The Best Songs Released in September 2026

Still trying to catch up with all of the amazing albums that dropped in September! We reviewed a handful as well: Medium Build’s King of Having Fun, Carly Rae Jepsen’s DAY AND NIGHT, Tove Lo’s ESTRUS, Beabadoobee’s PYTHON, and Miley Cyrus’ BASS PERSUADES.

Noteworthy albums & EP releases:

PRIMA, Adela
Fell Asleep in The Sun, After
IT’S ALMOST MONDAY, Almost Monday
I Think I Had Something Once, Aubory Bugg
Stick & Poke, Ax & The Hatchetman
SWIM!!!, Bailen
Pylon, Beabadoobee
Picnic at The Cemetary, Bella Porch
Anatomy of a Brief Romance, Bloc Party
Violins, Blondshell
Get Mean, Boy Harsher
The Lodge in Miller County, Brother Bird
SCARE, Cailin Russo
DAY AND NIGHT, Carly Rae Jepsen
Wounded Angel, Elley Duhé
I Know Too Much, Ellie Goulding
Dream House, Empress of
Observing Chaos, Gayle
Chopping Mountain, Ibibio Sound Machine
Audacity, Jae Stephens
Secret to Share, JAWDROPPED
Westside Whimsy, Jhene Aiko
Hope is a Heavy Thing, Joy Oladokun
The Gem, Julia Jacklin
Love Ain’t For The Faint of Heart, Laci Kaye Booth
Happiness Anytime, Leon Bridges
Angel, Lizzy McAlpine
I Wrote You A Letter, M83
Everything All The Time, Maddie Zahm
MOSH★PIT THE EP, Maris
Kismet, Matilda Mann
King of Having Fun, Medium Build
BASS PERSUADES, Miley Cyrus
Attitude Era!, Natanya
Tough Love, Nessa Barrett
Stray Dogs, Nothing But Thieves
MULE, Orville Peck
Isn’t That Sweet?, OSTON
The Fatal Flaw, Paris Paloma
Melancholic Beach Town, Pool Girl
Hush, Porch Light
Age of the Exhibitionist, Rebecca Black
Alien Witch, Revenge Wife
Melodie, Slow Pulp
Dust Settles and So Will I, Susannah Joffe
Ow ∞, Sylvan Esso
The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, Taylor Swift
If You Insist, The Bends
OUTSIDE, The Wrecks
The Singer In My Band, This is Lorelei
POPSTAR, Tinashe
ESTRUS, Tove Lo
NOCTURNE, Wasia Project
Right Here, Right Now, Winyah

In chronological order:

“Waschesalon” – Rebecca Black
Release date – September 4

Halfway through the second verse of Rebecca Black’s fantastically addictive “Waschesalon,” which is the German word for laundromat, she ferociously screams “I AM THE WOMAN THAT MY MOTHER WANTED ME TO BE / JUST MADE A MILLION OFF MY SO-CALLED MEDIOCRITY,” an assumed callback to the viral moment she had as a pre-teen with the meme-ified song “Friday,” which came out in 2011 when Black was only 14-years-old.

But since then, she’s paved her way through the industry as a pop star and DJ to be taken seriously, releasing three full-length albums and performing at nightclubs and music festivals alike, where she actually mixes live, unlike many other mainstream, commercially successful DJs of the last decade.

Ever since I heard “Waschesalon” for the first time at the beginning of the month, it’s become a staple in my playlists every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The song builds slowly and methodically as the tempo speeds up into a full out dance party into the choruses, where Black’s background in electronic and hyper-pop is on full display. For many other pop artists having breakout years in this genre space (Tinashe, Underscores), it’s safe to say that Black is on her way to her breakthrough moment once more people’s ears hear this body of work. – Kristin

“Toy Gun” – Avery Cochrane
Release date – September 9

I’d like to think that most people can relate to the trope of feeling stuck in a relationship that is emotionally draining and non-serving to you anymore, and 24-year-old Avery Cochrane explains that nagging feeling perfectly on her new single “Toy Gun.” The single arrived a few months after the release of her debut album, Male Validation and Other Drugs, featuring her breakout hit, “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night,” which also landed on the Amazon show Off Campus earlier this year.

