The Top 10 Pop Albums of 2026 ...so far

 

 That time of year again. These lists serve as a decent snapshot of where the year is heading in terms of music. I have already received promos for albums dropping as far out as August in my inbox, so they are really going to need to bring it to compete with the top five albums on this list. When it comes to pop, what you are not going to see much of are big mainstream radio artists that are part of the music industry machine that spits bullshit out on an assembly line with two dozen producers and even more songwriters making a product for the sheep to consume. Maybe two are adjacent to that machine, though are unlike the bulk of their peers. 

What I want from my pop is catchy songs that have actual instruments being played, rather than just empty calories being pumped into my ears. My people refer to this sort of thing as their guilty pleasures, and I do not use that term, as anyone on this list is better than vapid shit kids on TikTok are dancing to. Hip Hop has pretty much been garbage this year; only two artists have managed to rise from that trash pile to form music with depth.  There are links to full reviews if you want to check these out, and with all that said, here are the top 10 pop albums of 2026 so far. 

10-Mothica-'Somewhere In-Between"

In a shift from the dark synth pop of "Kissing Death," Mothica is shifting into a more modern metal sound that is not unlike what artists like Poppy and Spiritbox are doing. You can't accuse her of making the same album twice, which I admire.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/mothica-somewhere-in-between.html

9-Qveen Herby-"Isle of Qveen"

Her second album proves to be one of the few on this list that delivers what you expect you are going to get, going into though, she is much more polished this time around. She combines a catchy blend of rapping and singing. The wheel is not being re-invented, but what she does have is a smart streak of creativity and perhaps more attitude now than when I first heard her. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/qveen-herby-isle-of-qveen.html

8- Nine Inch Noize- "S/t" 

Nine Inch Noize is a collaborative album between producer Alex Ridha, aka Boys Noize, and Nine Inch Nails, which is now basically just Reznor and Atticus Ross.  If you are looking for big arena-rock riffs, that is not happening, as the songs reimagined here are strictly electronic. That's not to say the synths don't have heft, and Reznor's voice roots it in the sound you expect from him. The track listing replicates their Coachella set list.. Pretty much just dance versions of  the originals, making them suited for the Coachella crowd indeed. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/04/nine-inch-noize-st.html

8-    

8-Cobrah- "Torn" 

If you combined the otherworldly alien nature of Poppy and mixed it with the hyper sex of Slayyyter, the results would be similar. Musically close to Poppy, with the electronic throb keeping the songs together. This is also an apt description of the title track that opens this album. On the second song, which is about Instagram is seductively lures you to check out her Instagram. There is a bit of a Charli XCX attitude involved in what goes down here as well. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/03/cobrah-torn.html

7-Nine Inch Noize- "s/t"

Nine Inch Noize is a collaborative album between producer Alex Ridha, aka Boys Noize, and Nine Inch Nails, which is now basically just Reznor and Atticus Ross.  If you are looking for big arena-rock riffs, that is not happening, as the songs reimagined here are strictly electronic. That's not to say the synths don't have heft, and Reznor's voice roots it in the sound you expect from him. The track listing replicates their Coachella set list. If you ever wanted to hear gay house remixes of Nine Inch Nails, well, here you go, get to boofing your Molly.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/04/nine-inch-noize-st.html

6-Ghost Bells - "Caracoture"

This duo blends various sub-genres of dark electronic music into a moody but buoyant pop that feels like it is haunted by the 90s. The female vocals offer a childlike sing-song cadence to their chant. Repetition is king here and works. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/01/ghostbells-catacoture.html

5-Charli XCX-"Wuthering Heights"

  This soundtrack finds her deviating from the normal ode of operations, which are club classics, and instead draws more avant-garde classical music with weird atmosphere coating the bulk of these songs in a smart shift away from having another Brat Summer.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/charli-xcx-wuthering-heights.html

 

4-Dalek- "Brilliance of a Falling Moon"

The new Die Antwoord has not dropped yet, so the competition when it comes to hip-hop is not as thick this year, but he broke into the top 5 this time around, thanks to songs that work off of what made hip-hop great in the 90s, but with more sonic depth and lyrical integrity. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/03/dalek-brilliance-of-falling-moon.html

