Billboard Global Excl US Top 20 Ranking (Spring 2026): Dominic Fike, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars, Zara Larsson

We are in the weird time for the chart. I can't say for certain why I'm feeling this way but I do. 2026 so far has been one of those years like 2011 or 1996 where a lot happened, but the chart seems to be stable and active. What made it weird is that to me 2020s pop music has been very up and down. The closest year I can say met this feeling was 2023 and even then the global music really carried that year while there was chaos in America for the second half of the year. After such a downturn of last year's pop music, 2026 felt like ten times more excited and interesting to talk about. And yet, there's this nagging feeling that it could turned to worst. I'm using the chart week of Harry Styles album impact and I can safely say that the chart is healthy again even if there's still lingering bad trend of 2020s that reared its ugly head. For example!

20. No Batidao - ZXKAI & slxughter

The success of this song kinda baffled me still even though last year we had phonk song became a hit that year. I think my main issue is that there's no way you can really verified if this song uses AI on its production because it's like the samey sounding song we have heard before. I already know the album cover is probably AI generated but I gave somewhat a pass to the last phonk hit. So what really gives for this one?

I think my worst fear is that this song might lead to more Gen AI stuff in the mainstream and honestly speaking I am not looking forward to that. When I saw TikTok comments a lot of people are getting real skeptical to anything of what they see as "not real" and that really grind my gears. Suddenly they want to have the safest thing possible to consume and that could spell even more danger to creativity. It just something I'm dreading and I still can't see anything will be better.

19. Babydoll - Dominic Fike

One big trend that went under the radar in the mid to late 2010s is the prevalent of young male artists trying to make indie pop or indie rock songs. This trend has definitely still going on but back then it was the rave in European and some parts of Southeast Asia. Artists like Lauv, Dean Lewis, Steve Lacy, and to lesser extent the One Direction members like Harry Styles and Niall Horan really took the advantage on that trend to mixed results. One of those artists that hit it big in UK chart was Dominic Fike with his breakthrough singles "3 Nights" and I thought it was fine. You might also know Dominic Fike from Euphoria and the fact that he dated a trans girl (Hunter Schafer) that one time. Probably because of the hype of season 3 plus TikTok virality that this fragment of a song became a monster hit. And I don't like it.

My main issue of this song is legit comes down to Dominic Fike himself. This song sounded like if Sublime is even more insufferable and pretentious and that's the vibe I got from this song. You know it has been a long time where I hate a song because of the singer himself like even Benson Boone didn't get this insufferable...most of the time (Cry would've been pretty high on my 2024 worst list if it's eligible). There's this smug attitude that permiating this song and it didn't helped how he said babydoll is very condescending. If it wasn't for the good bassline and the AI shit on that phonk this would be at my bottom spot for sure.

18. FIVE - Arashi

J-pop song that got high enough this season for me to talk about and it's this? Don't get me wrong, Arashi were one of the most influential in terms of male idol group in Japan with their run in the 2000s and 2010s not to be scoffed at. And I will say they have certain edge to them that's just enough that it didn't make me turning off the singles. But with all the comeback singles from any aging boyband, their comeback singles will be the most sterile and most safe out of them all. This one is no different with a distinct feature being the awful vocal productions. Yeah nothing much to say beyond this is mid of the highest order. 

17. Dracula (Remix) - Tame Impala ft. Jennie

Is it kinda weird that this song might be bigger than The Less I Know The Better? In terms of mainstream success by all metrics, this will be appearing on Hot 100 Year-End as well as a lot of others Year-end charts. And my question is why? I mean the groove is still there and I do like Kevin Parker voice still. But there's something really wrong about this song that it really bugged me. Maybe the mixing is a bit iffy especially the percussion here. Also some of the lyrics here can be a bit much especially with the conceit that you'll run like dracula and that Pablo Escobar line. Or is it because of the remix with JENNIE having less chemistry with Kevin Parker here? It just not the same and even if it's one of the better cuts from that album, it's not good still.

16. The Fate of Ophelia - Taylor Swift

You know, after a shitstorm that was this album rollout last year, now that we are in March of 2026 and seems like this album has been forgotten by a lot of people. Reputation which is her worst album is still serving discourses even after the release of End Game which featured Ed Sheeran and Future. Now this really proved my point that this album is both the most inessential and yet very much overhated. Look some of the hate were warranted see my worst list. But the fact that this song is still high on the chart right now is really an indictment of the listening public more than anything else. Sure it wasn't Tortured Poets Department numbers but what album isn't? Anyways this song hasn't budge an inch since I talked about it but there are better songs on this ranking so yeah #16 it is.

