Any year in music takes a bit of time to develop its own unique texture, kicking off January after a (sometimes literal) deep freeze that leaves the charts fully inhabited by last year’s fare. In an inversion of what we’re used to, this week’s Tracks rankings may not reprise songs from 2025, but certainly its top-line takeaways feature many of the faces that ruled it. That includes an unreal run from Morgan Wallen and Sabrina Carpenter threatening a new one of her own.
As promised in last week’s edition, one of the decade’s breakout mainstream pop acts is doubling down on her presence in the consciousness. Though many cuts from her Short & Sweet have been bankable assets in our top 50 all through 2025, Sabrina Carpenter begins looking towards total dominance by announcing its follow-up, Man’s Best Friend. While we won’t see the final product until the tail end of summer (August 29th), its initial promo effort has already been impactful: “Manchild” checks in at #48, an extremely sturdy debut given a lack of full-week tracking and one largely propelled by streaming platform supremacy.
The Latest Morgan Wallen Album Nears Unprecedented Success
Shifting to another hit-making heavyweight, Morgan Wallen himself kicked off an effort to lap the competition, still enjoying the long tail of some of yesteryear’s records. Though his LP, “I’m The Problem,” now checks off its third week in public hands, it’s only now that we can take in the totality of its seismic chart debut. We’ve got an astounding 24 appearances within the top 100 for the Sneedville native, the vast majority of which come from album cuts that’ve only had that better part of the month to make an impact.
In kind, while the most prominent artists’ albums tend to place much of their tracklist in their first weeks, those are typically flash in the pans, departing in short order and only leaving behind the ones with true staying power. Given what Morgan Wallen has accomplished on a commercial level, managing to become a monolith within the revitalized country scene and snowballing with non-traditional crossover efforts, it seems fair to say at this juncture that he’s well on his way to becoming one of the defining acts of this decade.
Latin Music Seems Prepped For Summer Takeover
Though treating Spanish-language music as a monolithic is a troubled proposition in its own right, there’s no denying that there’s been a “rising tide raises all boats” dynamic on display in recent years, with mainstream breakouts like Bad Bunny, Karol G, and Peso Pluma breaking down the door for more underrated acts to ride in. To that end, we’ve been able to spot the fingerprints of the Spanish-speaking world throughout our rankings all year.
In this week’s snapshot, nearly 10% of the top 100 and outside of one notch for Benito (“BAILE INoLVIDABLE” at #89), the bulk comes from names outside of that previously mentioned set of A-listers. Fuerza Regida, ATLXS, Victor Valverde, Oscar Magdon, FloyMenor, Cris MK, and the hit-making Grupo Frontera loom as just a selection of the artists you’ll surely be hearing as we enter the hottest portion of the calendar.
Looking further ahead, Estevan Plazola with his “HOLLYWOOD,” Xavi and Manuel Turizo with their “En Privado,” 8UNO & Airam Páez with their “Pelotero La Bola,” and Tito Double P with his “NADIE” make up some of the “bubbling under” talent worth tracking as potential breakouts. Finally, for those looking to project who we may be seeing as the season progresses, Karol G’s seventh studio album is due out next week, while Rosalia’s fourth has been continually confirmed for a launch before the end of 2025.
As always, you can catch the music mentioned throughout this piece within the Music Daily Tracks playlist embedded below or linked here, updated weekly with the most notable risers and new debuts.
