Monthly Report: June 2026 Singles
1. In Color - "Headlights"
The Nashville band In Color makes super sleek alternapop that reminds me of stuff like The 1975, or maybe even Taylor Swift's "Style," partly because their debut single "Headlights" is also about someone driving to a nighttime rendezvous with their headlights off. "Headlights" came out over a year ago and recently creeped into the top 5 on alternative radio, they have some other good songs but this is definitely the one. Here's the 2026 singles Spotify playlist I update every month.
2. Dexter and the Moonrocks - "Freakin' Out"
This is the third year in a row that Texas quartet Dexter and the Moonrocks have had a big alternative radio hit, but "Freakin' Out" is the huge crossover one that's all over the internet and spending the last few months on the Hot 100. I wouldn't have guessed this would be the one to do that, but it's nice to see a young band that sounds like this (they call themselves "western space grunge") blow up like that. Even my wife, who doesn't listen to much radio anymore and puts a lot of songs on her playlists that she hears on reels and TikToks, knows this one.
3. Riley Green - "Change My Mind"
Riley Green's Ella Langley duet "You Look Like You Love Me" was the song that really got me to appreciate his voice, and I think this is my favorite solo single of his to date, love that guitar sound.
4. Ella Langley - "Be Her"
"Choosin' Texas" is obviously going to be hard to top, but I've been impressed at how well Langley's follow-up single has done. It's the only other country song to spend 10 weeks in the top 10 of the Hot 100 so far this year, even outperforming her Morgan Wallen duet. It's a little funny to think that Langley's two biggest hits that made her a huge crossover star are both are about envying another woman.
5. Ella Mai - "100"
Mustard sampled Gladys Knight & The Pips on this track, but I like how Ella Mai's lyric feels like an extended riff on Teddy Pendergrass's spoken bit at the end of "When Somebody Loves You Back."
6. Taylor Swift - "I Knew It, I Knew You"
Taylor Swift has notched a few minor country radio hits since she her "first documented, official pop album" 1989, enough to make it feel like the country establishment hasn't held a grudge but aren't falling over themselves to maintain ties. But her song for Toy Story 5, which has a small bit of harmonica and a sweet little melody that takes me back to some of her early albums, debuted right in the top 10 of the Country Airplay chart, her first song to get there since "Red" 12 years ago.
7. Ludacris - "Pull Over"
As a middle-aged rap fan, I don't really sit around waiting for the stars of my youth to have comebacks, I know the genre is going to keep moving forward with a new generation of rappers. But I'm happy that some of the early 2000s rappers that helped make southern rap a major commercial force have been doing well lately, T.I. and Juvenile have had some of their biggest hits in ages. And Ludacris took me back a couple decades with this fun recent single produced by one of T.I.'s longtime collaborators, DJ Toomp.
8. MGK f/ Fred Durst - "Fix Ur Face"
Last year Limp Bizkit also made their best single in over 20 years, "Making Love To Morgan Wallen." And while I hate to give Machine Gun Kelly credit for anything, his Durst collab feels like a follow-up to that, I was actually surprised that Wes Borland didn't play on "Fix Ur Face" because it really nails the sound of vintage Bizkit.
9. Madonna f/ Sabrina Carpenter - "Bring Your Love"
Anytime a young blonde woman ascends to serious pop stardom, the Madonna comparisons inevitably follow. But I feel like Sabrina Carpenter has really reminded me of Madge's classic run pretty strongly in the last couple years, especially the way she both courted and defused controversy over the cover of Man's Best Friend with humor, so I really like hearing them together. I don't think "Bring Your Love" would stand up with the best singles from Confessions On A Dancefloor, or for that matter Short n' Sweet, but it's a pretty catchy little song to set up the release of Confessions II, and I love the sentiment of the lyric. It's the most "Vogue"-sounding song on the charts since...the Lady Gaga song I wrote about last month.
10. Ariana Grande - "Hate That I Made You Love Me"
There are lines in this song that could be addressed to an ex, but I feel like the ambiguity breaks down pretty quickly and it doesn't feel like anything but a celebrity addressing her fans, detractors, and fans-turned-detractors. In fact it feels pretty dark if you follow any of the increasingly loud discourse about her health and love life. I'm not very parasocial about that stuff, I'm mostly here for the music and continue to enjoy hers, but that context looms over this song in a way that makes it sound almost ominous, I have no idea how differently this song will sound years from now as this saga unfolds.
The Worst Single of the Month: Yung Miami - "Spend Dat"
I feel like people really lean into performatively enjoying a catchy song when it's made by someone with very little talent, and people will say I hate fun for not liking "Spend Dat." But man, this song sucks, it's depressing that it's so much bigger than JT's solo stuff.
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on Monday, June 29, 2026 at 5:01 AM.
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