15. Die On This Hill - Sienna Spiro

I think I can called this but we are in the midst of a smaller British invasion led by Olivia Dean on the RnB and hip-hop side. There's always upside and downside to this and we are talking about the latter. Okay maybe not a downside but of all the RnB and soul hits from UK we got this decade, this might be the worst one yet. Still decent though because Sienna Spiro voice hit the right note between Adele and Kelly Clarkson and that's a compliment. My big complain for this song is so much of it reminded me of early Lana Del Rey in terms of the melodrama and look I know she's still young and maybe just like Lana herself she will matured. But this song really just reminded me of a lot of mid to late 2000s soul ballad that doesn't have the teeth to back up the grand oppulance. The potential is there I hear it, just need a couple more refinement that's all.

14.  American Girls - Harry Styles

Harry Styles new album seems to confirmed my suspicions that pop stars really don't like to be a pop star. Seems like the artists that became big in the 2010s are trying their best to just making their most experimental or just un-pop albums or projects and the results has been very mixed. Sometimes you struck gold with Beyonce and and Ariana Grande. But there's also projects from Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, and even Dua Lipa that have underwhelmed people. And I don't know what Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Miley Cyrus are doing these days. Now for me Harry Styles is in the middle of it all where yeah the album is fine, but it's definitely more artsy and less commercially appealing than Harry's House. Because of that the most "appealing" song here is now being touted as the next singles. 

I'm sorry but this is basically just a Sombr envy. With the productions and the guitar with the reverbed soaked vocals plus piano, it's definitely into that territory. The lyrics is also basically about this American girls or something but it's way too self centered for me to get. It sounded even more empty than a lot of Sombr songs which dude that's kinda not good especially when you are trying to get your swagger back. What this album reminded me of is early 2010s albums from 2000s or 90s artists that still don't get how to work out the club sound work and it happened again with the indie pop male explosion here. We will talk about Harry Styles again very soon.

13. Risk It All - Bruno Mars

*insert "Risk it all doesn't actually risking it all" joke here*. No but seriously this is another older artists where they have to grappled with old age and trying their best to stayed relevant. Bruno Mars definitely taking the safer options and yet this doesn't really worked for me. I mean I like the instrumentation and productions here and this song is definitely better written than Grenade this song influence by. I also love the understated performance by Bruno Mars as the mariachi influenced here is a plenty. But I think my main issue here is the length. In the pantheon of Bruno ballads I think this one needed a bridge or a solo because this song is very undercooked otherwise. My favorite ballad from him is Versace On The Floor and it's not even a competition. That synth guitar solo along is just too awesome. This needed that at least Spanish guitar solo that's all I'm saying.

12. Fever Dream - Alex Warren

You know maybe we should have a reflection on how we feel about Alex Warren on Twitter. This guy has probably becoming the most talked about singer simply because of how mundane and dare I say even pedestrian he is. But as someone who has put an Alex Warren song in their best list, I have to say that he needs to get the hell out of the adult contemporary and easy listening slog because I can hear the talent here. And this song is I think a step in the right direction. It's not that great I wish that this song didn't feel very abortive maybe add a bridge or something. And I still have some gripe about his songwriting being less vivid and more descriptive. But with that piano, the well mixed percussion, and even added gospel elements. This is the brand of indie folk that he should lean into. Less Passangers more OneRepublic's Native era. Beside a good bass is a good bass so I have commend him for that.

11. Aperture - Harry Styles

Good to see that Harry Styles loves Portal so much he named the song after the organization of the game! Okay bad Portal joke aside, I think it's bold that Harry decided to start out the album cycle that has been four years in the making with releasing a 2000s indie electronica sleaze pastiche that ran over five minutes. With that bold decision I have to respect that but the song itself is just alright. What I like the most about this song is the sense of progression really worked with this one but other than that, it's just Harry Styles making an LCD Soundsystem song with Robbie Williams lyrics. The radio already dumping this one and I get why. This song is for the music nerd and even they are not impressed. We'll see what happened with Harry Styles next since both Niall and Zayn are releasing albums soon.

