Elton John, Britney Spears’ ‘Hold Me Closer’ Is This Week’s Favorite New Music – Billboard

Elton John and Britney Spears‘ “Hold Me Closer” duet has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Aug. 26) on Billboard, choosing the superstar team-up as their favorite new music release of the past week.

“Hold Me Closer,” Spears’ first major appearance on record since the end of her 13-year conservatorship, beat out new music by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha (“I’m Good (Blue)”), Rema featuring Selena Gomez (“Calm Down”), DJ Khaled (God Did), Lolahol (“Lock&Key”), and others.

“Hold Me Closer” is a fresh take on John’s 1972 classic “Tiny Dancer.” Produced by Grammy winner Andrew Watt, the track features the pop princess and the “Rocketman” himself singing the opening verse of John’s 1992 hit “The One” over a club-ready beat, before diving into the chorus of 1971’s “Tiny Dancer.”

“Tiny Dancer,” originally included as part of John’s 1971 album, Madman Across the Water, was released as a single in 1972 and peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was famously featured in a sing-along bus scene in Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous.

John previously made pop magic alongside Dua Lipa after repurposing songs from his past over a euphoric dance-pop beat on 2021’s “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix).”

“Hold Me Closer,” meanwhile, is Spears’ first new music since her 2016 studio album, Glory, which also included deluxe tracks “Mood Ring,” “Swimming in the Stars” and the Backstreet Boys-assisted “Matches” that were released in 2020.

Trailing behind the new release John and Spears on the fan-voted poll is Guetta and Rexha’s new single “I’m Good (Blue)” with 16% of the vote, and Rema featuring Gomez’s track “Calm Down” with nearly 2% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.