Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” sits at No. 8 on Billboard’s Songs of the Summer season chart, whereas Alex Warren’s “Unusual” is at No. 1.
Picture by Samir Hussein/WireImage; Picture by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Pictures
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Picture by Samir Hussein/WireImage; Picture by Barry Brecheisen/Getty Pictures
The concept annually produces a number of unofficial “songs of the summer time” has been rattling round for ages. And, although it is an inexact science, the idea has typically existed as a type of cultural carbon relationship: For those who’re enthusiastic about the summer time of 2012, for instance, you may think about Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Name Me Perhaps” or Gotye’s “Anyone That I Used to Know” emanating from the closest loudspeaker. There isn’t any title or trophy that goes with releasing the music of the summer time, 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 like a superb week to interrupt down a bigger query in regards to the charts circa August 2025: Do we now have a real “music of the summer time” this yr? (For a number of abbreviated takeaways from this week’s charts, maintain scrolling.)
Billboard did not launch a Songs of the Summer season chart till 2010. Since then, it has been simple to find out, utilizing knowledge, which tracks can rightfully declare song-of-the-summer standing. Take the music-rich summer time 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 the whole lot of Charli xcx’s Brat. Although nothing from Brat made the minimize, Billboard’s remaining Songs of the Summer season chart for 2024 rounded up a solidly inclusive cross-section of superstars and newcomers that minimize throughout a number of genres, whereas really representing a lot of what you’d hear if you happen to had been to flip on a industrial radio station or pop right into a retailer final summer time.
However what about this summer time? Effectively, as the most recent Songs of the Summer season chart will inform you… it is fairly grim.
At No. 1, in fact, is Alex Warren’s “Unusual,” 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 Sizzling 100 for 9 of the final 10 weeks and seems unlikely to loosen its grip because the summer time wears on. “Unusual” is the Tune of the Summer season based mostly on uncooked chart numbers, but it surely’s hardly a windows-down seashore 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 obtained 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 best declare to song-of-the-summer standing: It clothes the singer’s sullen vocal in entice beats, tosses in a number of of McRae’s frothy vocal prospers and calls it a day. And, since Wallen’s identify headlines two large recent-vintage songs of the summer time — 2024’s “I Had Some Assist” and 2023’s “Final Night time” — it actually does not sound misplaced in a song-of-the-summer dialog. “What I Need” simply is not terribly eventful, and it is not having half as a lot enjoyable as Wallen and Submit Malone had been having at the moment a yr in the past.
Again on the Songs of the Summer season chart, Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther (feat. SZA)” is No. 4 however has resided on the Sizzling 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 season chart in the event that they have not hit that individual chart in a previous summer time — that is why “A Bar Tune (Tipsy)” and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Management” miss out on this yr’s Songs of the Summer season chart, although they continue to be within the Sizzling 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 time of 2025.
All of which speaks to an enormous a part of what makes this summer time’s hit songs really feel so stale: Thanks largely to streaming algorithms — and radio programmers who usually take their cues from what’s getting performed on streaming providers — the largest songs loll round on the charts for what seems like an eternity. “Lose Management” is at the moment in its 71st week within the high 10, amid 101 weeks on the Sizzling 100; each of these numbers obliterate the earlier all-time information. The music nonetheless sits, immobile in additional methods than one, at No. 7.
However there’s one other concern at work right here: For a wide range of causes, lots of the greatest A-list stars in pop, hip-hop and R&B have sat out 2025 to date — or, within the case of Unhealthy Bunny, Woman Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, timed their newest albums in such a manner that their largest affect had already light by the point summer time 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 time (Sabrina Carpenter) or early fall (Drake) to launch new albums. It is all added as much as an uncharacteristically sleepy summer time.
Billboard’s Songs of the Summer season chart has its personal structural flaws relating to conferring song-of-the-summer standing, beginning with the truth that it weighs every summer time week equally. That set-up makes it nearly unattainable for late-breaking hits to compete with songs which were charting for months. (It additionally helps clarify the absence of tracks from KPop Demon Hunters, which has blown up completely throughout the final six weeks.)
Nonetheless, a number of songs have surged on the Songs of the Summer season chart in current 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 Finest Good friend) approaches later this month. And Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not,” at No. 9, is all the pieces a music of the summer time must be: frothy and enjoyable, with a touch of nostalgia. And, although it hasn’t cracked the Songs of the Summer season chart — it is solely been on the Sizzling 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 music to dominate the charts whereas the climate’s nonetheless scorching. It might be good, in spite of everything, to listen to a music of the summer time that is something however “Unusual.”
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. 4clearing the way in which 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 somewhat 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 value 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 “Unusual” sits atop the Billboard Sizzling 100thanks largely to large airplay on industrial radio stations. However KPop Demon Hunters continues to pile up milestones. Now, each of the soundtrack’s fictional bands — HUNTR/X, a lady 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.
