Top Music 2026

0:00 We rank Choosin' Texas by Ella Langley the number 1 song of 2026. It has been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 27 weeks, every one of them in 2026 (chart dated Nov 14, 2026, read Nov 11, 2026), which passed the 22 weeks of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You as the longest run at No. 1 in the chart's history, as the Associated Press reported at week 23 (Sep 22, 2026). It was also the most-streamed song in the United States in the first half of the year, with 570.9 million on-demand audio streams (Luminate, Jan 2 to Jul 2, 2026). By our rule it has 128 points; the runner-up, Olivia Dean's Man I Need, has 63. We think the sharpest fact about this list is the one the record headlines skip: the biggest American hit ever counted has not spent a single week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, where its peak is No. 2. This is 2026 so far, read on Nov 11, 2026, with six weekly charts of the year still to come.

We think Choosin' Texas will be No. 1 on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 Songs chart for 2026, and Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem will be No. 1 on its year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart, when Billboard publishes both in December 2026. Our reasons are the 27 weeks above and the fact that I'm the Problem led Luminate's midyear album ranking with 2.035 million units, almost 400,000 ahead of the next album.

Confidence: Likely. Check by: Jan 2027.

The top 25 songs of 2026

Best first: 3 points for each week at No. 1 and 1 point for each other week in the top 10, on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Global 200, over the 46 weekly charts dated Jan 3 to Nov 14, 2026, all read on Nov 11, 2026. The Hot 100 and Global 200 columns show weeks at No. 1 / weeks in the top 10 in 2026, and each links to the latest chart on which the song sat in the top 10. US streams are Luminate's on-demand audio count for Jan 2 to Jul 2, 2026, published only for its top 10.

Two of the 25 were written for films, Golden for KPop Demon Hunters and I Knew It, I Knew You for Toy Story 5 (each upload's title names its film), and the films of the year have their own ranking in Top Movies 2026.

The top 5, one by one

1. Choosin' Texas, Ella Langley. It entered the Hot 100 on the chart dated Nov 1, 2025, reached No. 1 on Feb 14, 2026, and has been knocked off the top six times and come back six times, most recently on Oct 31 after three weeks of Taylor Swift's Patient Zero. Of the 46 Hot 100 charts of 2026 it has led 27; the other 12 chart-toppers of the year led 19 between them. The Associated Press, citing Luminate, put it at 911 million on-demand streams in the US and 1.26 billion worldwide as of mid-August 2026. Spotify counted 70 days at No. 1 in the US for it over the summer (published Sep 3, 2026). We think no song released in 2026 gets within 60 points of it by the end of December.

2. Man I Need, Olivia Dean. The best argument for counting weeks instead of peaks: it never reached No. 1 on either chart (peak No. 2 on both), yet it spent 37 weeks in the Hot 100 top 10 and 26 in the Global 200 top 10 this year. Luminate had it second in US streams at midyear with 340.2 million. In the UK it is the biggest single of the year, at 1,619,879 chart units in 2026 according to Official Charts Company figures in Music Week (Aug 21, 2026), and the Official Charts list 38 weeks in the UK top 10 for it in all (read Nov 11, 2026). We think it is the most underrated hit of the year, because a song that is never No. 1 never gets a headline.

3. Ordinary, Alex Warren. A 2025 song: all 10 of its weeks at No. 1 on each chart came before this year. It is third anyway on staying power alone, 20 weeks in the Hot 100 top 10 and 28 in the Global 200 top 10 in 2026, and Luminate had it third in US streams at midyear with 322.8 million. We think a list of 2026 should say plainly that its number 3 is a holdover, and this one is.

4. hate that i made you love me, Ariana Grande. The highest song on the list that was released in 2026. It debuted at No. 1 on both charts dated Jun 13, 2026, and went back to the top of the Global 200 twice more, on Jul 11 and Aug 15. Spotify named it the most-streamed song of the summer on its service, with 22 days at No. 1 on its global chart and 89 days in its global top 10. It has spent 22 of its 23 weeks in the Hot 100 top 10 and is still there.

