hyped up on the idea that we’re in the midst of an explosion of interest in Latino music. What the industry usually seems to miss is that for six hundred million Spanish-speaking people, passion for Spanish-language music has always been there. But in 2023, the global passion for Latino music clearly reached a tipping point. This year, non-Spanish speakers all over the world embraced new artists like Peso Pluma (this writer’s favorite artist of 2023). One of the driving forces behind the explosion of Spanish-language music on a global scale is the Argentinian producer Bizzrap. His track, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” was a 7x Platinum hit, and his YouTube channel (which is shot mostly in his own studio) currently counts over 21 MILLION subscribers. If you produce music, you owe it to yourself to like and subscribe. It really helps the channel. 

Catherine Marks

For Australian record producer Catherine Marks, overnight success has been 20 years in the making. Marks cut her teeth in the early noughties as an engineer and mixer under the auspices of iconic British producers Flood and Alan Moulder. Over the past two decades, she contributed to now-classic albums by artists such as PJ Harvey and Interpol, but it was in 2023 that she truly broke through with her production of Boygenius’ The Record. The most essential rock n roll album of the year earned seven Grammy nominations, but somehow the recording academy failed to recognize Marks with a nod for Best Producer. We didn’t. Never underestimate the creative skills of a journeyman (journeywoman?) like Catherine Marks who deeply understands every facet of music production. 

Patrick Wimberly / Justin Raisen / SadPony

In today’s era of music production, tracks are often made with a team of producers rather than by a single visionary. Obviously, this makes writing a list like this one pretty difficult. That said, one of our favorite records of the year was Lil Yachty’s Let's Start Here and we’d like to show love to the primary production forces behind the album: Patrick Wimberly, Justin Raisen, and SadPony. The opening track, “The Black Seminole,” is a straight-up psychedelic freak-out. In fact, it sounds so far away from what you’d expect from a Lil rapper that at first you might think you’re listening to an improperly labeled record. You’re not—you’re just hearing the most futuristic-sounding hip hop album in years. 

Metro Boomin

Arguably the most influential producer making trap music today, Metro Boomin has become the go-to guy for any artist looking to capture that sound. His collaborators are pretty much all of the artists who have dominated hip hop for the past decade, including Kanye West, Travis Scott, Drake, 21 Savage, and Young Thug. At the end of 2022, he dropped his second artist album, Heroes and Villains, earning the St. Louis native Grammy nominations for both Best Rap Album and Producer of the Year. In case you were wondering how popular a music producer can become in the mainstream, Metro Boomin didn’t just produce the soundtrack for  2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse—he actually makes a cameo in the film. 

David Guetta

When A-list pop stars are looking to make a crossover hit targeting the dance floor, French DJ and music producer David Guetta is usually their first call. But what makes Guetta so unique isn’t just his ability to produce crossover hits. It’s his ability to also stay so relevant in the dance music community. In 2023, Guetta was honored by both the EDM and mainstream music industry with a mountain of accolades. DJ Magazine named him the #1 DJ in the world, the Brit Awards honored him with their Producer of the Year award, and he earned Grammy nominations for Best Pop Dance Recording—for two different songs. When you’re competing against yourself for a Grammy, it’s pretty clear you’ve had a very successful year. 

You

That’s right, you. The home producer reading this list. Maybe you haven’t produced that #1 single yet. And perhaps that genre-bending, future-classic album you hear in your head still isn’t committed to track.  But for some of you reading this article, those things will happen. If you want to be that special someone, make the same commitment to music production everyone on this list made. Create music every day, learn how to use your tools, and seek inspiration from producers you admire. Because whether you know it or not, 2023 will be the year some of you turn that corner and reach that next level. We can’t wait to hear what you’re going to make.