Shakira and Burna Boy lead an unchanged Top 3

With World Cup finals fast approaching, Shakira and Burna Boy stay atop the list for a second week. Last week, “Dai, Dai” became Shakira’s eleventh Number 1-hit and Burna Boy’s very first. Shakira is a cross-generational musical phenomenon. She scored her very first chart-topper in 2002 with “Whenever, Wherever”, and continued her streak into the 2000s and 2010s. Shakira first found fame in South America in the late 1990s. In 2023, Shakira scored another Number 1-hit with the break-up anthem “Music Sessions, Vol. 53" with Bizarrap. Being 49 years old, it is rare to see an artist succeed on the charts for such a long time – only Beyoncé or Kylie Minogue can match. “Dai, Dai” is the official FIFA-anthem for the World Cup this year. Shakira previously recorded the 2010-anthem “Waka, Waka” – which despite its popularity stalled at #2 – and the 2014-hit “Dare”. For Burna Boy, “Dai, Dai” is his first ever Number 1-hit. He previously scored a big global hit with “Last, Last” in 2023 and he became the very first African singer to have two albums earned over 1 billion streams on Spotify. “Dai, Dai” maintains a comfortable lead this week. Antoon is in second place once more with his ex-chart-topper “De Enige”, while R&B-songstress Ravyn Lanae remains confident in third place with her underrated “Handle”.

She’s got something she wants to talk about – Madonna’s back in the Top 10, baby! “I Feel So Free” soars to #9 following the release of the highly anticipated Confessions II. At 67 years old, Madonna is still the queen of dancefloor. Confessions II is the follow-up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. That project came after Madonna her controversial American Life era, which split her fandom in two and failed to spawn significant hits on Billboard. On Confessions, Madonna re-introduced herself with more disco than techno, and topped the charts with “Hung Up” and “Sorry”. With its hit singles and status as a career saver, Madonna’s been long asked to finally follow up the project – and this year, she gave in. Confessions II previously spawned the Top 5-debut “Bring Your Love” thanks to a smart Sabrina Carpenter feature. Its official lead single “I Feel So Free” is unapologetically a club song, with hypnotizing synths, and an awesome sample of Donna Summer’s classic “I Feel Love”. With a new peak at #9 weeks after its initial release, “I Feel So Free” marks Madonna’s first solo Top 10-hit since 2008’s “Miles Away”. Overall, it marks Madonna’s seventeenth Top 10-hit since charting began back in 1995. Thanks to the release of Confessions II, Madonna and Sabrina’s “Bring Your Love” rebounds up to #11 for a second wind.

English band Wolf Alice received rave reviews last year for their fourth studio album, The Clearing. It has been compared to “something close to if Fleetwood Mac wrote an album today in North London”. It then debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Charts and was announced as one of twelve nominees for the 2025 Mercury Prize. Then, to even further dizzying surprise, at the 2026 Brit Awards, the album was nominated for the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and Wolf Alice won the Brit Award for British Group. Odd then that Wolf Alice, up till now, had never made it onto my personal Top 40. But that all changed when Wolf Alice played on the mainstage at Best Kept Secret a few weekends ago. It paved the way for “Just Two Girls” to break out, and this week, it’s up at #10. “Just Two Girls” marks Wolf Alice their very first and well-deserved Top 10-hit. So far, Wolf Alice have claimed the first big festival hit of 2026! Each year, an act that played at a big Dutch festival or at Glastonbury, scores a big hit on the charts. Previous festival breakout acts include Goldband, Eefje de Visser or Magdalena Bay. Perhaps Wolf Alice will soon be an unmissable part of the Top 40 as well?

After thirteen years of radio silence, Dutch hip hop duo The Opposites made their unexpected return to music last week with “Feestje Op Mijn Graf”. The rap duo, consisting of Willy (Willem de Bruin) and Big2 (Twan van Steenhoven), formed in 2004. The two men knew each other for a longtime, and after participating in a demo contest on the internet, The Opposites got signed to Mastermind Records and started appearing on remixes of popular Dutch artists. Real hits followed quickly: “Slaap” from 2006, “Dom, Lomp & Famous” in 2007, or the acclaimed “Slapeloze Nachten” in 2012. The Opposites then parted ways in 2014 for a few years, before they unexpectedly reunited in 2019 at Appelsap Festival in Amsterdam. In the meantime, The Opposites’ members all had success with solo singles as well. Big2 mentored the young Antoon into the hitmaker he is today, and also featured on his Top 3-smash single “Leuk” in 2021. The new “Feestje Op Mijn Graf” is The Opposites’ first fresh material in thirteen long years. It debuts at #28 as the highest new entry of this week.

A few weekends ago at Pinkpop Festival in The Netherlands, Little Mix-alumna JADE was asked who she would enlist to form a new girl band. She named Zara Larsson, Tyla, herself, Tate McRae, and the relatively unknown, Rose Gray. With her striking red hair and ethereal vocals, Rose Gray is a shew-in for any good girl group. She’s been making music for a while now, and last year’s Louder Please was a Critics' Choice-nominated album at the BRITs. JADE also featured on one of that album’s remixed tracks. Rose Gray now makes her Top 40-debut on here with “Club to Your Arms”. It is the lead song for her upcoming second studio album. Meanwhile, Sam Fender & Olivia Dean’s duet “Rein Me In” is the hit that just keeps on hitting – it re-enters at #39 for a third run in the Top 40. During its initial run on my chart, it debuted at Number 1 and achieved quadruple-platinum status. It ranks as Sam Fender’s most successful chart entry of all time and is one of the ten biggest hits of the 2020s. With “Rein Me In” back in the Top 40 again, it achieves even more points and could be well on its way to become the biggest of them all.

Earlier this year, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson teamed up on the now-iconic “Stateside”. It shot to Number 1 over the spring and has since achieved quadruple-platinum status – and it’s still charting! In a mere six months, PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson’s “Stateside” has become the best-scoring female duet of all time with more than 140,000 points. No other female duet has scored more points. This rare chart record was previously held by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s “Telephone” from 2011. “Stateside” is not only the biggest female duet of all time, it is also the best-scoring hit of 2026 so far by a landslide. A full ranking of the ten biggest female duets of all time is listed below. Other very iconic female duet hits include 1998’s classic “The Boy Is Mine” – the original record-holder until Lady Gaga and Bey overtook Brandy & Monica – and the 2014 big-scorer “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX.

Newly certified

“Potential” – Sombr GOLD

“De Enige” – Antoon GOLD

“drop dead” – Olivia Rodrigo PLATINUM

“Stateside” – PinkPantheress & Zara Larsson 4 X PLATINUM

Biggest female duets of all time

1. “Stateside” – PinkPantheress & Zara Larsson

2. “Telephone” – Lady Gaga & Beyoncé

3. “Fancy” – Iggy Azalea & Charli XCX

4. “The Boy Is Mine” – Brandy & Monica

5. “Never Be the Same Again” – Mel C & Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez

6. “Problem” – Ariana Grande & Iggy Azalea

7. “WAP” – Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion

8. “Escapism.” – RAYE & 070 Shake

9. “Beautiful Liar” – Beyoncé & Shakira

10. “Side to Side” – Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj