Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars battle it out, while PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson claim a Top 10-debut

Taylor Swift holds at Number 1 for a third consecutive week with “The Fate of Ophelia”. Though it is not commonly associated with Taylor Swift, on my list, this was definitely a sleeper hit. “The Fate of Ophelia” made a minor debut upon its release, despite setting the single-day streaming record for any song on Spotify, becoming the first song to accumulate over 30 million streams in a single day. It then slowly climbed my personal Top 40 before finally peaking at Number 1 and becoming her sixth chart-topper to date. The 2020s have been typically defined by the rise of “sleeper hits”; songs that are suddenly boosted up the charts months after its release, often thanks to a viral resurgence on TikTok or usage in a popular tv-series. Popular examples include Lola Young’s “Messy”, Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” or Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”. In its third week at the top, Swift is challenged by Bruno Mars with his new disco pop song “I Just Might”.

Last year, PinkPantheress delivered one of the freshest projects of this decade: Fancy That. It spawned the Top 10-hits “Tonight” and “Illegal”. With her soft voice, smart productions and Y2K-sensibilities, PinkPantheress established herself as one of the defining artists of the mid-2020s. To reward her fans, Pink released a remix collection of Fancy That, smartly titled Fancy Some More?, which reworked all the original songs to feature other artists, such as Kylie Minogue, JT and JADE. It also featured Zara Larsson on the remix of “Stateside”. Zara Larsson’s been on the up again, lately, ever since her 2015-hit “Lush Life” went viral during a show in Amsterdam and caused a major uplift in streams. Larsson is now in the Top 3 with “Midnight Sun” for the first time since 2017’s “Symphony” and “Lush Life” is currently enjoying a second chart run. PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson capitalize on both their viral success and push “Stateside” into the Top 10, aided by a spectacularly camp music video. “Stateside” is new at #7. It marks Pink’s best debut to date and Zara Larsson’s best debut since 2016’s “I Would Like” debuted and peaked at #3.

Antoon has quickly become one of the most influential singers and producers in the Netherlands right now. At the start of the decade, and under the guidance of The Opposites’ Big2, he broke through as a young singer with hits such as “Hyperventilatie” and “Leuk”, whilst producing mega hits for other big Dutch artists, such as Roxy Dekker’s “Satisfyer” or Froukje & S10’s “Ik Haat Hem Voor Jou”. In the last year, Antoon notched up his fourth Number 1-hit with the house-infused “Beetje Voor Mij”. Very much determined to keep that success going into 2026, Antoon starts off the year right with the release of his third album Tot Het Eind Van Mij. That single with the same name as the album moves to #9 on this week’s chart. The dance ballad is an ode to Antoon’s late mother and sees him promise his mother that she’ll always be his. The affectionate song is surprisingly hard-hitting. “Tot Het Eind Van Mij” is Antoon’s landmark tenth Top 10-hit. Further down, the new single off the album, “Van God Los”, is new on the charts at #24.

Leigh-Anne’s solo debut album is less than one month away. Following a messy album roll-out, eyes will be on Leigh-Anne to see if she can match the #3-peak set by JADE and Perrie’s debuts. Previous songs “Been A Minute” and “Dead And Gone” performed well initially but did not match Leigh-Anne her own “Don’t Say Love” or “My Love” on the long term. Leigh-Anne now bids for solo stardom on “Most Wanted” at #23 with Valiant and Rvssian. Sienna Spiro lines up her second hit as the soft “You Stole The Show” debuts at #34. Her own “Die On This Hill” is still riding Top 10 and is set to become an even bigger hit across Europe than it already is. It often happens that when an artist breaks through, their other songs slip into the Top 40 and become sleeper hits. Perhaps Sienna Spiro will be this year’s Chappell Roan? Shakira rounds out the week’s new debuts with the “Waka, Waka”-sounding “Zoo” at #37. It is the theme for the new Zootopia sequel, which is smashing box-office records left and right. Shakira also cameos as an anthropomorphic gazelle and sung the theme for the original Zootopia film, “Try Everything”, which peaked at #12. “Zoo” is Shakira’s first solo Top 40-hit since 2017’s Top 10-hit “Me Enamoré”. In the meantime, Shakira mostly enjoyed chart success in collaboration with other artists, including a Number 1-hit was Argentinian producer Bizarrap.

Newly certified

“Run Your Mouth” – The Marías GOLD

“The Fate of Ophelia” – Taylor Swift PLATINUM

“So Easy (To Fall in Love)” – Olivia Dean 3 X PLATINUM