Billboard Global Excl US Top 20 Ranking (Winter 2026): Taylor Swift, LE SSERAFIM, Olivia Dean, ROSALIA

Welp seems like 2026 has off to a bad start. I'm already tired of the year as a whole...So how are we doing on the pop chart? Well still not much but I am glad that there are more new songs here that are interesting to me than the last seasonal ranking. At the very least from the songs that are eligible for this ranking (Songs that are below 30 weeks on the chart and I didn't talk about more than two times), they are all very varied and it's a time for me to look at the thing that I kinda missed during the holidays because most of these are from holiday period where I don't look at the chart at all. 

I'm using the chart date of January 10th but the tracking window was the rest of December after Christmas to New Years. So a lot of these songs here I have never talked about before and that's a net positive for me. Of course the quality of the songs I ranked today is a different story. So let's start with the one I'm just sick of and needs to be left behind.

20. No Batidao - ZXKAI & slxughter

Winter always the time where not a lot of people are releasing music (well I don't know about this winter because looking at the stuff will be released in January are kinda stacked). Because of that and with Christmas time being over, we always got inane novelty crap to gum up the top half of the chart. And this one is no exception and even bafflingly so because of how ubiquitous phonk is right now. I think it's just a me thing but no it's not a me thing to say that most phonk songs are very much interchangable. It only depends on the samples and that's it really. So the fact that we still have to deal with this in 2026...yikes no thanks especially when they're using AI album art. This one I guess isn't AI but it's Shadow from Sonic movie. But it's emblematic on how cheap and disposable this genre is right? 2010s Vine hit this is not next!

19. Zoo - Shakira

Haven't seen Zootopia 2 which come to think of it is a blasphemy on my end. I love Zootopia when it first came out and I have actually been in a reading play of Zootopia so I should've flocked to see the movie when it was released. And yet I have a sneaky suspicious that if I go and watch this movie, this will lead Disney to take the wrong lesson about their business practices and with AI being the main issue. Though if you want the real answer is that the friend I knew who would love it was busy at the time so yeah. Anyways Shakira shouldn't work with Disney ever again.

I swear to god whenever Shakira worked with Disney, she always made the most stiff and sterile sounding pop music I've heard and this isn't what Shakira is known for. She used to have more personality and writing chops that are distinct from her peers so why is she going back being Gazelle in this movie. And the sad part is that Zoo is very much more improved version of her last Zootopia hit. But when that improvement is sounding like Meghan Trainor doing "Waka Waka" then I'm still not impressed. Go listen to She Wolf instead if you want furry related Shakira work.

18. Gabriela - KATSEYE

Yup this shrunk on me and it's only because I'm burnt out on talking about KATSEYE. This group shouldn't have the discourse that the have if it wasn't for the fact that Grammys love them and also being a mixed race group. Because let's be honest here, if it wasn't for those this is just a basic Kpop song that would've been forgotten unless you are stanning the group's agency. Let's be real with ourselves that you can hate a group for making bad music but also condemned those who just hating on them because some of their members aren't white or Asian. But some of y'all failed that test badly and here we are. And with "Internet Girl" released with lyrics that's so bad, the productions can't save it...yeah we will revisit this conversation more and more.

17. CHANEL - Tyla

I'm so sorry Tyla but this one is mediocre at best. Who thought it was a good idea to make a Tyla song that is very blocky and trying to make her sounds like Doja Cat? I hate how her voice was mixed very loudly while also trying to downplay her. Also why is the beat actively distorting on itself when you have some good melody in there. That drum fills is actively clipping the mix and it sounded very jarring. Honestly what this reminded me of is actually that awkward period of when dancehall was co-opted in the mid to late 2000s and seems like the same thing happened with amapiano and afrobeats just lovely. 

16. Soda Pop - Saja Boys

Yeah this one also shrunk on me to the point that I'm reconsidering about Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack as a whole. I think in the long run I am not tolerating complacency or artists doing the bare minimum and to me Soda Pop just doing the bare minimum of what a Kpop song would sound like. Even the key changes ain't nothing new BTS did that a lot. Right now especially after the brutal year of 2025 where both artists are just doing the bare minimum to satisfied their fans and the looming dark shadows of AI that the music industry will shove to our throat pretend that it'll be cool and hip (it won't). I will demand artists to do more with their art. I know this is just a soundtrack for a kids movie but you know who should know better?

