Olivia Rodrigo only barely misses out on the top spot, Dominic Fike leads in stead

In a close race for Number 1, Dominic Fike clinches the pole position again this week with his sleeper hit “Babydoll”. Dominic Fike originally broke through in 2019, but he recently experienced somewhat of a revival. His big break came with “3 Nights” off his small EP Don’t Forget Me. He then released a few other Top 40-singles and starred on HBO’s Euphoria. A good eight years after the EP’s release– it spawns another Number 1-hit with “Babydoll”. It recently went viral on TikTok alongside the newest song “White Keys”. “Babydoll” is further supported by the release of Euphoria’s third season. It has received muddled reviews so far. Dominic Fike is the first male solo artist to reach my Number 1 since Sam Fender’s “Little Bit Closer” from last June. In the meantime, only female artists graced the crown position.

But it was a close call this week, or the Number 1 would have gone to Olivia Rodrigo. Instead, she’s up at #2 with her new lead single “Drop Dead”. Over the past few years, Olivia Rodrigo has managed to establish herself as one of the leading artists of the new generation with her distinct songwriting, pop-rock influences and hard-hitting vocals. She has played pretty much every major festival and has earned the respect of rock icons that came before her. And it all started with the indie-bedroom pop hit “drivers license”. The breakup song dictated Olivia’s sound and paved the way for her other breakup songs to soar on the charts, such as “Good 4 U” and “Vampire”, both Number 1-hits. The new “Drop Dead” marks somewhat of a career change. Olivia’s not blasting her ex for looking happy and healthy or only coming out at night on this one – no, Olivia’s in love and comparing her lover to an angel from Versailles. “Drop Dead” will lead Olivia’s upcoming third studio album. Fans and critics have reacted dividedly so far, though it did debut on Spotify with more than 10 million streams. “Drop Dead” starts off at #2 on my chart. It marks Olivia Rodrigo her ninth Top 10-hit and her second best debut ever. 

Further down, the Top 40 is flooded by new singles. At #12, Tyla and Zara Larsson meet up for the 2020s “Beautiful Liar” with “She Did It Again”. The highly teased collaboration follows up Tyla’s Top 10-hit “Chanel” and Zara Larsson’s big career revival with Midnight Sun. The cross-over is supported by a big online media presence and a stunning music video in which Tyla and Zara channel their very best Shakira and Beyoncé. A few places down at #18, Dutch singer-and-producer Antoon brings an ode to the night on “Chaos”. It is taken from her highly successful second studio album, which also spawned the Number 1-hit “Beetje van Mij” and the Top 10-smash “Tot Het Eind van Mij”. On the hit “Chaos”, Antoon solicitates for a headlining slot at the Netherlands’ Lowlands Festival. 

Though a new Bond film is further away than fans might like, a new video game will be released soon. Every Bond film is accompanied by a title theme, which is often considered a big honour for artists to record. Past 007-games featured a title theme sometimes as well; Nicole Scherzinger re-recorded Tina Turner’s “GoldenEye” and Joss Stone featured on BloodStone. For the new First Light, Lana Del Rey records the title theme in collaboration with legendary series composer David Arnold. Lana Del Rey is a fan favourite to record a Bond theme for many years now, and she even was considered for the title theme of 2015’s Spectre, before the job was ultimately given to Sam Smith. With “First Light”, Lana finally joins the Bond pantheon. The best-scoring Bond theme of all time is Adele’s “Skyfall”, which peaked at Number 1 for multiple weeks in 2012. The only other Bond-related #1 is Garbage’s 1999-hit “The World is Not Enough”. Perhaps Lana Del Rey will make “First Light” the first ever video-game related-#1? For a full overview of the biggest Bond themes on my personal chart, see the list below. It is mostly led by the Bond themes from the 1990s, including Tina Turner’s classic and Sheryl Crow’s “Tomorrow Never Dies”. 

And we’re not done yet! Madonna is new at #26 with the hypnotic “I Feel So Free”, the first release of Confessions on the Dancefloor Part II. The original 2005-album was a major reinvention for Madonna and marked the pop icon’s most successful era of all time on my personal chart. It spawned the #1-hits “Hung Up” and “Sorry”, while it’s other singles and album tracks all reached the Top 10 at least. On the thrilling “I Feel So Free”, Madonna samples disco legend Donna Summer. Further down, Sombr debuts at #29 with the sing-a-long “Potential”. He also teased the song during his Coachella live set in the past two weekends. Rounding out this week’s whopping seven new entries, Dutch producer Trobi links up Snelle and Flemming on the reflective “Weer Een Dagje Ouder” at #37. On the song, the two similar Dutch artists reflect on their upbringing and career and future.

Best-scoring Bond theme songs

1. “Skyfall” – Adele [#1] (2012)

2. “GoldenEye” – Tina Turner [#2] (1995)

3. “The World is Not Enough” – Garbage [#1] (1999)

4. “Die Another Day” – Madonna [#4] (2002)

5. “Tomorrow Never Dies” – Sheryl Crow [#2] (1997)

6. “You Know My Name” – Chris Cornell [#6] (2006)

7. “No Time to Die” – Billie Eilish [#5] (2020)

8. “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” – David Arnold [#21] (1998)

9. “Writings On The Wall” – Sam Smith [#11] (2015)

10. “Another Way to Die” – Jack White & Alicia Keys [#17] (2008)