Song of the summer is the unofficial designation of the song that is dominant both culturally and commercially between the end of May and the beginning of September in a given year. Although the idea of a song of the summer had been around for years, it became a common term in the 1990s. By the early 2000s, achieving the label of "song of the summer" became a competition urged on by media outlets. In the 21st century, the growing fragmentation of musical sources has made it more difficult for a single song to become overwhelmingly pervasive.

Description

The common characteristic of a song of the summer is that there is universal awareness: it is a song that people hear everywhere they go. It is a

viral phenomenon Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...

. The song of the summer can be so ubiquitous that many get sick of hearing it. It is the dominant song between

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

and

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

, the song that "defines the season on the charts and in listeners' memories". The determination of the song of summer is achieved by popular consensus, but is often the song that ranks longest at top of the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

between June and September. The song of the summer is a question open annually to public debate, not an objective description. In ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Chris Richards describes the song of the summer as "that magical megahit capable of changing the nation's psychic temperature". In 1995, ''New York Magazine'' declared that a true song of the summer had to be released in the summer, be easily turned into a

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...

, and be so catchy that people cannot get it out of their heads. In ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', John Jurgensen proposed that the number of covers a song inspires can be an indicator of the song of the summer, pointing out more than 40,000 videos of

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

's " Get Lucky" made by fans. The song of the summer is generally a high-energy song. Music journalist

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

describes the song of the summer as energetic, catchy songs that "rule their summer", such as 1989's "

Lambada Lambada () is a dance from State of Pará, Brazil. The dance became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in the Philippines, Latin America and Caribbean countries. It has adopted aspects of dances such as forró, salsa, merengue, m ...

" by

Kaoma Kaoma was a French-Brazilian band formed in 1988 by Loalwa Braz (lead vocals), Chyco Dru (bass), Jacky Arconte (guitar), Jean-Claude Bonaventure (keyboard), Michel Abihssira (drums and percussion) and Fania (backing vocals). Dru is from Martini ...

, 1999's "

Livin' la Vida Loca "Livin' la Vida Loca" () is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin for his fifth studio album and English-language debut, ''Ricky Martin'' (1999). The song was written by Draco Rosa and Desmond Child, while the production was handl ...

" by

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

, 2002's "

The Ketchup Song ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

" by

Las Ketchup Las Ketchup is a Spanish girl group founded by flamenco record producer Manuel "Queco" Ruiz. The group, which consists of sisters Lucía, Lola, and Pilar Muñoz (later to be joined by a fourth sister Rocío), is best known for the 2002 hit singl ...

, and 2012's "

Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" ( ko, 강남스타일, ) is a K-pop song by South Korean rapper Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term ...

" by

Psy Park Jae-sang (, ; born December 31, 1977), known professionally as Psy (stylized in all caps as PSY) (; ; ), is a South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage perf ...

. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine's designation of song of the summer is based primarily on audio streams between the weekend after the June

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

and Labor Day.

History

An examination of the history of the song of the summer in '' Vox'' notes that a 1910 article in the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'' says "About this time look out for the summer song", in the days when songs were primarily distributed as sheet music, and cites as an example the hit song of the summer of 1923, which was "

Yes, We Have No Bananas "Yes! We Have No Bananas" is an American novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn published March 23, 1923. It became a major hit in 1923 (placing No. 1 for five weeks) when it was recorded by Billy Jones, Billy Murray, Arthur Hall, Irv ...

", selling a million copies in three months. In 1979, a Canadian newspaper described "

My Sharona "My Sharona" () is the debut single by the Knack. The song was written by Berton Averre and Doug Fieger, and it was released in 1979 from their debut album, '' Get the Knack''. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, w ...

" by

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, "My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a no ...

as "the runaway song of the summer". Huge hits, such as " Summer in the City" by

the Lovin' Spoonful The Lovin' Spoonful is an American rock band popular during the mid- to late-1960s. Founded in New York City in 1965 by lead singer/songwriter John Sebastian and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the band is widely known for a number of hits, including " ...

(1966), had dominated their summers, but public attention to naming a song of the summer began in the 1990s. Music critic

Ann Powers Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and pop music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also served as pop critic at ''The ...

introduced a bracket-style competition for song of the summer of 1999 in ''The New York Times''. The bracket-style tournament was later used by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

for its "Song of the Summer" category. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' started its Songs of the Summer chart in 2010, and published retroactive charts back to 1985. The ''Billboard'' Songs of the Summer chart was originally based on sales and radio play; streaming data was added to its calculations in 2012, and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

streams in 2013. The first song of the summer on ''Billboards chart was "

California Gurls "California Gurls" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry. It served as the lead single for her third studio album, '' Teenage Dream'' (2010). The song features verses from rapper Snoop Dogg. The artists co-wrote the song with Bon ...

" by

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

and

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

. Achieving song of the summer became competitive in 2013 and 2014. Publications began publishing articles in June to label contenders and offer predictions. In 2013,

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

satirized the song of the summer competition on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...

''.

Shared musical experience

Summer lends itself to a shared musical experience: people are outside more often, exposed to communal music and open-air listening. Before the 21st century, the song of the summer was widely heard throughout common spaces. People would hear the same songs on car radios blasting in traffic, in stores and malls, at clubs and parties. The monoculture of

Top 40 radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

became fragmented as radio formats expanded and multiple avenues of music streaming became available, leading to wider musical choices but also making it more difficult for a single song to permeate popular culture. Ontario music writer Joel Rubinoff says, "If a song can break through the din and clamour of our fragmented selfie universe to connect on a universal level, we can, for an instant, feel like we're part of something bigger." ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine noted the difficulty of identifying a song of the summer in 2020, when the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the isolation

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...

reduced the opportunities of a shared musical experience. It also observed the impact of

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

on popular music. Fragmented music experiences produce multiple contenders for song of the summer.

