The Best Songs Released in June 2026

We’re halfway into the year already! Check out our picks for the best albums of the year—so far, HERE.

Noteworthy album & EP releases:
Dirty Blonde, Bebe Rexha
Neon Summer Skin, Bedouine
Heart So Open, Billianne
AMATEUR AT BEST, Brenn!
Your Day Will Come, Chanel Beads
autogratis, Chanpan
Dancefloor Erotica, DAGNY
I Built You A Tower, Death Cab For Cutie
Where Have All The Good Men Gone?, Debbii Dawson
Night At The Opera, Emei
TOLERANCE, Fightmaster
Girls Like Girls the Album, Hayley Kiyoko, various
EAVESDROPPING, ill peach
Promising Young Woman, Isabel LaRosa
A LITTLE VENGEANCE, Jessie Reyez
Songs For Young Lovers, Johnny Orlando
Lifetime, Harmony Tividad
So Help Me God, Kelsey Lu
Enfants difficiles, Mentissa
FANTASYLAND, Mr. Fantasy
No Sleep In Paradise, Naomi Sharon
you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, Olivia Rodrigo
Dear God, The Pretty Reckless
we’re all in love, Quiet Houses
Kicking My Feet & Screaming, Ruel
Sweet Fortune, Ryan Beatty
In Heaven There’s Rainbows, Snarls
Exit Wounds, Spacey Jane
Planet You Forgot Me, The Army, The Navy
Dear God, The Pretty Reckless
Pink Pocket Pistol, Willow Avalon

In chronological order:

“Snake the Drain” – Devon Again
Release date – June 2

I’ve been a fan of indie pop artist Devon Again for several years now, and her 2025 single “Cherry Cola” is truly one of my favorite pop songs of the last five years. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear another absolute banger when she released “Snake the Drain” at the top of June: a twangy, alt. pop track about love not being enough if you’re not doing the work to maintain it. After one listen, the song immediately reminded me of Chappell Roan’s “The Giver” from 2024—but honestly, I like this song much more.

Inspired by country music and a trip to Nashville, Devon Again returned to the studio after recording a lot of emotionally heavy music. Recording “Snake the Drain” was a chance to “give myself permission to explore a more headstrong, confident and playful side of myself,” she said in a press statement. The song has a lot of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, (“Words don’t make me come / Home to the dishes done”) and Devon pulls them effortlessly. She’s set to open for 40 shows on Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming tour, and I’m confident she will be getting her flowers over the next year or so. – Kristin

“I Knew It I Knew You” – Taylor Swift
Release date – June 5

If you’ve followed Staged Haze for quite some time, you probably know that I (Kristin) am a mega T-Swift fan. And you may or may not have noticed that her latest album, The Life of A Showgirl, was omitted from our list of the best albums of 2025—the first year she’s released an album that didn’t end up in our best of round-up since Staged Haze launched in 2015. (Insert sweat face emoji here). The TLDR of that is we didn’t like that album, and I personally like this song more than almost every song off TLOAS. “I Knew It I Knew You” is a clear return to form for Swift, who’s heavily rumored to be be re-releasing her debut album this year to celebrate its 20th birthday.

Despite the song being very easily and quickly written and recorded, “I Knew It I Knew You” holds up when compared to other songs in Swift’s country discography: relying on the classic storytelling quality that has made her music so universally appreciated. Singing about returning to someone you love feels so quintessentially Swiftian: and her connection to Toy Story 5 feels as seamless as the song itself. – Kristin

“maggots for brains” – Olivia Rodrigo
Release date – June 5

I’ve spoken at length at my admiration for Olivia Rodrigo’s talent but how I’ve personally struggled to connect with most of her music—minus the upbeat tracks. So I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved her new album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, (ballads included) which is also heavily considered to be her best album so far. She leans into her rock influences on this album, and it’s very evident in the song “maggots for brains.” It’s a special skillset to be able to create music that people of all generations can connect with, whether it’s the lyrics about the song feeling uninspired and unmotivated in life, or the way that anxiety can creep up on you when you struggle to feel like you have an identity outside of a romantic relationship.

Co-written by Dan Nigro and Amy Allen (one of my favorite songwriters in pop music), “maggots for brains” showcases Rodrigo’s ability to evolve as a musician, experimenting with new sounds and leaning into the genres of rock and alternative music she’s referenced as inspiration, but maybe not fully leaned into until she made this project. – Kristin

“Whatever You Wanna” – Annabelle Dinda
Release date – June 15

I’m only familiar with a few of Annabelle Dinda’s songs, “The Hand” which is such a striking song: I was unsure how she would top it, to be honest. But with her new single “Wherever You Wanna,” she takes a lighter approach: opting for a summertime love song that first got its legs after Dinda posted a snippet of herself playing it on acoustic guitar. Just a short portion of the song was going viral for weeks before she officially released it: which tells you everything you need to know about the song’s magnetism. There’s something almost deceptively simple about it, in the best way: the kind of writing that sounds effortless even though so much love clearly went into it.

The chorus is so addictively catchy and rounds out the song as a perfect track to blast with your windows rolled down, your best friends or the love of your life by your side: “I will go wherever you wanna / I’ll become a champion runner / Follow like a dog in the summer / I will go wherever you wanna.” – Kristin

“Armor” – Medium Build
Release date – June 26

One of my favorite things about music is when you follow a specific artist who releases a new song and after a couple listens, you feel like it was a song that’s been part of their discography for years: like you’ve already heard it and how it feels so quintessentially “them.” On “Armor,” Medium Build pairs an upbeat, almost (intentionally) anxiety-inducing beat with introspective, self-deprecating lyrics about being difficult to love and how much he catches himself self-sabotaging in relationships.

“Armor” is “the most transparent look into my no filter stream of consciousness,” Medium Build, a.k.a. Nick Carpenter said about the track in a press release, and reading that sentence summarizing the song after hearing it makes total sense. He sings about projection, philosophy, body dysmorphia, and existentialism…all in three minutes and 18 seconds. Plus, it sounds great! That’s a lot to tackle, and pull off, in my opinion. – Kristin

“Too Many Ways” – Ryan Beatty
Release date – June 26

Choosing a singular song from Ryan Beatty’s new album Sweet Fortune is actually an impossible task, so a part of me is tempted to tell you that the one I’m writing about was selected randomly because I can’t actually choose and you should listen to them all if you haven’t! But alas, I did choose “Too Many Ways” because I think it’s a masterpiece. One of the folkiest, most upbeat tracks on the record, it’s also one of the most heart-wrenching ones (in a beautiful way, nonetheless) and one as impressive as ever, even for someone as talented as Ryan.

There are plenty of songs about long-distance relationships and the strain being apart puts on them, but of course this man would be the one to find a completely new way to explain how it all feels. Keeping the beautiful things at the forefront, while simultaneously acknowledging the difficult side: “So many ways to say I love you, too many ways to say goodbye”. “So many” when it’s the good part, versus “too many” when it’s the part we don’t like. It’s such a smart way to illustrate the scope of emotions, contraposing these two big parts of the relationship that they have to relive over and over again. “Too Many Ways” (and the entirety of Sweet Fortune, really) is only a tiny example of Ryan Beatty’s beautiful songwriting, it’s a clever song in its simplicity, and one of my favorites of this entire year so far. – Javi

Check out all of our New Music Sunday round-ups HERE.