Key Takeaways
- This list traces Zara Larsson’s evolution from Swedish child star to global pop mainstay through her 15 best songs.
- “Midnight Sun” tops the list, followed by “Never Forget You” with MNEK and the underrated “All the Time,” while “Lush Life” and “Symphony” also make the cut.
- The 15-song countdown spans 2014 to 2026, mixing international hits with deep cuts and collaborations. It arrives alongside her new Little Mermaid collection with Complex, featuring hoodies, T-shirts, and more.
Zara Larsson might be a new name to many in 2026, but the 28-year-old Swedish singer has been at it for a long time, first as a child star in her home country and then as an international hitmaker for the past decade.
In fact, when she was asked about a potential Best New Artist nod in this fall’s Grammy nominations, she shot down the idea. “I don’t even want that. That would downplay the 13 years of me being an artist. I’m not a new artist,” she told Perfect Magazine in August.
With new songs like “Midnight Sun” and older favorites like “Lush Life” all over the charts this year, plus headline-making sets at Lollapalooza and Rock in Rio, Zara Larsson is clearly having a moment.
This week, she teamed up with Disney and Complex on an exclusive collection inspired by The Little Mermaid. The drop features Larsson-ified mermaid designs on everything from special-edition tees and off-the-shoulder tops to ribbed tanks, long-sleeves, zip hoodies, tote bags, and pin sets.
To celebrate, here’s a look back at Zara Larsson’s 15 best songs of all time. The list features a mix of hits, deep cuts, and collaborations from across her catalog. If you like what you hear, turn it up a little louder.
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“Wanna Be Your Baby” (2014)
Album: 1
Producer: Robert Habolin, Claude Kelly, & Colin Norman
Larsson rose to fame as a precocious 10-year-old singer on Talang (the Swedish version of Simon Cowell’s Got Talent franchise), and her cover of the Celine Dion ballad “My Heart Will Go On” was her first Top Ten hit in her home country.
When she began releasing original music as a teenager a few years later, though, songs like “Uncover” made it clear that one of her biggest influences is Rihanna. Over the years Larsson has covered several of Rih’s hits, "Umbrella" and “Stay.”
“Ain’t My Fault” (2016)
Album: So Good
Producer: MNEK and Mike Spencer
London singer/songwriter Uzoechi “MNEK” Emenike was already established on the UK charts—guesting on Gorgon City’s Top 5 hit “Ready for Your Love” and co-writing the No. 1 hit “Gecko (Overdrive)” by Oliver Heldens and Becky Hill—when he became one of Larsson’s closest collaborators as a producer, co-writer, and occasional duet partner.
“Ain’t My Fault,” with its synth sax loop and banging midtempo beat, is one of Larsson’s more rap-adjacent tracks, with a syncopated flow on the verses, a hook that nods to Silkk the Shocker, and a remix featuring Lil Yachty.
“Saturn’s Return” (2025)
Album: Midnight Sun
Producer: Margo XS, MNEK, Zhone, and Troy Taylor
After a decade of friendship, Larsson asked MNEK to executive produce her fifth album Midnight Sun, and their creative chemistry took her to new creative and commercial heights.
On the power ballad “Saturn’s Return,” Larsson ruminates on the ups and downs of her career: “When I was 17 I didn’t have no patience/ Said by 20 I’d be filling up stadiums/ Didn’t happen so I changed the deadline/ Might take another 20 years and that’s fine,” she sings on the track.
Zara Larsson feat. JT and Margo XS, “Pretty Ugly (Girls Trip)” (2026)
Album: Midnight Sun: Girls Trip
Producer: Margo XS and MNEK
The aggressive shout-along anthem “Pretty Ugly” didn’t make major waves as the first single released from Midnight Sun in 2025. But Larsson revisited the track for the remix album Midnight Sun: Girls Trip and found the perfect guest to match the song’s energy—Miami rapper JT, formerly of the City Girls.
BTS & Zara Larsson, “Brand New Day” (2019)
Album: BTS World: Original Soundtrack
Producer: Mura Masa
BTS were already the biggest K-pop group in the world by 2019, but they’d only just begun collaborating with western artists and incorporating English lyrics into their music.
The soundtrack for the group’s BTS World mobile game included songs with Charli XCX, Juice WRLD, and Zara Larsson, who sings over a flute loop alongside J-Hope and V on “Brand New Day.”
“Stuck with You” (2021)
Album: Poster Girl
Producer: The Struts
Swedish hitmaker Max Martin is one of the most successful writers and producers in American chart history, and Larsson stated in 2015 that one of her career goals was to work with him. Six years later, Martin co-wrote the guitar-driven love song “Stick with You,” produced by his proteges the Struts, on Larsson’s most underrated album, Poster Girl.
