Music

Ben Jolley / 9 April 2026

Plus One

The 11 best Charli xcx songs

Charli xcx is set to own another summer this year as she headlines Reading & Leeds. Get yourself ready with her best tracks, ranked

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Charli xcx’s trajectory from cult icon to arena-dominating popstar has been more than a decade in the making, but there’s no denying that this 365 party girl deserves her throne.

While it was 2024’s BRAT – more a cultural movement and mindset than an album – that made her a global star, later attracting megastars Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and Lorde for remixes, her work on the fringes of the charts made her an underground favourite long ago. Through her work with the late auteur SOPHIE, and PC Music co-founder A. G. Cook, she shaped the future of music way before hyperpop was even a thing. 

Ahead of her headlining slot at Reading and Leeds 2026, we look back on Charli xcx’s 11 best hits. 

11. ‘I think about it all the time’ 

Charli xcx - I think about it all the time (official lyric video)

(BRAT, 2024) 

Charli elevated to megastar status two years ago when her album BRAT all but took over the world. While viral hit ‘Apple’ was used in the U.S. presidential race at the time, she was uncharacteristically vulnerable elsewhere. On ‘I think about it all the time’, for example, she shares her thoughts on potential motherhood, delivering Lily Allen-esque lyrics in diaristic fashion.

10. ‘anthems’

Charli XCX - anthems [Official Audio]

(how i’m feeling now, 2020) 

The highlight of Charli’s lockdown album, which she made in just a few weeks alongside her fans who give their opinions on social media, the clattering snares of ‘anthems’ sound like they belong on legendary house party movie Project X (save for its lyrics about boredom which felt incredibly relatable at the time). 

9. ‘Beg For You’ (feat Rina Sawayama) 

Charli XCX - Beg For You feat. Rina Sawayama [Official Video]

(CRASH, 2022)

For her self-described “sell-out album” CRASH – the last record in her long-term deal with Atlantic/Asylum Records, which she signed at 16 – Charli went full-on pop. Aside from the explicit video for ‘Good Ones’, which saw her cavort around her own gravestone, nowhere was this clearer than ‘Beg For You’. Alongside Rina Sawayama, Charli repurposes September’s classic hit ‘Cry For You’ into her own banger. Overall, the strategy worked, as it became her first LP to reach number one in the UK. 

8. ‘Von dutch’ (with Addison Rae + A. G. Cook)

Charli xcx - Von dutch a. g. cook remix featuring addison rae (official audio)

(Brat and its completely different but also still brat, 2024) 

A top-tier trifecta, the speaker-blowing remix of ‘Von dutch’ brought TikTok star turned pop queen Addison Rae into the fold. Delivering an endlessly-quotable verse and wild scream over A. G. Cook’s blaring synths, the rapturous reaction at Charli’s live shows made it one of the most memorable moments of hers (and Rae’s) most recent tours. 

7. ‘Vroom Vroom’

Charli XCX - Vroom Vroom [Official Video]

(Vroom Vroom EP, 2016) 

There’s no denying that Charli has always been ahead of the curve, and her work with the late innovator SOPHIE is tastemaking proof. As the first mainstream artist to get in the studio with the boundary-pushing yet opinion-splitting PC Music collective, Vroom Vroom marked a new chapter. Worlds away from her second album SUCKER – which boasted indie-EDM hit ‘Break the Rules’ and Rita Ora-collab ‘Doing It’ – its metallic beats sounded like nothing else at the time. 

6 ‘Chains Of Love’ 

Charli xcx - Chains of Love (Official Video)

(Wuthering Heights, 2026)

In her post-BRAT creative rebirth, Charli has taken over the world of film: 2026 has already seen her music industry mockumentary The Moment, but it was her bold soundtrack to Emerald Fennell’s take on Emily Brontë’s classic Wuthering Heights that allowed her to showcase yet another side of her artistry. A fittingly-cinematic epic, the sweeping Kate Bush-style melodrama of ‘Chains Of Love’ wins out, though the sped-up-strings singalong ‘Dying For You’ comes close second. 

5. ‘Guess’ (feat. Billie Eilish)

Charli xcx - Guess featuring billie eilish (official video)

(Brat and its completely different but also still brat, 2024) 

Co-written with Dylan Brady of hyperpop mavericks 100 gecs and produced alongside suited indie sleaze king The Dare, this team-up between Billie and Charli sent stans of both into overdrive – not least because of the flirtatious lyrics and lingerie-filled music video. As collaborations go, you’d struggle to find a more generation-defining pairing. 

4. ‘Boom Clap’

Charli XCX - Boom Clap (The Fault In Our Stars Soundtrack) [Official Video]

(SUCKER, 2014)

Having previously been credited as a songwriter or featured artist on Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ and Icona Pop’s ‘I Love It’, ‘Boom Clap’ delivered Charli’s first major solo hit. Initially offered to Hilary Duff for her comeback album, it went on to soundtrack teen weeper The Fault in Our Stars and land in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. An impressive outcome for a song that, having not made the cut for her sonically-darker debut album True Romance, was almost left behind. 

3. ‘1999’ (with Troye Sivan) 

Charli XCX & Troye Sivan - 1999 [Official Video]

(Charli, 2019)

Teaming up with Aussie pop prince Troye Sivan – who she had met at a party in LA, naturally – this nostalgic dopamine rush from Charli’s self-titled record harks back to a much simpler time. The carefree energy is channelled in the fun and playful lyrics, which yearn for the pre-smartphone golden age of bubblegum pop where it was possible to sing along to radio hits without the distractions of modern technology. 

2. ‘I Love It’ (with Icona Pop) 

Icona Pop - I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

(THIS IS ICONA POP, 2013)

While she had been releasing music independently and signed a record deal in 2010, writing ‘I Love It’ – the lyrics and melody in under an hour, no less – helped Charli to burst onto the scene. Alongside topping the UK Top 40 (alongside Swedish duo Icona Pop, who she gave the song to), the rage-fuelled banger has gone on to clock up more than a BILLION streams on Spotify. A decade down the line, its chorus still booms out of speakers at clubs across the globe. 

1. ‘Speed Drive’

Charli XCX - Speed Drive (From Barbie The Album) [Official Music Video]

(Barbie The Album, 2023)

It’s crazy to think the world almost didn’t get to hear ‘Speed Drive’, Charli and producer EASYFUN’s fittingly commercial and endlessly-replayable accompaniment to the Barbie film. Written quickly and nearly scrapped because she initially didn’t think it was good enough, the hyperpop sugar rush – which expertly interpolates Toni Basil’s 1981 classic ‘Mickey’ – found its way to Mark Ronson, who was producing the movie soundtrack. After some radio silence, his vastly different opinion resulted in the rocket-like track being used twice on the big screen. 

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Charli xcx headlines Reading & Leeds festival over the August bank holiday weekend. Find tickets here