We’re just over the halfway mark of 2026 and there’s plenty of music to show for it.
It’s been an especially active year for the pop-star set: Charli xcx released two records—one the ruminative, haunting Wuthering Heights, the other a pivot to rock. Elsewhere, Harry Styles put all of his hours logged at LCD Soundsystem shows to use on the dancey Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally, while Olivia Rodrigo traced the arc of a doomed relationship on you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love—her most mature offering yet.
We’ve also celebrated highly anticipated returns, from BTS’s first record following their compulsory military service to Phoebe Bridgers’s ruminations on love and loss on the folksy, evocative Lost Weekend, and Madonna’s long-awaited sequel to Confessions.
If anything, 2026 is turning out to be a year for star-making releases. Slayyyter is finally getting her due with WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA (just check out her Lollapalooza crowd!), Fcukers’ dance floor bops on Ö earned them an opening spot on Styles’s tour, and Haute & Freddy’s ’80s synth-pop record, Big Disgrace—with a baroque sense of style to match—earned instant acclaim.
Below, check out Vogue staffers’ picks for the best albums of 2026—so far.
Arca, XXXXX
Though Arca hasn’t released a record in nearly five years, she’s continued to contribute to the pop music lexicon, most recently with her take on Addison Rae’s “Aquamarine”—“Arcamarine.” So when news of her latest album, XXXXX, arrived with no singles, I had no idea what to expect. Her previous releases, kick i–iii, a three-part trilogy, gave us everything from reggaeton/neoperreo to improvised piano tracks. From the opening track of XXXXX, “No End,” I was excited to hear Arca return to her roots: hard-hitting experimental electronic dance music. Few artists can make dance music that makes you want to think as much as it makes you want to move, and this record does exactly that. There are plenty of clicky percussion sounds, playful saw-wave synths, and Arca’s signature approach to sound design, further proving that she and SOPHIE shared a similar musical DNA. —Chelsea Daniel
