Remembering 2026: June

As we're halfway through the Remembering 1996 posts and halfway through the year I thought I'd make a post for reading back in 30 years time that captures music of the moment.

Most of the new entries in the Top 40 in Jun 96 didn't get a mention because there were 68 of them. In Jun 26 there were just 10 which seems few enough to look at all of them.

The month began with Ariana Grande going straight in at number one with "Hate That I Made You Love Me". Incidentally it's composer Max Martin made his UK Top 40 debut as a songwriter in Jun 96 with the Backstreet Boys debut "Get Down (You're The One For Me)". The artists have changed but behind the scenes it's still the same.

The only other new entry that week was "Noble" by F3miii. He's a Nigerian-Irish singer-songwriter on TikTok who released it on Boxing Day 2025, it first charted at 81 in April and gradually climbed into the Top 40. Whether he'll be a one hit wonder or the next Ed Sheeran remains to be seen.

The following week Taylor Swift went straight in at number one with "I Knew It I Knew You". It was from the film "Toy Story 5", in 1996 we'd only had one Toy Story film. The question is in 30 years time how many Top 40 hits will Taylor Swift have had and what Toy Story number will we be on.

Taylor Swift very much feels like a modern artist but it's now 17 years since she made her Top 40 debut. To draw comparisons in Jun 96 Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen from U2 charted with "Theme From Mission Impossible". U2 were still popular but at the time but they were also seen as old. Taylor Swift is 36, the same age Adam Clayton was in Jun 96 whilst Larry Mullen was 34. U2 were 15 years into their Top 40 career at that point.

Alex Warren had his 9th Top 40 hit with "Passenger". He'd had his big hit "Ordinary" the previous year which spent 13 non-consecutive weeks at number one which at this point was the longest run at number one in the 2020s.

18 year old Alyssa Grace made her Top 40 debut with "Bloodstream". Will she still be having hits at 48 or will she quickly disappear? She's that new at the moment that she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

Mac Miller died in 2018 but never had a Top 40 hit until Jun 26 when "Cinderella" in collaboration with Ty Dolla Sign charted. It was a 10 year old song that became part of some TikTok trend.

In Jun 96 most of the new entries came from British artists but Maxi Priest was the only Brit to make the Top 40 with said record in America. In Jun 26 only 1 of the new entries in the UK Top 40 came from a British artist. This Silva Bumpa making his debut with "On 2nite". He's yet to have a Wikipedia page.

Onto week 3 and the highest new entry came from Olivia Rodrigo with "Stupid Song" which entered at number 2. She had other songs at numbers 3 and 5 whilst the number 4 was by someone named Oliva too.

Then there was the song "Iconic By Mistake" which was a collaboration between 3 girl groups, Le Sserafim, Illit and Katseye. There were more individuals on that record than the remaining new entries combined.

Finally there was the official World Cup song "Dai Dai" by Shakira & Burna Boy. It's the only one of these new entries I've actually heard at the time of writing and that's because I've been watching the World Cup.

Shakira is now 49 which is older than Freddie Mercury ever was and had he still been alive in Jun 96 when Queen charted with "Let Me Live" then that's how old he would have been.

Onto the final week of Jun 26 and there were no new entries in the Top 40. What did happen though was "Reign Me In" by Sam Fender & Oliva Dean climbed back to number one making it 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one and therefore overtaking Alex Warren for most weeks in the 2020s.

How much longer can it go?