10. Rein Me In - Sam Fender & Olivia Dean

So this was supposed to be Opalite but I miscalculated...though I'd rather talk about this song rather than talking about Opalite again so. Anyways one trend that has rocked the UK pop scenes for the past years is white guy making heartland rock. The biggest of this trend is Sam Fender. Now I'm familiar with him because of his landmark singles "Seventeen Going Under" which is probably the closest that he'll get to recaptured the sound of Springsteen with his touch of northern England roughness. But since then he really can't captured the magic of that song especially when he defaulted to the kind of cheesy heartland rock of John Mellencamp more than Springsteen. 

But when he played this song at his hometown, he brings out Olivia Dean to give the female perspective on this post breakup song and they both have some good chemistry. I think if I have to say my biggest issue of this song is that it went on for a bit too long and the fact that Olivia voice is mixed very back of the song when she's harmonizing with Sam. But that saxophone pulled me back in on the song to create a relatively good arena rock song that of course is his first charting song in the US. Go figure.

9. I Just Might - Bruno Mars

See this is why I said about playing it safe because this is definitely the PG version of a song from Silk Sonic. While I still really like this song just because his brand of retro still worked for me. I have this sinking feeling that maybe he needs to have new ideas soon and fast. What this song reminded me of is the best part of disco revival of the 2000s mixed with modern production sensibility. While I love most of that, drawing from that era is kinda a miscalculation from him especially when Silk Sonic showed a lot of lush productions and elaborate instrumentation. This one especially with the fuzzed out guitar can be very mechanical and not loose which is why I didn't return to this song that often. 

8. iloveitiloveitiloveit - Bella Kay

I don't know what to make of this song. On the one hand this song is very gorgeous sounding with the spare acoustic guitar, the swelling productions, and Bella Kay very beautiful and controlled presence on the mic. She's definitely one to look out for in RnB and pop because just by this song alone I can see the potential. But that lyrical subject where Bella Kay is doing a lot of self destructive shit is kinda questionable. I think there's two side of this song I can take. If I am being less charitable I would say how this song glorifying violence and that part of me always lurking. But my main takeaway here aka the charitable version is that his presence is enough for me to realized how she still has agency and she knew that all of the acts here are very destructive for her. But she revel in it and hey I hope it's the latter that's right about this song because the implication here can be very iffy.

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

What Todd said about UK RnB are so true but I think this song will be the one that's gonna be played on the supermarket speaker while you're doing your groceries for Thanksgiving dinner. There's nothing wrong with that and I don't mind being basic bitch once in a while. Olivia Dean is desperately needed in the space where being cynical and ironic are the currency. Earnesty has becoming the gold and yeah I prefer that more. 

6. RUDE! - Hearts2Hearts

So the newest Kpop girlband has an Indonesian member in it and it's comical how she has more followers than anyone else on this band. Anyways this song is good! Again the influence of Newjeans is prevalent here as we continued with dance ready sound of Gen 4 girlgroup. The Indonesian member helped a lot in terms of bringing this song popularity for sure that it appeared on the ranking. But it's interesting to hear the differences between girl group and boy group during this generation. The former now leaning towards house and dance music while the latter are more into trap and rage sound. And none can be more wide in range with comparing Hearts2Hearts and Cortis. One has more appeal in dance pop and even JPop while the other one basically jacked Travis Scott style. It's definitely an interesting divide and we'll see what happened next. 

5. Stateside (Remix) - PinkPantheress ft. Zara Larsson

Well it's official now Zara Larsson is the It girl of 2026 it really just like Charli xcx. Though I still don't want to say khia asylum because that term really made people just don't want to search for more interesting pop star spend your time listening to Underscores she will be a star. Anyways I'm glad that both of these artists got another chance of success especially after this song got big boost from the Winter Olympics. This remix is good though that's just me liking this type of 2000s throwback of electroclash mess. Though I wish it retained the original American Boy samples but with added Zara Larsson in here how can I complain. Speaking of Zara Larsson 

4. Lush Life - Zara Larsson

Yeah this one is still here and I'm kinda amazed that people took this song seriously now in 2026 rather than in 2015-16. That's the thing with this nostalgia cycle is that you could've gotten this one sooner last year end everyone will be better for it certain better for the chart that year. Like seriously I would love to talk more about 2016 and how debby downer that year was for the better and worse. But I still have some back catalog to content to so here's Sombr again making good music. 

3. Homewrecker - sombr

Sombr being the leading male artist right now making me more and less exciting for the chart. I mean you have a guy who mostly produced his own stuff and it's more rock leaning so I should be more exciting about the prospect of sombr. But I don't know because if he were to dropped in say 1960s he would be at best John Sebastian from The Lovin' Spoonful. Technically gifted but you really will only know his hits and never the name. And that's really a problem for the chart in general because we need those flashy artist while also being iconic. But I also want more artistry on the radio and he bringing it here.

