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Song of the Day #6,282: ‘Manchild’ – Sabrina Carpenter

In my opinion, Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ was last year’s Song of the Summer regardless of what the charts said. Sure, it peaked at #3 on the Hot 100, but it felt like it was everywhere. And it’s exactly the sort of frothy crowd-pleaser that deserves the SotS title.

This year, Carpenter had another runner-up in ‘Manchild.’ This one did hit #1 (it even debuted there) but ended up at only #9 on the Songs of the Summer chart. Carpenter just can’t catch a break.

(Incidentally, #8 was Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club,’ which I’ve already featured).

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Song of the Day #6,281: ‘Golden’ – – HUNTR/X (EJAE, Audrey Nuna & REI AMI)

Continuing my look at this year’s Songs of the Summer, I’ll skip over numbers five and six (Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s ‘luther’ and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ ‘Die With a Smile,’ respectively) because they’ve shown up on the blog already.

At #7 on the Billboard summer chart is ‘Golden’ by the fictional K-pop band HUNTR/X, a song featured in the hit movie KPop Demon Hunters. The animated Netflix film follows the K-pop girl group, who are secretly (you guessed it) demon hunters, as they face off against a boy band who are secretly (again, you guessed it) demons.

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Song of the Day #6,280: ‘What I Want’ – Morgan Wallen

The dog days are coming to an end, meaning it’s time to crown the annual Song of the Summer. Unfortunately, this has been a particularly barren year for new hits. Very few songs have moved in and out of the Top 20 so far in 2025, and the ones that have stuck aren’t very memorable.

According to Billboard’s official Song of the Summer chart, this year’s title winner is Alex Warren’s ‘Ordinary,’ which spent ten weeks atop the Hot 100. The song is aptly titled, as it’s the most basic and forgettable track to win the summer in forever.

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Song of the Day #6,279: ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)’ – Tina Turner

The week of September 14, 1985, found John Parr hanging on to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion).’

Just behind it was another soundtrack song, Tina Turner’s ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)’ from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Parr may have won the Billboard battle, but he didn’t play a post-apocalyptic warlord in his movie, as Turner did in hers.

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Song of the Day #6,278: ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ – Glen Campbell

Throwing back to the week of September 13, 1975, we find Glen Campbell atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Rhinestone Cowboy.’ This was Campbell’s first chart-topping hit on the Hot 100, and his fourth to reach #1 on the Country chart. A couple of years later he would top both charts again with ‘Southern Nights.’

‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ was written and recorded a year earlier by Larry Weiss. And if you think this sounds like a Neil Diamond song (as I do), listen to Weiss’ version and you’ll swear that’s Diamond singing it. In fact, many people have erroneously attributed the original version to Diamond.

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