My Top 30 Songs for May 17-23, 2026

Twenty One Pilots maintain a firm grip on the top spot for a third week with their beautiful song “Drag Path”, while Brigitte Calls Me Baby‘s delightfully boisterous “Slumber Party” and Talk in Waves‘ plaintive Americana-tinged “Waiting for Me” move up a notch to #s 2 and 3, respectively. “Riptides” by Death Cab for Cutie moves up three to enter the top 10 at #10, and The Strokes are the biggest upward movers again this week, as “Going Shopping” jumps seven spots to #13.

Four terrific songs enter my chart this week, starting with the infectious “Until The Sun Explodes” by Long Beach, California-based ska punk band Sublime, comprised of founding members Eric Wilson (bass) and Bud Gaugh (drums), as well as vocalist Jakob Newell, son of founding member Bradley Nowell who died in 1996. Their previous single “Ensenada” reached #1 on my chart this past November and has spent nearly eight months and counting at #1 on Billboard‘s Rock/Alternative Airplay chart!

Coming in at #28 is “Self Aware”, the debut single by Israeli alternative rock band Temper City, which consists of musicians Chen Kordova, Aviv Barenholz and Eitan Peled. Released in February, the song quickly went viral on TikTok and has already amassed over 109 million streams on Spotify, and 3.7 million views on YouTube. The track’s style and sound have been compared to acts like Steve Lacy, Hozier, Cage the Elephant and The Neighbourhood, all favorites of mine. I only heard it a few days ago and already love it. I was surprised to learn that it’s the first song by an Israeli band to ever appear on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Next up is “Kill Me Fast” by veteran Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. Formed in the 90s and now based in Toronto, they’re comprised of the original line-up of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer and backing vocalist Neil Sanderson and bassist Brad Walst, plus Barry Stock who joined as lead guitarist in 2003, and Walst’s younger brother Matt, who was a longtime songwriter for the band and became lead singer in 2013 when Gontier left Three Days Grace (he rejoined in 2024). The song is from their eighth studio album Alienation, released in August 2025.

The fourth new entry is “In My Room” by American singer-songwriter and record producer Julia Wolf (born Julia Capello). The song was originally released in March 2024 as the lead single from her second studio album Pressure, which dropped in May 2025, but was re-released as the title track of a five-song EP in late March, at which point it finally charted in the U.S. Wolf states the rather dark song is about missing an ex-partner who’s moved on.

  1. DRAG PATH – Twenty One Pilots (1)
  2. SLUMBER PARTY – Brigitte Calls Me Baby (3)
  3. WAITING FOR ME – Talk in Waves (4)
  4. BEDROOM POSTERS – Yellowcard feat. Good Charlotte (7)
  5. LOOK OUT FOR ME – Turnstile (6)
  6. DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE – Young the Giant (9)
  7. I REMEMBER WHEN – MISSIO (2)
  8. YOUR FAVORITE TOY – Foo Fighters (10)
  9. YOU GOT TO LOSE – The Black Keys (5)
  10. RIPTIDES – Death Cab for Cutie (13)
  11. THE GREAT DIVIDE – Noah Kahan (11)
  12. HEAVY FOOT – Mon Rovîa (12)
  13. GOING SHOPPING – The Strokes (20)
  14. BURN FOR YOU RMX – Between Daze (15)
  15. HEADLIGHTS – In Color (18)
  16. HOMEWRECKER – sombr (19)
  17. SITE UNSEEN – Courtney Barnett featuring Waxahatchee (17)
  18. DOUBLETAKE – Edgehill (8)
  19. STARLIGHT – Cannons (14)
  20. FREAKIN’ OUT – Dexter and The Moonrocks (23)
  21. YOU AND FOREVER – Bleachers (21)
  22. DYING TO LOVE – Bad Omens (22)
  23. DROP DEAD – Olivia Rodrigo (25)
  24. BE WITH YOU – Muse (24)
  25. TO LOVE SOMEBODY – Holly Humberstone (27)
  26. HULA GIRL – The Neighbourhood (16) 21st week on chart
  27. UNTIL THE SUN EXPLODES – Sublime (N)
  28. SELF AWARE – Temper City (N)
  29. KILL ME FAST – Three Days Grace (N)
  30. IN MY ROOM – Julia Wolf (N)

My Top 30 Songs for May 10-16, 2026

Photo of Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph from their Facebook account.

Twenty One Pilots remain at #1 for a second week with “Drag Path”, while MISSIO hold at #2 again after spending a week at #1. Chicago-based Brigitte Calls Me Baby moves up two to #3 with their exhilarating “Slumber Party”, and Northern Virginia singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Talk in Waves also advances two spots to #4 with his heartfelt “Waiting for Me”.

Entering the top 10 are “Different Kind Of Love” by Young the Giant, moving up two spots to #9, and “Your Favorite Toy” by Foo Fighters, also advancing two spots to #10 and still going strong after more than 30 years! The Strokes are the biggest upward movers this week as their delightfully wry “Going Shopping” jumps seven spots to #20. Backed by a lighthearted, bouncy groove, Julian Casablancas muses about materialism, growing older, societal alienation and the push and pull of city vs. country living (all things I’ve wrestled with myself). There are no new additions to my chart this week.

