Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” sits at No. 8 on Billboard‘s Songs of the Summer time chart, whereas Alex Warren’s “Peculiar” is at No. 1.
Picture by Samir Hussein/WireImage; Picture by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Photos
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Picture by Samir Hussein/WireImage; Picture by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Photos
The concept that every year produces just a few unofficial “songs of the summer season” has been rattling round for ages. And, although it is an inexact science, the idea has usually existed as a type of cultural carbon relationship: In case you’re enthusiastic about the summer season of 2012, for instance, you’ll be able to think about Carly Rae Jepsen‘s “Name Me Perhaps” or Gotye‘s “Any individual That I Used to Know” emanating from the closest loudspeaker. There is not any title or trophy that goes with releasing the track of the summer season, but it surely’s significant to have printed on the historical past of a given yr. It is also, not for nothing, profitable to have staked a declare to future nostalgia — the extra joyful, wistful and/or infectious the higher.
Every week, we use this column to interrupt down main takeaways from the most recent Billboard albums and singles charts. But it surely looks as if a very good week to interrupt down a bigger query concerning the charts circa August 2025: Do we’ve got a real “track of the summer season” this yr? (For just a few abbreviated takeaways from this week’s charts, preserve scrolling.)
Billboard did not launch a Songs of the Summer time chart till 2010. Since then, it has been straightforward to find out, utilizing knowledge, which tracks can rightfully declare song-of-the-summer standing. Take the music-rich summer season of 2024, when two nation songs — Submit Malone‘s “I Had Some Assist (feat. Morgan Wallen)” and Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Tune (Tipsy)” — triumphed over pop bangers (Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Espresso” and “Please Please Please”), hip-hop titans (Kendrick Lamar‘s eventual Grammy-winner “Not Like Us”), left-field hits (Tommy Richman‘s “Million Greenback Child”) and everything of Charli xcx‘s Brat. Although nothing from Brat made the minimize, Billboard‘s closing Songs of the Summer time chart for 2024 rounded up a solidly inclusive cross-section of superstars and newcomers that minimize throughout a number of genres, whereas actually representing a lot of what you’d hear when you have been to flip on a business radio station or pop right into a retailer final summer season.
However what about this summer season? Properly, as the most recent Songs of the Summer time chart will inform you… it is fairly grim.
At No. 1, after all, is Alex Warren‘s “Peculiar,” which mixes the hooky persistence of Think about Dragons, the choir-adorned uplift of Coldplay and the fervent devotion of reward music; it is topped the Billboard Scorching 100 for 9 of the final 10 weeks and seems unlikely to loosen its grip because the summer season wears on. “Peculiar” is the Tune of the Summer time primarily based on uncooked chart numbers, but it surely’s hardly a windows-down seaside banger like, say, “Espresso.” It follows the letter, however not the spirit, of the song-of-the-summer regulation.
Then, at Nos. 2, 3 and 5, you have acquired three Morgan Wallen songs, all from his newest overstuffed mega-album, I am the Drawback. “What I Need (feat. Tate McRae)” has been I am the Drawback‘s greatest hit, in addition to the present Wallen single with the simplest declare to song-of-the-summer standing: It attire the singer’s sullen vocal in entice beats, tosses in just a few of McRae’s frothy vocal thrives and calls it a day. And, since Wallen’s identify headlines two large recent-vintage songs of the summer season — 2024’s “I Had Some Assist” and 2023’s “Final Night time” — it definitely does not sound misplaced in a song-of-the-summer dialog. “What I Need” simply is not terribly eventful, and it isn’t having half as a lot enjoyable as Wallen and Submit Malone have been having at the moment a yr in the past.
Again on the Songs of the Summer time chart, Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther (feat. SZA)” is No. 4 however has resided on the Scorching 100 for 36 weeks; Woman Gaga and Bruno Mars‘ “Die With a Smile” sits at No. 6 after 50 weeks; and Chappell Roan‘s “Pink Pony Membership” holds on at No. 7 after 59 weeks. Songs are solely eligible for the Songs of the Summer time chart in the event that they have not hit that specific chart in a previous summer season — that is why “A Bar Tune (Tipsy)” and Teddy Swims‘ “Lose Management” miss out on this yr’s Songs of the Summer time chart, regardless that they continue to be within the Scorching 100’s high 10 — however that does not make “Luther,” “Die With a Smile” or “Pink Pony Membership” really feel significantly tied to the summer season of 2025.