5. Dracula, Tame Impala and JENNIE. Fifth without a week at No. 1 anywhere: its peaks are No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Global 200, both read on the Nov 14, 2026 charts, where it is in its 58th week on the Hot 100 and still in both top 10s. Its 24 weeks in the Hot 100 top 10 match Be Her and So Easy (To Fall In Love), and it adds 19 in the worldwide top 10. We think it passes hate that i made you love me for fourth before the year ends, since it trails by four points and is in both top 10s, while hers is left in the Hot 100 top 10 only.

The top 10 albums of 2026

The same points on the Billboard 200: 3 for each week at No. 1 and 1 for each other week in the top 10, over the charts dated Jan 3 to Nov 14, 2026. The Billboard 200 column shows weeks at No. 1 / weeks in the top 10 in 2026 and links to the latest chart with the album in the top 10. US units are Luminate's equivalent album units for Jan 2 to Jul 2, 2026, published only for its top 10. The Play column is an official upload of a song from the album where we could confirm one.

Michael Jackson's Thriller is 11th with 16 points and is No. 2 on the Nov 14 chart, so it can still finish in the 10. Twenty-eight different albums were No. 1 in these 46 weeks, and more than half of them spent three weeks or fewer in the top 10.

How we ranked

The sources. Billboard's own chart pages: the Hot 100 (the US songs chart), the Global 200 (its worldwide songs chart) and the Billboard 200 (US albums). We opened every weekly chart dated Jan 3, 2026 to Nov 14, 2026, which is 46 charts of each, on Nov 11, 2026, and counted positions 1 to 10 ourselves. Each chart lives at the same address with its date at the end, and all of them are linked under Sources.

The points. A week at No. 1 is worth 3 points. A week at No. 2 to No. 10 is worth 1 point. A song adds its Hot 100 points to its Global 200 points; an album has its Billboard 200 points only. So Choosin' Texas has 27 x 3 + 18 on the Hot 100 and 29 on the Global 200: 128.

Ties. More weeks at No. 1 across the charts wins, then more weeks in the top 10, then the larger Luminate midyear figure. That is how Swim sits above So Easy (To Fall In Love) at 33 points, Dai Dai above stupid song at 28, and ICEMAN above Olivia Rodrigo's album at 29.

A check on our count. Billboard prints each song's total weeks at No. 1 on the chart itself. Its figure for Choosin' Texas on Nov 14 is 27, and so is ours.

What is left out, and why. Nothing is removed by hand. A song counts only for its 2026 weeks, whenever it was released, so Ordinary and Golden score without their 2025 weeks at No. 1, and Billie Jean and Beauty and a Beat are here because they were in the worldwide top 10 this year. The last of the 25, Opalite, has 15 points; Kehlani's Folded also has 15 and misses on the first tie-break, having no week at No. 1.

Streams are shown, not scored. Luminate published first-half stream counts for 10 songs only, and Spotify's public reports give days on its charts, not totals. A ranking by streams would have to guess at the other 15, so we did not make one.

What the rule cannot see. It is blind below No. 10 and to the margin of a win. It weighs the US twice, once in the Hot 100 and again inside the Global 200. It sees no single country other than the US, which is why Rein Me In by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean, the UK's second-biggest single of the year at 1,534,431 units (Music Week, Aug 21, 2026), is not in our 25. A chart dated Jan 3 measures the last days of December 2025. And the year is not over: the holiday songs return in December, and the charts dated Nov 21 onward are not counted yet.

What we think

We think the No. 1 debut is the most overrated event in pop. Janice STFU opened at No. 1 on both charts on May 30 and was out of the Hot 100 top 10 eight weeks later; drop dead did the same on May 2 and has seven weeks there in all. Man I Need never led either chart and has three times the points of either. Thirteen songs were No. 1 on the Hot 100 this year, and only five of them (Choosin' Texas, I Just Might, hate that i made you love me, I Knew It, I Knew You and The Fate of Ophelia) stayed in its top 10 for 13 weeks or more in 2026.