  1. DRAG PATH – Twenty One Pilots (1)
  2. I REMEMBER WHEN – MISSIO (2)
  3. SLUMBER PARTY – Brigitte Calls Me Baby (5)
  4. WAITING FOR ME – Talk in Waves (6)
  5. YOU GOT TO LOSE – The Black Keys (4)
  6. LOOK OUT FOR ME – Turnstile (7)
  7. BEDROOM POSTERS – Yellowcard feat. Good Charlotte (10)
  8. DOUBLETAKE – Edgehill (3)
  9. DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE – Young the Giant (11)
  10. YOUR FAVORITE TOY – Foo Fighters (12)
  11. THE GREAT DIVIDE – Noah Kahan (8)
  12. HEAVY FOOT – Mon Rovîa (13)
  13. RIPTIDES – Death Cab for Cutie (16)
  14. STARLIGHT – Cannons (14)
  15. BURN FOR YOU RMX – Between Daze (15)
  16. HULA GIRL – The Neighbourhood (9) 20th week on chart
  17. SITE UNSEEN – Courtney Barnett featuring Waxahatchee (18)
  18. HEADLIGHTS – In Color (23)
  19. HOMEWRECKER – sombr (25)
  20. GOING SHOPPING – The Strokes (27)
  21. YOU AND FOREVER – Bleachers (22)
  22. DYING TO LOVE – Bad Omens (24)
  23. FREAKIN’ OUT – Dexter and The Moonrocks (26)
  24. BE WITH YOU – Muse (28)
  25. DROP DEAD – Olivia Rodrigo (29)
  26. FOOL’S GOLD – Buffalo Traffic Jam (17)
  27. TO LOVE SOMEBODY – Holly Humberstone (30)
  28. SONG OF THE FUTURE – U2 (21)
  29. SWEET LOVE – Stephen Sanchez (19)
  30. THE OLD LAW – Father John Misty (20)

My Top 30 Songs for May 3-9, 2026

Photo of Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph taken from their Facebook account.

Twenty One Pilots, comprised of singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, have been my favorite music act for the past ten years. This week, their beautiful song “Drag Path” takes over the #1 spot, marking their 15th song to top my chart. They topped my chart three times last year alone, with “The Line”, “The Contract” and “City Walls”.

“Drag Path” was originally released last September as a bonus track on the Breach (Digital Remains) album bundle on the band’s official online store, with a slightly shorter version released as a single in February of this year, accompanied by a music video featuring scenes from Danish filmmaker and animator Tobias Gundorff Boesen’s 2010 stop-motion short film Out of a Forest. The band states the song is a continuation of the in-universe lore, connecting both to the end of the “City Walls” music video, as well as serving as postlude to the album Breach. “Drag Path” currently also tops the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart and peaked at #57 on the Hot 100. It also became Twenty One Pilots’ third-highest-charting single in the UK, peaking at #23, as well as their highest-charting single in Australia since “Heathens” in 2016.

In other chart developments of note, “LOOK OUT FOR ME” by Turnstile jumps four spots to enter the top 10 at #7, while “Bedroom Posters” by Yellowcard featuring Good Charlotte moves up two spots to enter the top 10 at #10.

I’m aware of the fact that women have been woefully under-represented on my chart of late, so am now remedying that with two new debuts by young female artists this week, starting with “drop dead” by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, which debuted last week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her 2021 song “drivers license” reached #1 on my chart and ranks #8 on my 100 Best Songs of 2021 list. Hard to believe that was five years ago!

The second new entry is the delightfully catchy “To Love Somebody” by English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone. The song was the lead single from her second studio album Cruel World, which dropped April 10th. From what I can tell, it’s her highest-charting single thus far, and also her first song to appear on my chart.

  1. DRAG PATH – Twenty One Pilots (3)
  2. I REMEMBER WHEN – MISSIO (1)
  3. DOUBLETAKE – Edgehill (2)
  4. YOU GOT TO LOSE – The Black Keys (6)
  5. SLUMBER PARTY – Brigitte Calls Me Baby (8)
  6. WAITING FOR ME – Talk in Waves (7)
  7. LOOK OUT FOR ME – Turnstile (11)
  8. THE GREAT DIVIDE – Noah Kahan (5)
  9. HULA GIRL – The Neighbourhood (4)
  10. BEDROOM POSTERS – Yellowcard feat. Good Charlotte (12)
  11. DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE – Young the Giant (13)
  12. YOUR FAVORITE TOY – Foo Fighters (14)
  13. HEAVY FOOT – Mon Rovîa (15)
  14. STARLIGHT – Cannons (16)
  15. BURN FOR YOU RMX – Between Daze (17)
  16. RIPTIDES – Death Cab for Cutie (22)
  17. FOOL’S GOLD – Buffalo Traffic Jam (18)
  18. SITE UNSEEN – Courtney Barnett featuring Waxahatchee (19)
  19. SWEET LOVE – Stephen Sanchez (9)
  20. THE OLD LAW – Father John Misty (10)
  21. SONG OF THE FUTURE – U2 (20)
  22. YOU AND FOREVER – Bleachers (23)
  23. HEADLIGHTS – In Color (24)
  24. DYING TO LOVE – Bad Omens (25)
  25. HOMEWRECKER – sombr (26)
  26. FREAKIN’ OUT – Dexter and The Moonrocks (29)
  27. GOING SHOPPING – The Strokes (30)
  28. BE WITH YOU – Muse (27)
  29. DROP DEAD – Olivia Rodrigo (N)
  30. TO LOVE SOMEBODY – Holly Humberstone (N)