All of which speaks to a giant a part of what makes this summer season’s hit songs really feel so stale: Thanks largely to streaming algorithms — and radio programmers who typically take their cues from what’s getting performed on streaming providers — the most important songs loll round on the charts for what seems like an eternity. “Lose Management” is at present in its 71st week within the high 10, amid 101 weeks on the Scorching 100; each of these numbers obliterate the earlier all-time information. The track nonetheless sits, immobile in additional methods than one, at No. 7.
However there’s one other concern at work right here: For quite a lot of causes, most of the greatest A-list stars in pop, hip-hop and R&B have sat out 2025 thus far — or, within the case of Dangerous Bunny, Woman Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, timed their newest albums in such a manner that their largest influence had already pale by the point summer season rolled round. Some contenders have underperformed commercially in comparison with expectations (Miley Cyrus, Lorde) or didn’t ascend as quickly as anticipated (Haim, Addison Rae), whereas others determined to attend till late summer season (Sabrina Carpenter) or early fall (Drake) to launch new albums. It is all added as much as an uncharacteristically sleepy summer season.
Billboard‘s Songs of the Summer time chart has its personal structural flaws in terms of conferring song-of-the-summer standing, beginning with the truth that it weighs every summer season week equally. That set-up makes it just about not possible for late-breaking hits to compete with songs which have been charting for months. (It additionally helps clarify the absence of tracks from KPop Demon Hunters, which has blown up totally throughout the final six weeks.)
Nonetheless, just a few songs have surged on the Songs of the Summer time chart in latest weeks, and people belong within the song-of-the-summer dialogue. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” at No. 8, gives a worthy reminder that Carpenter has extra summery anthems in her as her new album (Man’s Greatest Pal) approaches later this month. And Ravyn Lenae‘s “Love Me Not,” at No. 9, is the whole lot a track of the summer season must be: frothy and enjoyable, with a touch of nostalgia. And, although it hasn’t cracked the Songs of the Summer time chart — it is solely been on the Scorching 100 for 3 weeks now — Justin Bieber‘s “Daisies” seems like a late-breaking smash. Elevated by the distinctive guitar sound of rising star Mk.gee, the monitor ought to stay round lengthy sufficient to enter the song-of-the-summer dialog in hindsight.
Whether or not it is “Manchild,” “Love Me Not,” “Daisies” or HUNTR/X’s “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, it is arduous to not root for a brand new track to dominate the charts whereas the climate’s nonetheless sizzling. It would be good, in spite of everything, to listen to a track of the summer season that is something however “Peculiar.”
TOP ALBUMS
Final week, Tyler, The Creator‘s Do not Faucet the Glass debuted at No. 1, making it the rapper’s fourth consecutive report to high the Billboard 200 albums chart. This week, Do not Faucet the Glass drops to No. 4, clearing the best way for the return of Morgan Wallen’s streaming blockbuster I am the Drawback, which now spends a ninth nonconsecutive week atop the chart. It is nonetheless solidly forward of the album at No. 2: the soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters, which continues to shut the hole by a little bit bit every week.
Elsewhere, three new albums debut within the high 10: the Ok-pop group Tomorrow X Collectively lands at No. 3 with The Star Chapter: TOGETHER; the rapper YoungBoy By no means Broke Once more scores his sixteenth high 10 album with MASA at No. 6; and singer-songwriter Tyler Childers hits a brand new profession excessive as Snipe Hunter bows at No. 7. Additionally price noting: The 2003 compilation The Important Ozzy Osbourne stays within the high 10 for a second week within the aftermath of the rock legend’s loss of life.
TOP SONGS
For a ninth nonconsecutive week, Alex Warren’s “Peculiar” sits atop the Billboard Scorching 100, thanks largely to large airplay on business radio stations. However KPop Demon Hunters continues to pile up milestones. Now, each of the soundtrack’s fictional bands — HUNTR/X, a woman group voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI, and Saja Boys, a boy band voiced by Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo and samUIL Lee — have landed songs within the high 10. HUNTR/X’s “Golden” holds at No. 2, whereas Saja Boys’ “Your Idol” climbs to No. 9.
