October is underway. The weather is finally beginning to cool; the trees are changing, and so is the music heard on air. A week ago I finally switched from my high-energy summer playlist to my melancholy autumn playlist. With change comes reflection. Reflection on what music was on top of the world this summer.
The term “Song of the Summer” is a semi-unofficial term to describe the song that reigned supreme from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It can be traced back to even before vinyl and radio, but became more widely discussed in the late 1990s. Billboard began releasing a list around 2010. The Video Music Awards, a fan-voted award show, started a “Song of the Summer” category in 2013 with One Direction’s “Best Song Ever” being the inaugural winner.
This year at the VMAs, Taylor Swift’s collaboration with Post Malone, “Fortnight,” took home the “Song of the Summer” title. “Fortnight” was the lead single of Swift’s album, “The Tortured Poets Department” which gained publicity with the help of the record-breaking Eras Tour. While the album and tour are both successful, setting the single day streaming record on Spotify and generating an expected 2.165 billion dollars by the time it concludes respectively, the song does not quite fit the category. Swift’s “Fortnight” was not top ten on any chart, was not played that often, and is not even the most recognizable song on the album.
This is not the first time the VMAs win was unexpected. In 2017, Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Llif3” beat Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s infamous “Despacito (Remix)” featuring Justin Bieber. In 2019 Ariana Grande and Social House’s “Boyfriend” beat out both Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road” and Billie Eilish’s “bad guy.” Drake’s chart topping “In My Feelings”, Harry Styles’s inescapable “Watermelon Sugar”, Silentó’s cultural phenom “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” all did not take home the award.
If a fan-voted award is not a good indicator, how does one decide the Song of the Summer? The charts? The amount of times it is played on the radio? TikTok plays? Level of nostalgia? The feeling it evokes? While we all as individuals have our own experiences with music and have different songs that impact us, I have set out to crown a consensus song of the summer. After careful consideration, I have narrowed it down to three criteria.
1. Commercial Success
Commercial success is all in the numbers. Commercial success comes from the chart performance, sales, radio play, awards and views. Billboard’s Hot 100 uses sales, airplay and streaming data in order to determine the song’s ranking on a chart released weekly. The data from Memorial to Labor Day is compiled to create a song of the summer chart. Billboard is not the only one with a chart like this. Spotify, and Apple Music both track streaming and release an official ranking. To pick just one song, it has to perform well across the board.
2. Inescapability
The type of song that is played so many times that when you switch the radio station to listen to something else it is playing there too. A song with social media success to the point that there are millions of videos playing, discussing, or dissing the song. For example, in 2020, Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” was everywhere. I could not drive to my neighbor’s house without hearing it twice. Its carefree spirit and summer vibes made it a staple of any summer function.
3. Cultural Impact
Not just a song on the radio, but one that is influential. Five to ten years from now, if you hear the songs again, you will remember this summer. A song that has left a mark. For instance, summer of 2023 was truly a Barbie summer which made Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night,” Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Aqua, Ice Spice, and Nicki Minaj’s “Barbie World” cultural staples of 2023.
Though I just listed three rules, the Song of the Summer rarely follows rules. In 2022, one of the top songs of the summer was Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” despite it having been originally released in 1985. Popularized by the renowned season four of “Stranger Things,” Bush’s hit song reached hit song status 37 years later. The song had chart success, finishing second on Spotify and fifth on Billboard. Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” was widely discussed both for its heartfelt lyrics and the nature of its popularity. Hearing it years later is accompanied by a feeling of nostalgia for the summer of 2022 rather than 1985.
With this in mind, here are my six candidates:
Espresso – Sabrina Carpenter
Carpenter’s “Espresso” immediately lures the listener in with its catchy beat and energetic lyrics. The chorus coined the lovely phrase, “That’s that me espresso” which has the inescapable quality all hit songs strive for. It is a fun expression that bounces around in one’s head…endlessly. The bubbly energy and carefree energy of “Espresso” had the song on repeat all summer long, the pinnacle of these lines being “My ‘give-a-f***s’ are on vacation.” “Espresso” landed on the top spot of Spotify’s song of the summer list, second on Apple Music’s and fourth on Billboards. Carpenter’s “Espresso” took home the title of “Song of the Year” at the VMAs, but was not considered in the “Song of the Summer” category.
A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey
Shaboozey was a breakout artist this summer with another country classic. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” features honest lyrics that celebrate washing away one’s worries at the bar. The faster tempo and staple country beat made Shaboozey’s breakout song both a radio classic and a staple of summer. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was among the most successful chart songs, finishing fourth on Spotify, in the top spot on Apple Music and second on Billboard.
Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar and Drake took this summer as an opportunity to reinstate their beef. Both artists released numerous songs targeted at each other. The top song being Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.” The song’s big energy and flamboyant lyrics make it an instant rap classic. “Not Like Us” was second on Spotify’s Chart and third on Billboard. Team Kendrick vs Team Drake was a rap battle for the ages, and a pillar of the culture of the summer. The life this song has taken has propelled Lamar into the lead role of the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, a spot the “Not Like Us” singer is more than ready for.
I Had Some Help – Post Malone with Morgan Wallen
Post Malone’s collaboration with Morgan Wallen, is an instant country classic. The lyrics make it a classic break-up song in which they claim their former partners were equally as responsible for the end of the relationship. However, the upbeat country hit is not the traditional melancholy and mournful break-up song that is more common amongst fall songs, but rather a fiery summer staple. “I Had Some Help” was a listener’s favorite. The country hit was on top of Billboard’s Song of the Summer ranking after being on top for 14 weeks over the course of the summer. Additionally, Malone and Wallen’s collaboration was sixth on Spotify and fifth on Apple Music.
HOT TO GO! – Chappell Roan
“HOT TO GO!” is unusual in the sense that it is not a song that is new this summer. Roan originally released “HOT TO GO!” in August of 2023. Despite being a year old, the song gained life this summer. “HOT TO GO!” has the same catchy chorus and associated dance that made Village People’s “Y.M.C.A,” the YMCA. The summer of 2024 was truly a Chappell Roan renaissance. It began with Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”, but “HOT TO GO!” is the one that truly reached all-star status. The repetitive chorus, lively beat, and dance has deemed the song a cheerleader classic which has made it a staple of big-energy summer events. Roan’s “HOT TO GO!” was fifth on Spotify’s chart. The song’s lesser performance in the commercial success category is balanced out by its extensive cultural impact.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER – Billie Eilish
The last time Billie Eilish had a serious “Song of the Summer” contender it was for the singer’s breakout song “bad guy.” Since then, Eilish has grown significantly as an artist. “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” is her most romantic song to date with a light beat and her stable soft voice, it is the lyrics that truly bring the intensity. The song in which Eilish promises “I’ll love you ’til the day that I die,” has become an anthem for all friendships, romantic and platonic. As for the charts, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” was third on Spotify, seventh on Apple Music and ninth on Billboard. But the moment that truly propelled Eilish’s hit song onto this list, was the singer’s beachside performance in the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as part of the Games’ welcome to Los Angeles. Taking a worldwide stage of that caliber cements “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” as one of the summer’s best.
Overall, narrowing the summer’s many hit songs to just six songs was incredibly difficult. This includes cutting influential songs such as Charli XCX’s “Apple,” Taylor Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” and Hozier’s “Too Sweet.” They are all songs with the potential to be a top song of the summer, only the songs above outdo them. To pick just one song on a list, it comes down to an individual’s opinion.
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