[title]
Summer 2026 has only just begun. There are still many more sun-drenched days, stretched-out evenings, mornings spent at lidos and afternoons spent dancing in fields ahead of us. But which songs will, in years to come, remind us of the memories that we make this season?
It’s too early to decisively say which artists will hold claim to the song of the summer 2026, but it’s certainly not too soon to place your bets. Time Out writers and editors have put forward 10 tunes that they reckon are in with a chance – these were each of their top picks.
Staff writer India Lawrence’s pick was Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress’s ‘Stateside + Zara Larsson’. Although the remix came out in October, India says that it is ‘it’s far better suited to the summer months’, channeling ‘ sun-drenched Los Angeles with a high-energy Y2K spirit’.
Travel writer Liv Kelly went for ‘drop dead’ by Olivia Rodrigo, a song that she says encapsulates the ‘similarity between the flutter of excitement you get when you’re dating someone new and the long-awaited, intoxicating approach of summer’.
Two years after Brat Summer, our things to do editor Rosie Hewitson reckons that ‘CRANK’ by Slayyyter is this year’s answer to Charli xcx’s thumping ‘365’. Rosie said that the track will ‘surely continue to inspire viral Instagram reels and wild nights out in equal measure throughout summer 2026, reviving the career of one of America’s most joyfully depraved pop stars in the process’.
News editor Ed Cunningham chose ‘Cotton’ by Vince Staples as his number one. ‘On the surface it’s a good vibes smash: a tune about music as a restorative force and a source of cradling joy,’ Ed wrote. But beneath that are confronting lyrics that expose how Black music is commodified and exploited.
With its ‘seductive club beat, strut-worthy production and a chorus tailored for dancefloors’, Time Out’s UK head of content Lewis Corner put forward ‘Bring Your Love’ by Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter as his song of the summer. The rest of the list includes entries from Gorillaz, Fcukers and fakemink.
🎤 Find out which track will be song of the summer for 2026 here.
Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.