15. The Fate of Ophelia - Taylor Swift

Oh Taylor Swift what should we do with you huh? Well again in my worst list, The Life of A Showgirl is the most inessential Taylor Swift album ever featuring some of Taylor's worst impulses and Max Martin being washed in the 2020s. This song is very much emblematic of that. The overwrought writing of Taylor Swift paying homage to Travis Kelce saving her from "the fate of Ophelia" which I think she mixed up her and maybe Rapunzel since I don't think Ophelia was the one on the tower where she described as. Also Taylor should ease up with her AAVE not because of cultural appropriation because she's almost 40. Max Martin production here is very weak. For a guy who was famous for his big and loud productions, the drums here sure sound underpowered especially the gloss of the synth can't hide the fact that the mixing here is kinda ass. It's kinda telling though that this one is being chose as a singles because it's just catchy enough for radio to played it without people noticing the ugly stuff beneath it. Taylor please take a hiatus because at this point you are reaching for stuff to wrote about.

14. Posso Ate Nao Te Dar Flores - A lot of people

Again with the holiday lull, a lot of songs from other countries will snatched their 15 minutes of fame. And with Spotify growing in a lot of countries outside the western hemisphere, we saw a lot more songs from countries that I haven't really covered on this series before or some genres that I haven't talked about in length. Well for now we are talking about those songs starting with a real Brazilian Funk song that went very viral in Brazil a month ago that it even broke into the top 20 of this chart. And it's fine though the most notable thing about this song is they interpolated "I Gotta Feeling" at least one of the performers here. Yeah there are a lot of performers here and if I hear it enought I would noticed how different they are but right now I'm in the learning curve of talking about these genres. Speaking of learning.

13. KUSURA BAKMA - BLOK3

This is the first song from Turkiye that I have talked about before. Now this one is even bigger with this song actually on the top 10 when the Christmas period started. So BLOK3 is a Turkish rapper that got a lot of buzz in the early 2020s before he really blew up in 2025. Now I'll admit, while this song sounded very nice with the guitar, the ramshackle productions, and BLOK3 having a good singing voice, with the lack of translation and y'know being fully in Turkish I felt very distant for this song and honestly that's all I can say about it. At least I'm glad with this series talking about the Global chart that excluded US, I can learn more about music from different parts of the world and that's my main takeaway from this one.

12. Cuando No Era Cantante - El Bogueto ft. Yung Beef

Okay we got a familiar territory here being a reggaeton song made by a Mexican and Spanish rapper. El Bogueto apparently is one of the bigger act in the Mexican reggaeton scenes and Yung Beef...has one of the goofiest name ever. Anyways this song kinda grew on me primarily because of that synth line which is very catchy and so hypnotic. But make no mistake about this, this song is hugeeeeee. Currently as I typed this, this song which has a remix with Fuerza Regida and noted Trump supporter Anual AA is #3 on this chart behind The Life of Ophelia and

11. Golden - HUNTR/X

Another song that shrunk on me because relistening to "I AM" by IVE have made me realized just how shrill this song is. Definitely prefer What It Sounds Like over this. Now I do believe that the awards that this song will have is gonna be generational. It already won awards left right and center. And dare I say it, this song winning the Grammys will be my wildcard pick for that award. Like sure it will win the Oscars but if they managed to win the Grammys that would drive the discourse and I love seeing Golden discourse. And again the probability of a song from a movie winning both Grammys for Song of the year and Best Original Song at the Grammys is never zero. Reminder that What Was I Made For won this category. So let's just sit back and relax for all the discourse.

10. Dopamina - Peso Pluma & Tito Double P

So out of nowhere, Peso Pluma and Tito Double P released a surprise collab album during Christmas day and it has a mini album bomb this week on the chart and this is the highest charting one. I love the intensity of this song and actually better produced than most of the songs that both of them have made. They both have great chemisty and the subject matter is not annoying enough for me to dislike it. I like the outro the most especially with the sudden gospel in there. What I find very fascinating here is that the album is called Dinastia and honestly I can hear it. This is return back to basic record that established both of these artists as the pillar of corridos tumbados and probably what Peso Pluma needs the most after his non presence in 2024 and 2025.