Tyla feat. Zara Larsson, “She Did It Again” (2026)
Album: A*Pop
Producer: Sammy Soso, Ari PenSmith, Believve & Mocha Bands
Larsson and South African pop star Tyla linked up for back-to-back collaborations in April of this year. First, “She Did It Again” was released as an advance single from Tyla’s sophomore album, and then Tyla guested on a remix of “Hot & Sexy” for Midnight Sun: Girls Trip.
“She Did It Again” has been a staple of Larsson’s 2026 live performances, even when Tyla isn’t available to join her in person.
“Escape” (2024)
Album: Venus
Producer: Danja, Rick Nowels, Austin Corona, Anastasia Boissier & John Christopher Fee
Timbaland protégé Floyd “Danja” Hills became one of the most ubiquitous pop producers of the 2000s with his work for Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Nelly Furtado.
Danja co-produced most of the songs on Larsson’s fifth LP Venus, including the hit “Can’t Tame Her” and the album cut “Escape” which boasts one of the best bridges in her discography.
“Lush Life” (2015)
Album: So Good
Producer: Freedo and Shuko
Larsson had been a major star in Sweden for years, but “Lush Life” was the song that made her known internationally—a smash all over Europe. It was a moderate hit in America at the time, but Larsson’s increased visibility this year resurfaced the song, with one of her live performances of the song going viral on TikTok. “Lush Life” belatedly became a Top 40 hit in 2026, returning to pop radio airwaves and garnering an American Music Award nomination for Social Song of the Year.
Clean Bandit feat. Zara Larsson, “Symphony” (2017)
Album: What Is Love?
Producer: Clean Bandit and Mark Ralph
The British group Clean Bandit’s signature sound blends modern dance-pop with classical instrumentation, and one of their biggest hits, which features Zara Larsson, is appropriately titled “Symphony.”
It was something of a slow burn in America, missing the Hot 100 but eventually racking up two billion streams on Spotify, the only Zara Larsson track besides “Lush Life” to reach that milestone.
PinkPantheress & Zara Larsson, “Stateside + Zara Larsson” (2025)
Album: Fancy Some More?
Producer: PinkPantheress, Aksel Arvid, Glasear, Harrison Patrick Smith & Oscar Scheller
British singer-producer PinkPantheress followed her 2025 album Fancy That with Fancy Some More?, a remix collection released that October. Its standout was a rework of “Stateside” featuring Swedish pop star Zara Larsson, which added a thumping new beat and Larsson’s soaring vocal runs and became an instant fan favorite.
But it wasn’t until American figure skater Alysa Liu, the breakout gold medalist of the 2026 Winter Olympics, skated to the remix at the exhibition gala in February that the song rocketed to No. 6 on the Hot 100, giving Larsson her first top 10 hit in the U.S.
“Blue Moon” (2025)
Album: Midnight Sun
Producer: Margo XS, MNEK & Zhone
The influence of American producer Margo XS—a member of the electropunk group deBasement who’s worked with hyperpop artists like Kim Petras and Alice Longyu Gao—on the sound of Midnight Sun really shines through on the off-kilter drums and vocal effects on the album’s standout second track.
“All the Time” (2019)
Album: Poster Girl (Japanese deluxe edition)
Producer: Lotus IV
Some of Larsson’s biggest hits are summer-themed, but “All the Time”—which opens with her belting out “Summertime and I’m caught in the feeling”—underperformed on the charts in 2019.
And when Larsson released her next album, Poster Girl, two years later, “All the Time” only appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese release of the album, but it remains one of her catchiest tracks.
Zara Larsson & MNEK, “Never Forget You” (2015)
Album: So Good
Producer: Astronomyy and MNEK
By the time they teamed up on 2015’s “Never Forget You,” Larsson was already a star in Sweden and MNEK had UK hits under his belt, but the song gave both a foothold in America, becoming each artist’s first Hot 100 entry and peaking at No. 13.
MNEK has co-written and produced much of Larsson’s music over the past decade. Their voices still sound great together, and we’re overdue for another duet.
“Midnight Sun” (2025)
Album: Midnight Sun
Producer: Gao, Margo XS, MNEK, and Troy Taylor
With its fusion of ‘90s drum’n’bass percussion and modern hyperpop sonics, the title track to Zara Larsson’s fifth album was the song she needed to finally ascend to main pop girl status.
Released in June 2025, “Midnight Sun” was an instant summer jam across Europe, but it didn’t catch on in America until the following summer. This month “Midnight Sun” peaked at No. 13 on the Hot 100 almost exactly ten years after “Never Forget You” reached the same summit in the summer of 2016.
