The 10 songs of the summer for 2026

Swedish singer Zara Larsson is in the throes of a renaissance thanks to her blazingly sunshine-y 2025 album Midnight Sun, paired with this tight little collaboration with pop star du jour PinkPantheress. The ‘Stateside’ remix may have arrived last October but it’s far better suited to the summer months – and it’s become inescapable as a result. Sampling Adina Howard’s (or the Sugababes, depending on when you were born) ‘Freak Like Me’, with a sprinkling of ‘American Boy’ and a funky UK garage inflected bassline, ‘Stateside’ channels sun-drenched Los Angeles with a high-energy Y2K spirit. Larsson’s viral lyrics, ‘Cause I fly Stockholm to LA, leave my feelings on the plane’,  might be enough to convince even the most steadfast monogamists that a summer fling is a good idea.

There’s a similarity between the flutter of excitement you get when you’re dating someone new and the long-awaited, intoxicating approach of summer. ‘drop dead’, the lead single from Olivia Rodrigo’s third (and brilliant) album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, encapsulates that dizzying, hopeful feeling wonderfully. A giddy, heady crescendo of synthy bass, dreamy strings and melodramatic confessions – ‘If you let me stay the night / Well I think I might just have to stay forever’ – makes this not only one hell of an album opener, but a seriously catchy, inherently summery song.

Two years on from Brat Summer, it’s difficult to imagine any album coming close to having the same zeitgeist-defining cultural footprint. But if anything released this year has managed to inspire a similar feeling as hearing the lyrics ‘who the f*ck are you I’m a brat when I’m bumping that’ did in those halcyon days of early summer 2024, it’s the lead single from Slayyyter’s latest album WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA. With its pulsing, industrial beat, scuzzy vocals and feral lyrics imploring you to ‘Turn up the speakers, do not piss me off’, ‘CRANK’ occupies a similar space to brat’s most club-ready track. It’ll 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. Crank it!

The cleverest political tunes have you belting out the lyrics way before you realise just how much depth there is to them. Vince Staples is one of contemporary hip-hop’s great hook-writers, and on ‘Cotton’ his silky, understated flow combines with a deeply funky slap bass, space-age synths and clean guitar loops. On the surface it’s a good vibes smash: a tune about music as a restorative force and a source of cradling joy. But ‘Cotton’ isn’t all joyful. ‘Dance for me, dance for me’, Staples unnervingly orders on the bridge, laying bare how Black music is commodified and part of a system of exploitation that dates back to slavery – all underlined by the music video, which combines nostalgia with violence in a way that really, really stays with you.

‘Orange County’ pairs melancholy lyrics (‘It’s hard to say goodbye to someone you love’) with a cheery whistled melody, layering Anoushka Shankar’s gentle sitar and smooth vocals by Kara Jackson. Like much of Gorillaz’ latest record The Mountain – a sweeping album inspired by India – it combines sweetness with existential themes. There’s a lot going on, but the meshing of sounds turns the depressing subject matter into something far more hopeful; it’s the auditory equivalent of a ray of sunshine poking through rain clouds.

The electroclash revival romps on with hype-y New York duo Fcukers’ latest jaunty bop. Vocalist Shanny Wise’s trademark deadpan delivery extols the joys of having a guy who ‘don’t wanna make me cry, make me sad, make me wanna die / Only wanna be my man, hold my hand’ over a perky deep house melody, dispatching a pleasingly don’t-give-a-f*ck attitude while still making you want to get up and shake your hips. Perfect for a sunset cocktail before a night on a sweaty dance floor.

fakemink, with his crashing electroclash and swarming bloghouse, rattling jerk beats and ear-worming pitched-up hooks, produces bangers as a matter of course. And so, naturally, mink’s 2026 debut album Terrified (his first full-length work since 2023’s London’s Saviour, a mixtape released under his old alias 9090gate) has more than its fair share of hits, chief among which is ‘Night, Blooming Jasmine’. The dancefloor pulses through a booming beat, brittle shards of synthesiser cut across the top of the mix, an addictive hook tumbles through a tight rhyme scheme. ‘Night, Blooming Jasmine’ deserves its place in fakemink’s pantheon alongside the likes of ‘Easter Pink’, ‘Fever’ and ‘Music and Me’.

It’s been more than 20 years since Madonna and Stuart Price unleashed ‘Hung Up’ and first showed the world what an almighty combination they are. Two decades on and that pairing remains every bit as electric. This time, they’ve switched an ABBA sample for Inner City’s ‘Good Life’ while staking their claim in pop’s current pecking order with a team-up with diva du jour Sabrina Carpenter. The chart titans go toe-to-toe on ‘Bring Your Love’ over a seductive club beat, strut-worthy production and a chorus tailored for dancefloors. ‘I know where the bodies are buried,’ Madonna warns, firing a knowing wink at anyone still doubting she’s got more to say. Bring it on.

Tongue-in-cheek Aussie rave-pop outfit Confidence Man and Swedish producer DJ Seinfield might be somewhat improbable collaborators. The pair have history, though, having worked together on ‘Now U Do’, a summery little bop with filtered synths and lo-fi house beats, back in 2023. This second collab, from Seinfeld’s recent album If This Is It, is similarly party-ready, featuring sugary-sweet vocals from Janet Planet and danceable break-beats. You can imagine its optimistic melodies soundtracking a montage of cutesy summer date scenes in a medium-budget London rom-com – picnicking on Hampstead Heath! Holding hands on the way home from the pub! And who doesn’t want their summer to feel like that?

Sometimes a tune just radiates summer. Maybe it’s the tropical egg yolk sun on the cover, perhaps it’s the slinky, beach-appropriate Eurodance style or the uplifting lyrics about dreams and destinies – Thaiboy Digital’s ‘Destiny’ oozes balmy days. Almost certainly the Drain Gang member’s danciest track ever (though his DJ Billybool moniker has its fair share of thumping trance bops), Swedish production trio swedm® supply glitzy, shimmering synths, a pacey house beat and an irresistible bassline – you try not rolling your shoulder to that thing.