Experts analyze why it has such a strong impact on popular culture and our summer vacations here.
The term “song of the summer” lacks an official measurement. It gained popularity in a 1999 News column written by music critic Ann Powers, who declared that the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” was the greatest song of the season. While Billboard and the UK’s Official Charts Company now create informative “songs of the summer” charts based on total sales, airplay, and streaming over a set period of time, the concept’s vagueness—it’s based on popular opinion rather than hard data—is part of its allure.
The summertime hit is the music that, even if you don’t intentionally listen to it, seems to be playing nonstop on the radio, in bars, and on other people’s smartphones during the middle of the year.
It’s a song that, more often than not, perfectly embodies the idealized, breezy, and warm feeling of summer. Consider Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass in 2011 or Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar in 2020.
