The Best Indie Artists Of 2023

Jared Baly
Updated October 2, 2023 1.1K votes 212 voters
Over 200 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Indie Artists Of 2023

Who are the best indie artists of 2023, you might ask? From Grammy Award winner St. Vincent to multi-talented crossover artist Steve Lacy, we've featured all of your favorite indie singer-songwriters and groups who've released new music this year. Indie rock bands Glass Animals, Arctic Monkeys, the xx, and the Lumineers never cease to excite fans with their electrifying records, and sultry pop vocalists FLETCHER and Omar Apollo fearlessly defy industry norms with their empowering lyrics and unparalleled artistry. Dynamic sister group Haim are touring with the-one-and-only Taylor Swift; and Maggie Rogers continues riding the high from her sensational sophomore album Surrender. 

Which of these indie singers and supergroups will win a Grammy next year? Whose new albums are you currently listening to across Spotify and Apple Music? Vote up the best indie bands and musicians of 2023, and feel free to check out their latest records and discographies afterwards if you'd like to discover more of their incredible music. 

Ranked by
  • Arctic Monkeys
    1
    Arctic Monkeys is an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Matt Helders (drums, vocals), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards) and Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals). Former band member Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released. They have released six studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009), Suck It and See (2011), AM (2013) and Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018), as well as one live album, At the Apollo (2008). Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in UK chart history, and in 2013, Rolling Stone ranked it the 30th-greatest debut album.The band has won seven Brit Awards – winning both Best British Group and Best British Album three times, and have been nominated for five Grammy Awards. They also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album, in addition to receiving nominations in 2007, 2013 and 2018. The band have headlined at the Glastonbury Festival twice, in 2007 and again in 2013. Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first bands to come to public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.
  • Tame Impala
    2

    Tame Impala

    100 votes
    Tame Impala is the psychedelic recording project of Kevin Parker, from Perth, Australia, and signed to Modular Recordings. The band rose to prominence in 2010 with the release of its debut album Innerspeaker and received critical acclaim for its 2012 album Lonerism. On April 5, 2015 the band announced that their third album, Currents, would be released later in 2015. The band name "Tame Impala" is a reference to the impala, a medium-sized antelope.
  • Mitski
    3

    Mitski

    85 votes
    Mitski Miyawaki (born Mitsuki Laycock; September 27, 1990) is a Japanese-born American singer-songwriter. Mitski self-released her first two albums, Lush (2012) and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), while studying studio composition at Purchase College's Conservatory of Music. These albums were created originally as her senior project at Purchase. She released her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek, in 2014 through Double Double Whammy after graduating. She then signed with Dead Oceans in 2015 and released her critically acclaimed albums Puberty 2 (2016), Be the Cowboy (2018) and Laurel Hell (2022), the last of which entered the top ten in several territories. The Guardian dubbed her the "best young songwriter" in the United States.
  • The Lumineers
    4
    The Lumineers are an American folk rock band based in Denver, Colorado. The founding members are Wesley Schultz (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, piano). Schultz and Fraites began writing and performing together in Ramsey, New Jersey in 2005. Cellist and vocalist Neyla Pekarek (cello) joined the band in 2010, and was a member until 2018. The Lumineers emerged as one of the most popular folk-rock/Americana artists during the revival of those genres, their popularity growing in the 2010s. The band's stripped back raw sound draws heavily from artists that influenced Schultz and Fraites such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. They are known for their energetic live shows and several international hit singles including "Ho Hey", "Stubborn Love", "Ophelia" "Angela" and "Cleopatra." The band has become one of the top touring bands in the United States and is also popular in other countries.
  • Glass Animals
    5
    Glass Animals are a British indie rock band formed in Oxford in 2010. Led by singer, songwriter, and producer Dave Bayley, the group also features his childhood friends Joe Seaward, Ed Irwin-Singer and Drew MacFarlane. Bayley wrote and produced all three Glass Animals albums. The first, Zaba (2014), spawned the single "Gooey," which was eventually certified platinum in the United States. Their second full album, How to Be a Human Being, received generally positive reviews and won in two categories at the 2018 MPG Awards for UK Album of the Year and Self Producing Artist of the Year, as well as a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist. The third, Dreamland, their first fully autobiographical album, included the single "Tokyo Drifting" which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. Their song "Heat Waves" reached number one in Australia in February 2021 and was voted number one on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2020.
  • The Black Keys
    6
    The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their records, before they eventually emerged as one of the most popular garage rock artists during a second wave of the genre's revival in the 2000s. The band's raw blues rock sound draws heavily from Auerbach's blues influences, including Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson. Friends since childhood, Auerbach and Carney founded the group after dropping out of college. After signing with indie label Alive, they released their debut album, The Big Come Up (2002), which earned them a new deal with Fat Possum Records. Over the next decade, the Black Keys built an underground fanbase through extensive touring of small clubs, frequent album releases and music festival appearances, and broad licensing of their songs.