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite magazine , magazine=Time , last1=Bruner , first1=Raisa , last2=Lang , first2=Cady , last3=Chow , first3=Andrew R. , last4=Berman , first4=Judy , date=September 1, 2020 , title=What's 2020's Song of the Summer—If There Even Is One? , url=https://time.com/5882152/song-of-the-summer-2020/ {{cite news , newspaper=Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada) , page=27 , date=July 30, 2014 , last=Dekel , first=Jon , title=And song of the summer is... , url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98324026/summer-song-2014/ {{cite news , newspaper=Asbury Park Press (New Jersey) , date=July 27, 2020 , page=C3 , last=Dinges , first=Gary , title=Is it worth having the top summer song? , url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98323941/summer-song-2020/ {{cite web , website=Vulture , last=Dobbins , first=Amanda , date=July 8, 2014 , title=We Deserve a Better Song of Summer , url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/07/we-deserve-a-better-song-of-summer.html , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite web , website=Vox , last=Edwards , first=Phil , date=June 15, 2016 , title=The surprising history of the "song of the summer" , url=https://www.vox.com/2015/6/17/8796289/summer-song-history , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite web , website=InsideRadio , date=July 16, 2021 , title=Song Of The Summer: Pop Radio's Bread and 'Butter' , url=https://www.insideradio.com/free/song-of-the-summer-pop-radios-bread-and-butter/article_3ad2b1b0-e603-11eb-b041-b78a3ad187cc.html , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite news , newspaper=New York Times , page=SR.9 , date=August 17, 2014 , last=Johnston , first=Maura , title=The Real Song of the Summer , id={{pq, 1553596716 {{cite news , newspaper=The Wall Street Journal , last=Jurgensen , first=John , date=July 25, 2013 , title=Song of the Summer? , url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323610704578627662620785922 , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite web , website=BBC , last=Kot , first=Greg , date=June 19, 2014 , title=What makes the 'song of summer'?, url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140620-what-makes-the-song-of-summer , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite web , website=Variety , last=Mayfield , first=Geoff , date=September 9, 2021 , title=The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber's 'Stay' Is 2021's Song of the Summer , url=https://variety.com/2021/music/news/song-of-the-summer-2021-kid-laroi-justin-bieber-stay-1235059697/ , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite news , newspaper=Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon) , date=June 23, 2017 , last=McDermott , first=Maeve , title=Summer Jam: Ranking Every 'Song of the Summer' From the Past 20 Years , url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98323820/summer-song-2017/ {{cite web , website=Slate , url=https://slate.com/culture/2013/08/the-song-of-the-summer-meme-how-handicapping-the-song-of-the-summer-became-a-national-pastime.html , last=Molanphy , first=Chris , date=August 9, 2013 , title=When Did the 'Song of the Summer' Become a Thing? , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite news , newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas) , page=D1 , date=June 20, 1999 , last=Philpot , first=Robert , title=Trying to figure out what makes a hit radio song in the summer? , url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98324782/summer-song-1999/ {{cite web , website=Pitchfork , title=What Will the 2021 Song of the Summer Be? , date=June 28, 2021 , url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/what-will-the-2021-song-of-the-summer-be/ , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite web , website=CNN Entertainment , last=Hare , first=Breeanna , date=June 4, 2010 , title=What will be the song of the summer?, url=https://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/04/summer.song.2010/index.html * {{cite web , website=Nylon , title=These are the songs that'll rule this summer , url=https://www.nylon.com/entertainment/whats-2021s-song-of-the-summer , last=Wang , first=Steffanee * {{cite magazine , magazine=Time , title=What's the Song of the Summer for 2021? Here Are Our Predictions , url=https://time.com/6075081/song-of-summer-2021/ * {{cite web , website=HuffPost , last=Moraski , first=Lauren , date=June 20, 2017 , title=The Best Summer Songs of 2017 , url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ultimate-guide-to-the-2017-song-of-the-summer_n_5947e694e4b0f15cd5bcfb00 {{cite news , newspaper=The Washington Post , date=August 1, 2016 , page=4-3 , title=2016 has no song of the summer , last=Richards , first=Chris , url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98324308/2016-no-summer-song/ {{cite news , newspaper=The Washington Post , last=Richards , first=Chris , date=June 15, 2015 , title=Why the Song of the Summer still matters , id={{pq, 1688363571 {{cite news , newspaper=Waterloo Region Record (Kitchener, Ontario), page=D1 , date=June 25, 2016 , last=Rubinoff , first=Joel , title=Is Justin Timberlake's single going to be everywhere? Or is "Song of the Summer" a thing of the past? , id={{pq, 1799323497 {{cite magazine , magazine=New York Magazine , date=June 26, 1995 , last=Udovitch , first=Mim , title=That summer song , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-MCAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22the%20summer%20song%22&pg=PA68 , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite web , website=Variety , date=August 13, 2018 , title=MTV Reveals VMA Song of the Summer Nominees , url=https://variety.com/2018/music/news/mtv-reveals-vma-song-of-the-summer-nominees-drake-cardi-b-exclusive-1202903113/ , access-date=March 25, 2022 {{cite news , newspaper=The Los Angeles Times , page=E3 , date=September 22, 2016 , last=Wood , first=Mikael , title=Out of tunes , url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98324026/summer-song-2016/

External links

Every song of the summer from the past 46 years
Summer Popular music Popular culture Musical terminology Song forms Recorded music

Description

History

Shared musical experience

See also

References

External links