We think Dai Dai is the most underrated song on the list. Shakira and Burna Boy's World Cup song led the Global 200 for seven weeks, more than any other song in 2026, and Spotify counted 37 days at No. 1 on its global chart, yet it never entered the Hot 100 top 10. A reader who follows only US charts would not know the biggest worldwide hit of the summer existed. The same split runs the other way for Be Her, with 24 weeks in the US top 10 and none in the world's.

We disagree with Spotify's Songs of Summer on one point of emphasis. Spotify calls hate that i made you love me the season's most-streamed song, and for June to August that is its count to make. Over the whole year the same song is fourth by our rule, behind three songs released in 2025, and we think "song of the summer" lists flatter new releases by starting the clock on their release day. We also part ways with the UK view: Music Week reports Harry Styles's Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. as the UK's biggest album released in 2026, and on the Billboard 200 it is 15th by our points, with two weeks at No. 1 and five in the top 10.

We think 2026 was a weak year for new songs and a strong one for old ones. Seven of our top 10 were on the charts before the year began (Choosin' Texas, Man I Need, Ordinary, Dracula, The Fate of Ophelia, So Easy and Golden), Billie Jean and Beauty and a Beat both reached No. 1 worldwide, and Thriller is the No. 2 song and the No. 2 album in the US on the latest charts.

Sources

• Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem, Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas Lead Luminate's 2026 Midyear Rankings, Billboard, Jul 15, 2026, read Nov 11, 2026
• Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas becomes longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard Hot 100, Associated Press on FOX Carolina, Sep 22, 2026, read Nov 11, 2026
• These Are Spotify's 2026 Songs of Summer, Spotify Newsroom, Sep 3, 2026, read Nov 11, 2026
• Raye's Where Is My Husband! tops 1m units in 2026, Music Week, Aug 21, 2026, read Nov 11, 2026
• Man I Need by Olivia Dean, chart history, Official Charts, read Nov 11, 2026
• Billboard Hot 100, Billboard, the 46 weekly charts dated Jan 3 to Nov 14, 2026, all read Nov 11, 2026: Jan 3, Jan 10, Jan 17, Jan 24, Jan 31, Feb 7, Feb 14, Feb 21, Feb 28, Mar 7, Mar 14, Mar 21, Mar 28, Apr 4, Apr 11, Apr 18, Apr 25, May 2, May 9, May 16, May 23, May 30, Jun 6, Jun 13, Jun 20, Jun 27, Jul 4, Jul 11, Jul 18, Jul 25, Aug 1, Aug 8, Aug 15, Aug 22, Aug 29, Sep 5, Sep 12, Sep 19, Sep 26, Oct 3, Oct 10, Oct 17, Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7, Nov 14
• Billboard Global 200, Billboard, the 46 weekly charts dated Jan 3 to Nov 14, 2026, all read Nov 11, 2026: Jan 3, Jan 10, Jan 17, Jan 24, Jan 31, Feb 7, Feb 14, Feb 21, Feb 28, Mar 7, Mar 14, Mar 21, Mar 28, Apr 4, Apr 11, Apr 18, Apr 25, May 2, May 9, May 16, May 23, May 30, Jun 6, Jun 13, Jun 20, Jun 27, Jul 4, Jul 11, Jul 18, Jul 25, Aug 1, Aug 8, Aug 15, Aug 22, Aug 29, Sep 5, Sep 12, Sep 19, Sep 26, Oct 3, Oct 10, Oct 17, Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7, Nov 14
• Billboard 200, Billboard, the 46 weekly charts dated Jan 3 to Nov 14, 2026, all read Nov 11, 2026: Jan 3, Jan 10, Jan 17, Jan 24, Jan 31, Feb 7, Feb 14, Feb 21, Feb 28, Mar 7, Mar 14, Mar 21, Mar 28, Apr 4, Apr 11, Apr 18, Apr 25, May 2, May 9, May 16, May 23, May 30, Jun 6, Jun 13, Jun 20, Jun 27, Jul 4, Jul 11, Jul 18, Jul 25, Aug 1, Aug 8, Aug 15, Aug 22, Aug 29, Sep 5, Sep 12, Sep 19, Sep 26, Oct 3, Oct 10, Oct 17, Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7, Nov 14