Tate McRae, Olivia Rodrigo & Chappell Roan and Zach Bryan & Lana Del Rey Should All Crash the Hot 100 Next Week — Who’s Got the Best Shot at No. 1?

For the past three weeks, the same two songs have resided in the top two spots on the Billboard Hot 100 : Taylor Swift ’s new The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore bonus cut “Patient Zero” and Ella Langley ’s historic crossover smash “Choosin’ Texas.” Really, those two artists have been the pace-setters on the Hot 100 for the majority of 2026: “Zero” is Swift’s fourth song to spend at least one week at No.

1 this calendar year (following “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Opalite” and “I Knew It, I Knew You”), while Langley’s “Texas” has reigned for a record-setting 24 weeks.

But next week, a trio of highly anticipated releases from major artists — some packing multiple big names at a time — look to elbow their way into the Swift/Langley bloc, and score the first No.

1 to not come from either artist since Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Loved Me” topped the chart for its first and only frame on the Hot 100 dated June 13.

The longest-awaited of those is likely Tate McRae ’s “Housewife.” The presumed first new single from McRae’s upcoming album era — and her first totally new song release of any kind of 2026, after a particularly packed 2025 — the new single was released with a luxurious new video last Thursday night (Oct.

15).

The song generated a lot of discussion for its title conceit — which swerved from trad-seeming expectation to be a statement of independence (“I just wanna make a lot of money/ Be my own housewife”) — and also got an extra bump from a high-profile performance at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Sunday night (Oct.

19).

Arriving practically simultaneously with “Housewife” was a new version of Olivia Rodrigo ’s “Expectations,” featuring a guest verse from Rodrigo’s pop star buddy (and fellow Daisy Chain Fields performer) Chappell Roan.

The remix drew a ton of attention from pop fans due to its sheer unlikeliness — both artists had previously eschewed doing remixes — and for its game show-set music video, which featured a number of big-name cameos, including “Expectations” co-writer/producer Dan Nigro and Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, one of Rodrigo’s many alt-rock heroes (and former onstage collaborators ).

And a few hours later (and a little further left of pop stardom’s center), two other artists with highly devout followings also drew signifcant buzz for teaming up on record for the first time.