The 10 Best Rock Songs of 2026 (So Far)

The year is a little over halfway done, which means it’s time to look back on the best individual songs of 2026…so far, that is.

Some of rock’s biggest and most legendary names have contributed to this year’s musical landscape — we’re looking at you specifically, Paul McCartney, and also at those swaggering dudes in the Rolling Stones. (What’s even crazier is that Mick Jagger is apparently already looking ahead to the next project. He told NME in June: “Yeah, it could be a trio [of records]. I’ve already started writing songs anyway.”)

For someone like McCartney, who could easily be resting on his laurels, continuing to make music is simply what needs to be done.

“People say, ‘Well, why do you still write songs?’ And it’s just because I love it. I’m addicted,” he told The New York Times, also in June of this year.

Of course, there’s still plenty of time left in 2026 for new, possibly even better songs to arrive, but for the time being, these are our top 10.

10. “Your Favorite Toy,” Foo Fighters

After Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins passed away in March of 2022, the band understandably didn’t release any new music for almost two years.

But things have changed. Foo Fighters returned this year with a new album, Your Favorite Toy, and we think the title song is one of the best. It’s the kind of classic, three-minute, hard rocking thing that makes Foo Fighters who they are. As UCR’s own Bryan Rolli wrote of the track, it “combines Dave Grohl‘s snarling vocals and anthemic choruses with crunchy, garage-rock style riffs and an urgent, dance-adjacent groove.”

 

9. “Streets of Minneapolis,” Bruce Springsteen

Many years ago now, Bruce Springsteen released a song called “Streets of Philadelphia,” a stunning number that tackled themes of isolation, lost friends and the daunting thing that comes for us all in the end. Over 20 years later, Springsteen could not stand idly by while news came out of Minnesota that citizens — Alex Pretti and Renee Good — had been killed by federal agents, penning “Streets of Minneapolis” in tribute to them and the city at large.

Whatever you might think about Springsteen’s song or the administration he wrote it about, there is one thing that remains true: some of the best songwriters are those who observe the world around them, documenting events, opinions and conflicts in a way that traditional methods of historical record-keeping cannot. That’s what “Streets of Minneapolis” does.

“Our city’s heart and soul persists,” Springsteen sings. “Through broken glass and bloody tears / on the streets of Minneapolis.”

 

8. “Run for Your Life,” Corrosion of Conformity

When you are making a double album, you have extra room to…do what you want.

In Corrosion of Conformity‘s case, that means slowing things down a bit. Most of the singles they released from their new album, Good God / Baad Man, have been uptempo tracks, with high energy riffs. But with “Run for Your Life” they choose the path of a nine-minute slow burn that’s almost Pink Floyd-esque. It ends the first disc of the double LP.

 

7. “Street of Dreams,” U2

We don’t know what the rest of U2‘s 2026 album will sound like — so far, we haven’t gotten details on a release date, title, etc.

But we do have “Street of Dreams,” a classic-sounding U2 track thanks to the Edge‘s guitar part. “Don’t you give up, and your dreams won’t give up on you,” Bono sings. Couldn’t we all use that reminder right about now? Once again, U2 proves that fighting for freedom, collective resistance and maintaining hope will never go out of style.

 

6. “Been Undone,” Peter Gabriel

You could release an album the normal way, or you could do it the Peter Gabriel way: release one song per full moon cycle, with each track coming with two different mixes. Why not?

“Been Undone” was the first song Gabriel released from his new album o\i, the follow up to 2023’s i/o. It’s another example of a songwriter taking necessary note of how the world around them is changing — and not always for the better.

“I have been thinking about the future and how we might respond to it,” Gabriel said in a statement, speaking about some of the inspirations behind the album and “Been Undone” specifically. “We are sliding into a period of transition like no other, most likely triggered in three waves; AI, quantum computing and the brain computer interface. Artists have a role to look into the mists and, when they catch sight of something, to hold up a mirror.”

 

5. “Profane Prophecy,” The Black Crowes

“Profane Prophecy,” the hard-rocking first song of the Black Crowes‘ newest album, A Pound of Feathers, is exactly what you want in an opening track. Get the audience hooked right from the start and the rest will follow.

With 10 albums now under their belt, the Black Crowes know it’s often best to let the music speak for itself.

“Songs kind of gravitate towards each other from a collective standpoint, and then they kind of dictate what the record is going to be,” guitarist Rich Robinson told us earlier this year. “That song was just a really cool uptempo rock song that I really loved. It just kind of wrote [itself] and I kind of stay out of the way and let it come.”

 

4. “Carry the Light,” Peter Frampton

We’re just going to be honest here: when this writer listened to Peter Frampton‘s newest album, Carry the Light, she confidently declared to friends that this was easily Frampton’s best album in years.

The title track in particular is a stand out, an excellently crafted track both from a songwriting and production perspective. With “Carry the Light,” Frampton proves that oftentimes less is truly more, though that shouldn’t stop you from throwing in a robust guitar solo, used more like a second vocal in this case.

Frampton has been living with inclusion body myositis (IBM) for years now, a disease that slowly weakens muscles over time, and yet he remains one of the most optimistic people in music today — that’s more than evident in “Carry the Light.”

 

3. “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs,” Jack White

This writer saw Jack White in concert — phone free! – a few weeks ago, so she can personally attest to the fact that the only thing cooler than the studio version of “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” is the live version.

If there’s one thing White’s awfully good at, it’s writing riff-driven tracks like this one that border on being a little…weird. White yelps, pauses for drum breaks and sings about violence. And it all works.

 

2. “Days We Left Behind,” Paul McCartney

It can sometimes be easy to forget given how healthy he appears and how studiously he works, but it needs to be remembered that Paul McCartney is, at the time of this writing, 84 years old and still one of the most famous people on the planet.

Which is why a song like “Days We Left Behind” from The Boys of Dungeon Lane is all the more touching. It’s an exceptionally beautiful ode to McCartney’s earliest days with the Beatles. But of course, they weren’t the Beatles we came to know and love at that point — they were simply friends who found one another at the right time and place.

Two of those friends are now gone, and it’s been decades since the breakup of the Beatles. But McCartney remembers those days like they were yesterday. “We met at Forthlin Road / and wrote a secret code to never be spoken,” he sings. “I stand by what I said / the promise that I made will never be broken.”

 

1. “In the Stars,” The Rolling Stones

You gotta admit: “In the Stars” is catchy. And it’s got all the hallmarks of a great Rolling Stones song.

You’ve got Keith Richards‘ iconic power chords, a fun “ooh” vocal bit that’s easy to sing along to, and Mick Jagger jumping from his tough, lower register up to falsetto. (We miss Charlie Watts dearly, but Steve Jordan is one incredible drummer here.)

The idea that the Rolling Stones are still putting out new music like “In the Stars” over 60 years since their formation is nothing short of fantastic. Long live rock and long live the Rolling Stones. “Well, do you wanna dance till thе roof caves in?” Jagger asks. “Yeah, and the guitars scrеam and the choir still sings.”