I mentioned earlier how American Girls by Harry Styles is basically a Sombr song, well I was talking about this one because they both have more or less the same influence. From the percussion, the sleek productions, the reverb, and that ooh. They both are trying to imitate the 80s where they have live instruments juxtapose with the 80s synthpop productions. Like Toto or more accurately Paul Simon. But while Harry has his song being swaggering coolness, sombr here is more direct and even pathetic at points. But I think I prefer this one not only because of that bridge. Him trying to court this girl who already have partner can be dicey, but he knew that it won't be going well and even sympathizes with her mother by not being a homewrecker. It's the Rivers Cuomo shtick but done better and honestly I would love for Cuomo to do more of this. 

2. WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! - RAYE

This has grew on me a lot solely because of Raye's performance and the novelty of this being a hit at all. When was the last time a single this loose and fun with its concept ever charted on Hot 100. And because of that I really just tuned out the weirdly conservative attitude towards marriage and just accept how goofy this song is. There are so many great moments on this song but my favorite are still those "Oh help me help me" bit. That desperation paired with this freestyle pop jazz sound is just awesome. Well you know the best song on here though.

1. Raindance - Dave ft. Tems

Yeah this is still great and honestly I only have one thing to say about this song. In that throughout this ranking I've been talking about songs that either from UK artists or have charted higher in the UK than in US. Well I won't say this is the case yet, we need next year for more proof of this, but are we seeing another British invasion here? I mean this song is the first Dave song that charted in the US and you can say it's probably because of the afrobeat productions. But, not only is this song still on Hot 100, most of the songs that became hit in UK are now charting on Hot 100. RAYE, Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress, Olivia Dean, Sienna Spiro, Dominic Fike, and even Sam Fender who have done well on the UK chart now crossed over in the US. Yeah sure most of them are not even British, but the fact that Zara Larsson and Dominic Fike who only sees success in UK and Europe have songs in the top 40 should be looked into more to be honest. I'll be taking a close attention to this trend for 2026 but this year has been fun to talk about.

And with that here are some songs that just missed this ranking that deserved so many attention from both Global charts.

- FYA - BTS 

So I'm using songs that charted the week I'm using and other weeks after that by the time I'm writing this blog because I wrote this during Eid holiday. By the time I'm done writing this blog there have been at least three album bombs and this is the biggest one and...oh boy. This album felt like that Blackpink EP where I just knew all the members here just don't want to make this comeback album. Because of that they defaulted to the safest sound imaginable from their eras beside the pop American one. Out of all the songs that appeared on the album I like this one because it's basically that JPEGMAFIA and Flume collab EP's throwaway rapped by BTS members.

- 404 (New Era) - KiiiKiii

On the contrast, we have a new girlband doing basically early to mid 90s house pastiche and yeah this is right up my alley. I love how the groove of the song and the atmopshere here really evoked that era of house music while also put a modern spin in it. Definitely a promising start for them.

- Choosin' Texas - Ella Langley

The crossover country song of the year is from a female artist and I'm glad that this is the case. Ella Langley giving back the era of women in country that are sleek and sophisticated with this song for example which is going big in America right now. I'm expected this song to be huge all over the world because it's the sort of polished country song that I think is more universal than the country dirge by Morgan Wallen. And yeah the song is great is a plus too.

- Midnight Sun - Zara Larsson

The term khia asylum is very obnoxious and really undermined the success of pop artist, predominantly women, in the rest of the world because they can't penetrate the American market. Well if you want a song that could break you out of that asylum this perpulsive slice of electronica song will do it for you. Again y'all should listen to Symphony that song is good.

- Ready, Steady, Go! - Harry Styles

The one song on the album that I can say is very great is this one. That bassline alone is enough for me to call it good. But this song is definitely the one where the experimentation of Harry Styles trying to evoke the indie sleaze of the 2000s done the best. 

- What You Saying - Lil Uzi Vert

Definitely one of the oddest song to became a hit this year. A Jersey Club song in 4/4 sampling an Indira song that is in 3/4. And it created this odd sense of syncopation that I've never heard before in any pop song this year. The fact that this is probably just a one off singles from Uzi is even more bizarre that I just can't help but loving it. 

That's all from me and still not looking forward to covering the worst of 2013 songs it's just...good lord.