1. Edgehill - "Doubletake"
I was recently bitching about Geese bringing back the early 2000s trend of American indie rockers who wish they were Thom Yorke but don't have pretty voices, but Edgehill's singer has a suitably nice voice that I think they pull off a midtempo '90s Radiohead type song pretty well. Edgehill is a trio from Nashville that just signed to a major label a few months ago, some of their other songs have kind of annoying lyrics but I like their first alt-rock radio hit a lot. Here's my new 2026 singles Spotify playlist that I'll be updating throughout the year.
2. John Morgan - "Kid Myself"
North Carolina's John Morgan has written a few hits for Jason Aldean, who guested on his first big single "Friends Like These," but I really like Morgan's full-on solo single "Kid Myself." It's been slowly building on country radio for the last 6 months, I hope it gains some momentum, he's got a good voice and shouldn't just be writing for other people.
3. Ella Langley - "Choosin' Texas"
Ella Langley's first couple country radio hits were some of my favorites of 2024 and 2025, but she's ascending to another level right now, with "Choosin' Texas" rising into the top 10 of the Hot 100 this month once the Christmas songs finally went away. And it's pretty exciting and unprecedented in modern times -- the last solo song by a female country singer in the top 10 was, well, I guess you'd have to define it by whenever Taylor Swift stopped being a country singer (her last top 10 that was a country radio hit was 2012's Red, so well over a decade ago). And before that it was Carrie Underwood in 2007. In fact, Miranda Lambert co-wrote "Choosin' Texas" and it's already the highest charting song she's ever had anything to do with. I don't know if it's more the song or just the timing of Langley's career momentum, but I'm happy to see it either way.
4. Djo - "Delete Ya"
Djo also just got his first top 10 single off the strength of the "Stranger Things" finale boosting the streaming numbers of every piece of music featured in the show or made by its cast members, especially Joe Keery. "End of Beginning" was already as big as it could get on alternative radio in 2024, though, so that's old news, I like his current radio single, hopefully it gets some runoff buzz as well.
5. Sombr - "12 to 12"
I like that this is a bit faster than the Sombr's first two big breakthrough hits, it feels so disco to me that I was a little surprised that it's done better on rock radio than pop radio.
6. Bad Omens - "Dying To Love"
My wife's always been a little more into heavier contemporary rock than me and the Virginia metalcore band Bad Omens has been one of her favorites in the last few years. We're going to see them live in March and I'm looking forward to it, they've been growing on me and "Dying To Love" is my favorite of the singles they've released from their fourth album, it's almost like a power ballad but it had some cool noisy electronic bits. Bad Omens are in that weird point in their career where they've never even charted on the Billboard 200 but they're headlining arenas, I think the new album is gonna do numbers when it comes out.
7. Pooh Shiesty - "FDO"
'First day out' songs that rappers release after getting out of prison or jail have a long history, with Gucci Mane's 2009 classic "First Day Out" being the definitive example. I was surprised when "FDO" was as big as it was, though. Pooh Shiesty was briefly pretty big in 2020 and 2021 before he caught a charge, but Lil Durk stole the spotlight on his biggest song at the time, and for the last few years it felt like his main impact was changing what people call a balaclava. "FDO" is a genuinely pretty impressive song, though, he really made the most of his comeback moment.
8. Wet Leg - "Mangetout"
Every Wet Leg song has at least one line that makes me roll my eyes very hard at this band and their YouTube boomer fanbase, including "Mangetout," but I think it's by far their best song, some really great riffs and vocal melodies.
9. Teyana Taylor - "Bed of Roses"
It's funny, Teyana Taylor is starting to win awards for One Battle After Another and has Oscar buzz, her acting career is really taking off, but I feel like the album she released a few months ago is kinda slept on, R&B radio is playing this and the Lucky Daye duet some but should definitely be playing them more.
10. Offset f/ Gunna - "Different Species"
The Offset/Gunna tandem continues to be great, I'm glad they finally confirmed they're gonna do a collab album.
The Worst Single of the Month: Xania Monet - "How Was I Supposed To Know?"
This 'AI R&B singer' is pretty disgusting stuff, and it's kind of insidious that they gave this character the same last name as current human R&B star Victoria Monet. People have been harping on the AI 'number one country hit' that's only appeared on digital sales/streaming charts, but this song has actually charted on R&B radio, it's pretty worrying that any stations would play this.
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