The Best Pop Songs of 2026 So Far (with NPR's Hazel Cills)
Pop Pantheon
DJ Louie XIV
4.7 • 630 Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
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Summary
NOTE: A previous version of this episode had an editing error that caused cross-talk in the interview. If this episode auto-downloaded, delete it from your library and refresh the feed for the updated version. Thank you!
From Robyn to Charlie Puth, Olivia Rodrigo, Haute & Freddy, Underscores, and more, Louie is joined by NPR's Hazel Cills to countdown their favorite Pop Songs of 2026 so far.
Check out a playlist of Louie and Hazel's favs
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Pop Pantheon the podcast where we completely overanaly |
| 0:15.4 | all of your favorite pop stars and then rank them in the official Pop Pantheon. |
| 0:18.9 | This is your host, DJ Louis XIV. |
| 0:22.4 | And big announcement, |
| 0:29.3 | we have gorgeous, gorgeous pride parties coming up in both New York City and Los Angeles. |
| 0:36.6 | The LA party is going to be on June 19th at Los Globos in Silver Lake and the New York party is going to be on June 26th. |
| 0:39.3 | At the Sultan Room in Bushwick, you can buy tickets to both of those parties by going to the show notes in this episode. |
| 0:45.1 | They're also available on Gorgeous Gorgeous Parties Instagram Link Tree. |
| 0:49.1 | Hope to see you at one of those parties. |
| 0:50.7 | Also, if you can't make it to either of those or if you just can't get enough, Gorgeous, Gorgeous is also having a party in collaboration with Lincoln Center on June 12th. That will be at Lincoln Center. That is free. It is a silent disco. I will be DJing there that evening. So you can sign up for that also in the link tree of Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Instagram, bio. Don't forget to wait, review, and subscribe to this podcast wherever |
| 1:11.7 | you're listening to it now. Follow us on social media at Pop Pantheon Pod by our merch at Poppantheonpod.com |
| 1:17.9 | and subscribe to our Patreon, Potpantheon, all access, where we do weekly bonus episodes of this show. |
| 1:22.4 | You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcast app. Okay, that's enough housekeeping. |
| 1:28.3 | I am here with Dear Friend of the Pod. It's editor at NPR Music, Hazel Sills. Hazel, it's wonderful |
| 1:33.9 | to see you. It is so thrilling to be here again. Thrilling. And I'm very excited to be here with |
| 1:38.6 | you to talk about potentially a not particularly exciting year in pop music so far. Or should I say in like the upper echelons of pop music? |
| 1:47.7 | Next week, actually Russ is going to be doing an episode about the sort of underrated |
| 1:52.2 | pop music of the year, pop music you might have missed. |
| 1:55.0 | Now, we're talking about the subject is open. |
| 1:57.5 | We've bought artists from all different tiers of pop music. |
| 2:00.0 | But what has been your |
| 2:01.4 | take on pop music en masse in 2026 so far? Yeah, I mean, it's a little sleepy. I sent you a meme that I made |
... |
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