9. Opalite - Taylor Swift

The best song on the album and yet I still have a problem with it. Once again it's because of the productions that I got the biggest hangup with. The balance between the vocals and the productions are very messy like sometimes the vocals is louder and then the guitar is louder. Which is kinda ashamed since this one has a good groove and really good melody. Taylor's writing isn't as much of a headache as the rest of the album. Though it's probably because I'm not well verse in my gem stones to know what Opalite meant and why it was Onyx night before. Bottom line is that this song is good but compared to the stuff on this ranking and Taylor's discography...yeah.

8. Spaghetti - LE SSERAFIM ft. J-Hope

I think I did say whenever an artist making a song filled with food references for sex, it's when they're very much ran out of ideas. But here I think it's the idiosyncrantic nature of LE SSERAFIM that this worked at all. Making this song more of a grimy slice of alt pop with prominent bass, heavy guitar, and that cowbell. I really don't mind this one to be honest. Then J-Hope showed up and look it's about time that we get BTS comeback. But wow his lyrics are kinda worse than the LE SSERAFIM members here it's not even funny. Though the most interesting part of the song is this is the first licensed song to be featured on a ryhthm game called Friday Night Funkin. I thought that was interesting thing to mentioned.

7. So Easy (To Fall In Love) - Olivia Dean

I think the word for this song would be quaint. The tasteful productions that's bordering on bossa nova with Olivia sounding good as per usual. This song is technically perfect but I do think the lyrics can be very by the number to me. But what a climb for Olivia Dean here. She's definitely the biggest rising star from 2025 and the fact that she's now more popular in the US than in the UK in terms of streaming numbers is interesting to me. I think there's a sense that what appeared on social media and what people are actually listened to the gap has been widened. Now I bet that when Olivia Dean won the Best New Artist Grammy over Addison Rae there will be riot on Twitter and I can't wait for that too.

6. IRIS OUT - Kenshi Yonezu

From number six onward all of these songs are 5/5 and honestly that's a good rate from last season. Anyways who thought that Kenshi Yonezu electroswing song would go this hard. This song is from Chainsaw Man Reze Arc movie which sidenote what a year anime had in 2025. The industry might be still in the gutter and the implementation of AI would absolutely wrecked that. But, in terms of popularity it has never been more on top. And this movie and the song in particular is just another example. Now I don't think this one is better than Kick Back, but it still have that weird factor that really fit with the anime's tone. The best description of this song for me is that IRIS OUT is a perfect way to simplified what Chainsaw Man is all about. All the good and the bad. 

5. Where Is My Husband! - RAYE

Apparently people also want a jazz showtune throwback and RAYE is the one that will delivered it. But yeah I have talked about RAYE before with her magnum opus Escapism with 070 Shake and seeing her have another hit just making me happy for her. After that album she released independently I would've thought that she's just gonna be a UK thing for a while, but with this song my fear has become untrue. And what a song she got here. The full jazz instrument assemble really is something that we never got that ofter on the pop chart and even though the lyrics can get kinda iffy, it played well with this productions. It's so fun to hear such layered productions with every part complimented each other and the showmanship from her is unmatched. It it wasn't for some misstep in the lyrics this song would've been so much higher. As it is, it's another strike from RAYE that hopefully will bring the chart to a better place.

4. Man I Need - Olivia Dean

You know one of those perfect sounding song that you think it's definitely 10/10 and yet you can't in good conciousness put it that high on your best list? Yeah this is me with Man I Need. Technically this song is just perfect no notes. But I do think the perfection is what drew me back from liking this song even more. It's something that you would listen to if it's on the radio but you never really seek it out and that's my feeling towards this song now.

3. Lush Life - Zara Larsson

I literally talked about this song at length on my Best Hit Songs of 2015 list so please go read that to hear what I think about this song. Now what I want to touch upon is the sudden uptick in 2016 nostalgia on TikTok. And there are two camps that I wanna highlight here. One is people that is indeed at the age range where they're in high school in 2016. I think it's kinda funny how we are now nostalgic over the year that was considered the worst at the time. Peak YouTube vloggers and Tumblr doesn't changed the fact that the music at that time were not good at least on the chart. You have your Twenty One Pilots and Panic At The Disco with their last good album, but you also have Daya and Shawn Mendes' worst album. I know you are nostalgic over skinny jeans and Vine but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. 

The second one is zoomers who definitely were still in elementary in 2016 and I'm kinda feeling a bit icky about that. Not only because y'all kept picking the wrong era for your edits, but it's also revealing about where you are right now. It's something I have noticed with glorifying nostalgia is that you cannot move forward if you still stuck in the past. We still can't escape 80s nostalgia that we just straight up skipped the 90s and 2000s to go back to this era which again wasn't that good to begin with. It's my new pet peeve of mine and honestly it won't end anytime soon so let's just go to the two songs that I think are perfect.

2. Raindance - Dave ft. Tems

Dave's album "The Boy Who Played the Harp" is a flawed album but it's something that Dave probably wants with this one. This album is filled with Dave's emotions with the state of the world right now from his relationship with masculinity, fame, and women and this song is the perfect distillation of that. From the piano to the afrobeats style drumming and the angelic vocals of Tems that made this song soared to new heights. It's a perfect instrument for this kind of intimate love song where Dave here being at awe with this girl she's dating and that's why he really wants to make things right especially with his past experience. And the fact that Dave and Tems got so many good chemistry on this song is just insane. It might be lowkey but the production and the chemistry alone just sells it for me. So what could be better than this?

1. La Perla - ROSALIA ft. Yaritza Y Su Esencia

Well how about one of the best songs from one of the best albums of 2025 where Rosalia calling her ex less than dirt and just spilled all the tea about him. It's one of the songs that only can come from Rosalia but what really sold me on this is the instrumentation and productions. I love the mixing between the orchestral and the more modern touches here with the harp, the strings, and the glitchy productions. Honestly with the style of the song and the fact that this is probably the first real Waltz hit we got in forever, this reminded me if Disney trying to make MAMII by Becky G and Karol G venom and all. It's so grand and big that I have to love it and that's why it's my favorite song this Winter season.

Now let's see as per usual songs that are great that just missed this ranking that deserved more attention.

- Not Cute Anymore - ILLIT

What a good slice of late 90s to 2000s pop that many people tend to forgot were huge from the likes of Dido and Sixpence None The Richer. This song has gone semi viral mainly because of the sped up version, but gave this one a full listen you won't regret it

- Sedia Aku Sebelum Hujan - Idgitaf

Gonna rep Indonesia my country for a second here and the fact that we have an Indonesian song with fiddles making this one more distinct. If you like late 2000s to early 2010s country like from Lady A or The Band Perry this one is for you.

- I Thought I Saw Your Face Today - She & Him

I have grown to like this song over the course of weeks. It's the tightness of the piano that really drew me back in on this song. Yeah this is just yet another song that went viral because we have 2000s nostalgia especially with the indie pop stuff complete with whistling and Zooey Deschenel. But when the melody is this good I can't complained.

- 4 Raws - EsDeeKid

This is the first rap song I heard that the rapper bragged about catfishing dudes on dating apps. Well beside that this song has all the things I like. Distorted productions with good synth melody, scouse accent, and a rapper that acting too hard for his own good. I'm surprised this did better in America than Worldwide though but when the Timothee Chalamet remix dropped on Spotify it's joever for y'all.

- A Couple Minutes - Olivia Dean

Olivia basically charted most of the songs on her album so this is the best deepcut from that album. It's basically a song where Olivia met an ex at a bar and even though it's over, there's a spark of that relationship that went back but it's fleeting. Olivia didn't wallow on it, instead they both recognized it and just have fun with it before they parted ways once again. It's one of the more mature cuts on the album and showed how Olivia is a force to be reckon with.

That's it for me today. Worst Hit Songs of 2001 will be coming soon. But until then see ya on the next one!