What’s 2024’s “song of the summer”?

Plus: Why Trump can't run away from Project 2025, why Komodo dragons are so metal, and more. July 29, 2024 [View in browser]( Welcome back! Hope you had a fun weekend — maybe you bumped some tunes outside by a pool or in a park? Speaking of tunes, producer Amanda Lewellyn is here today to ask what this year's song of the summer is — or, wait, can we even have one anymore? —Caroline Houck, senior editor of news   [Chappell Roan performs during 2024 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 16, 2024, in Manchester, Tennessee.] Erika Goldring/Getty Images Good luck, babe, picking the song of the summer A few weekends ago, I had the distinct pleasure of introducing my friends’ parents to [Chappell Roan](. It started when I had a few bars of “[Good Luck, Babe](” stuck in my head and couldn’t stop humming it. The next thing I knew, we were all learning the “[HOT TO GO](” dance. And by the end of the weekend, we were sitting on their deck in upstate New York, listening to lyrics about a “sexually explicit kind of love affair” like it was the most normal dinner music in the world. Now that I’m back home in Brooklyn, I’ve got a new favorite reference: You can’t walk a block without hearing someone bumpin’ one of Charli xcx’s instant club classics (from her album Brat) — even more so now that Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has [embraced the internet’s delighted moves tying her to brat summer](. And now’s as good a time as any to mention that for weeks earlier this year, I was perpetually working laaaaate (cuz I’m a singerrrrr). That’s that me, “[Espresso](.” [[ratio]  ]( These artists — Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, “Espresso”’s Sabrina Carpenter — have ruled my playlists this summer. My friends are playing their songs at parties. My social media feeds are overwhelmed with news and memes about them. They’re inescapable. So they must all be contenders for 2024’s song of the summer, right? … Right?! Wrong. Take a look at the top of the [Billboard Songs of the Summer chart]( right now and you’ll find that the Top 10 is chaos. Post Malone and Morgan Wallen occupy the top spot with their song “I Had Some Help,” a song that I really don’t think I could hum for you, even if pressed. Someone that I have literally never heard of, Tommy Richman, is in the fourth spot. So what gives? How are these no-names beating out the biggest pop girlies for song of the summer? And if I barely recognize the most popular song in America right now, is there even such a thing as a song of the summer anymore? What is the song of the summer? In the absence of an agreed-upon definition, it’s helpful to take a look at the history of the song of the summer. The concept goes back further than you might expect — all the way to the 19th century, when tunes mostly circulated via sheet music. As Phil Edwards [wrote for Vox]( a few years ago, sales were slow-going. It could take decades for early bops like 1826’s “[The Old Oaken Bucket](” to permeate across the country. As we rolled into the next century, new technologies like the radio helped popularize songs much more widely and quickly. But while songs could become popular in the summertime, there was still no official song of the summer. [[ratio]  ]( “It’s not like people were walking around in 1925 and saying, ‘You think that’s the summer song this year?’” music critic and author David Hajdu [told CNN](. “But the phenomenon was beginning to happen.” When Billboard dropped [its first Hot 100 chart]( in 1958 with Domenico Modugno’s Italian ballad [“Nel Blu di Pinto de Blu (Volaré)”]( at the top, it gave us a metric to define the song of the summer, but it certainly didn’t invent the concept. For a while, the Hot 100 seemed to [correctly identify]( the most omnipresent music of the season: 1964, The Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go?”; 1976, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee; 1982, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” But that changes when we get into the 2000s. The aughts begin with songs so recognizable that we felt we didn’t even need to play them on [our recent episode]( of Today, Explained: “Crazy in Love.” “Umbrella.” “Call Me Maybe.” “Despacito.” By the 2020s, things start to get wacky: I don’t know about you, but DaBaby’s “Rockstar” certainly didn’t define 2020 for me. Last year, I didn’t even hear [n-word user]( Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” so how could it have been the song of the summer? [[ratio]  ]( So do we have a song of the summer anymore, or what? You might be shocked to learn that music listening has changed since Billboard first started naming summer hits. We are now in what scientists have tentatively begun calling the “streaming era,” where a [huge chunk of listening]( takes place on platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music, in addition to the radio. The change has diminished radio DJs and music executives’ ability to name hits, and it has shifted power to the listeners, many of whom are influenced by Spotify’s personalized [recommendation algorithms](, which the company has prioritized at least since 2020. Since Billboard’s Hot 100 chart takes streaming into account, musicologist and Switched on Pop co-host Charlie Harding argues that the charts are more accurate now. “In the era of mass media monoculture, we just weren’t as talented at capturing people's collective listening,” Harding said on [Today, Explained](. “Sure, maybe they were being broadcast more of the same stuff, but you didn't know what people were playing back to back on their boombox. Now we can actually count exactly what people are listening to on streaming services.” [[ratio]  ]( The streaming era has [allowed]( new and different kinds of artists to enter the charts organically, building fandoms via nontraditional pathways. Right now, Harding points out, the top of the charts reflects all sorts of different communities of listening: a Black country artist in Shaboozey, pop princess Sabrina Carpenter, Big Three rapper Kendrick Lamar, alternative indie slow-burn Hozier… But music listening is, to some extent, a zero-sum game. As we stream our way into our niche listening rabbit holes, the very biggest artists have started to see their streams decrease, too. All this creates a world in which you might not recognize the Billboard-ordained song of the summer. But maybe that doesn’t matter. “Whatever your community is listening to, that's going to be your song of summer,” Harding told us. “I think you shouldn't stress about what everyone is listening to. I think you should pay attention to what your friends and community are connecting with.” —[Amanda Lewellyn, producer](   [Listen]( Kamala’s meme-mentum Kamala Harris memes have taken over the internet. Now she needs to figure out how to capitalize on them. [Listen now](   THE RIDICULOUS - You’ve heard about Cocaine Bear. Now, meet cocaine sharks: But actually. New research confirms the presence of coke in sharks off the coast of Brazil. [[New York Times](] - Crowdstrike: “Sorry not sorry,” basically: Crowdstrike reportedly sent its clients an offer (and then maybe rescinded said offer?) for a $10 UberEats gift card as an apology for the botched update that caused a global tech outage. [[Tech Crunch](] - That’s so metal (literally): Komodo dragons’ teeth aren’t just serrated — they’re also iron-tipped. 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Don't believe it, writes David Zipper. [Read more »](   Are you enjoying the Today, Explained newsletter? Forward it to a friend; they can [sign up for it right here](. And as always, we want to know what you think. Specifically: If there is a topic you want us to explain or a story you’re curious to learn more about, let us know [by filling out this form]( or just replying to this email. Today's edition was produced and edited by Caroline Houck. We'll see you tomorrow!   [Become a Vox Member]( Support our journalism — become a Vox Member and you’ll get exclusive access to the newsroom with members-only perks including newsletters, bonus podcasts and videos, and more. [Join our community](   Ad   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [TikTok]( [WhatsApp]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences]( [unsubscribe](param=sentences). If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. 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