Speaking in a press release about the song, Avery mentioned that acting ‘toughened with a toy gun’ means assuming the role of the brave and secure partner, despite being unsure of the relationship yourself.” The track features glimmery pop production, ’80-inspired beats, and violin strings over the chorus, making it sonically interesting yet punchy enough for a radio hit. Plus, any lyricist who can say “comeuppance coming to you coming undone” in a song without making it sound clunky gets a point in my book. – Kristin

“to love and to lose” – Dylan
Release date – September 9

I stumbled upon British pop singer Dylan’s new song “to love and to lose” before it even came out—the singer was promoting the song since NOVEMBER of last year, waiting to be she was given the green light from her record label to release it. The song’s anticipation was building for thousands of fans following the saga on Dylan’s TikTok account, and towards the end of August, she announced that the song finally had a release date…until it didn’t. The singer posted on social media expressing her frustration with her inability to release music for nearly a year and a half due to label restraints. Luckily the response to her cry for help couldn’t be ignored, and she was able to release the song officially.

Ironically, Dylan’s battle with her label and her helplessness over the situation is a similar type of emotion she’s expressing in the song itself, where she sings about feeling like her romantic relationships never pans out, questioning if she’s even meant to have one that lasts at all. In an oversaturated world of “heartbreak” songs that feel one-dimensional and inauthentic, you can hear the pain in Dylan’s voice and lyrics on “to love and to lose,” and I’m glad that after so long, she was finally able to release the song into the world. – Kristin

“Party” – Troye Sivan
Release date – September 17

Troye Sivan knows what he’s good at, and it’s making a night out sound like a religious experience. “Party,” the second single from She’s the Best, is a relentless, straight-faced club track built around a chunk of Madonna’s “Music” (it was her September, apparently), with Sivan half-speaking his way through an ever-growing list of places to keep the night going. The repetition is the point: it’s meant to put you in a trance, the way dance music does when you’re on the floor instead of listening on your laptop. It’s also his first official release with his brother Tyde, who co-produced. Then there’s the video, a medieval rager narrated by Sir Ian McKellen that treats partying as something sacred for queer people. Hard to argue. – Jesse

“Danceteria Afterhours Mix” – Madonna, Charli xcx
Release date – September 24

Whatever “feud” existed between these two ends here. Charli spent the summer declaring the dance floor dead, Madonna suggested she might just be playing the wrong songs, and now they’re sharing a track. “Danceteria Afterhours” revisits the Confessions II single named for the downtown New York club where Madonna got her start, and the original’s roll call of scene legends gets a second chapter: Charli uses her verses to tell her own origin story, with nods to A. G. Cook, SOPHIE and her Myspace days. It plays less like a remix than two artists comparing notes on the sweaty rooms that made them, a few decades apart. Nobody’s passing a torch here. They’re both holding it. – Jesse

“I Won’t Cry” – Remi Wolf
Release date – September 25

Remi Wolf has spent years as one of pop’s most reliable agents of chaos, which is why “I Won’t Cry” hits as hard as it does. The latest single from Mud, out Oct. 9, sets aside the funk and the punchlines for a slow-burning heartbreak ballad with some twang in it, and she has never sounded more beautiful than she does here, her voice carrying the whole thing with nothing to hide behind. Wolf has said the song was written and recorded in a single three-hour burst, and that her friends would end up in tears whenever she played them the demo. The internet seems to agree: a scroll through TikTok turns up edit after edit from people confessing they can’t stop playing it. Count us among the addicted. – Jesse

Check out all of our New Music Sunday posts HERE.