3- Lights - "A6EXTENDED"

 Canadian pop songwriter Lights released an extended version of her "A6" album with 8 new songs, which is a whole ass album, that proved to be better than what the Instagram divas on the radio were rolling off the assembly line so far this year. Hooks with smarts to them in abundance here. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/lights-a6extended.html

2-Joji- "Piss in the Wind"

He sidestepped expectations with an oddity of an album that continues to grow on me. More organic than previous releases but also more experimental as it dips into shoegazing at times, which was not on my bingo card. More artists need to take these kinds of chances.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/02/joji-piss-in-wind.html

1- Slayyyter- "WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA"

This one was almost too close to call, and who knows what the competition for these albums might turn out to be by the end of the year, but She delivered less experimentation andd took a hookier groove approach that sticks to your ears harder than Joji's more atmospheric musings, which were still pretty potent. But this is the pop list, not the shoegaze list, so she took the top spot, as her attitude oozes what you want from pop stars in 2026.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/03/slayyyter-worst-girl-in-america.html

pst252

Qveen Herby : "Isle of Qveen"

>

This is the pop artist's second full-length. She combines a catchy blend of rapping and singing. The wheel is not being re-invented, but what she doe ha a smart streak of creativity and perhaps more attitude now than when I first heard her. For someone from Nebraska, her approach is rather racially ambiguous, which plays to her favor when it comes to the more hip-hop elements. Her approach to rapping is fresh as she has plenty of hooks and an effective voice and lyrics that are almsot equal parts ghetto and whimsical. One of the lead singles, "The Fool"  features Thot Squad, which helped pique my interest, though this is not the first time she has been reviewed here. 

The more sexual elements do not feel like she is exploiting it any more than any other female rapper. But image-wise, she is not flaunting it, and her look is fairly conservative for rap. Almost more of a refined Lady GaGa thing going on. Why am I talking about her look rather than her music, ok go ahead and complain how if it wa a male artist, I wouldn ot do the same thing, which I would then refer you to reviews of bands like Ghost, Sleep Token, and President, who are selling image in equal proportion. 

By the time we get to "High Priestess," it feels like the formula is well in place, even though it leans in a more melodic direction. "Medicine Woman" feels more like a song Shanin Blake would do. "Hacky Sack" is more in her wheelhouse, but this syncopated style of singing she employs is less varied than the first half of the album, so it kind of sounds like something we have heard from her already. I will give this a 9 as she understood the assignment and made a fun pop album that grooveswith enough hooks. 

pst 70

Qveen Herby : "the Alchemist"

 

If you are not paying attention to her lyrics, it might be easy just to write her off as another Cardi B clone. She has been at this for a minute, the 38-year-old rapper was part of the pop duo Karmin, and she has been releasing music as the Qveen since 2017, so we are 7 years into this chapter of her career. Surprisingly she also attended Berklee School of Music. The only hint of this you hear is in the arrangement of her vocal harmonies when she sings her own hooks. The backing tracks are much closer to the mainstream, as they are a futuristic vision of disco. Her clever lyrics are her biggest strength that elevates "Lavish" from what you hear on the radio. 

They keep things funky and guitars in the mix for "Mirror Mirror" which creates a more organic feel than most pop music these days. Then things default to making her feel like a female version of Eminem on "Magic". It is still pretty effective, though a clear-cut formula to songwriting is in place and this is the most mainstream moment so far. "Bob Dylan" opens with a more atmospheric vibe, with her vocals bared in the minimalist mix before the beat drops in. She sings on this one more than she raps. In some ways, it reminds me of a less grooving Luscious Jackson. This is another song that could be edited and censored for radio play. You can hear her fleeting influence but she does not pay blatant tribute to any one artist. 

Fr33sol lends his voice to "WE GOT THIS", which really only edges her closer to what everyone else is doing and narrows the margin from which it sits parts from other artists doing similar. 'My SZN"  closes the album with an almost Beyoncee-like that colors some of the vocal melodies. The hooks are not as sharp as what we heard earlier in the album. I will give this album an 8.5, as it starts strong, but then gradually who she is gets moved to the back of the mix as they dial her in at a more of a radio-friendly formula. 

pst307