It’s hard for me to consider something a candidate for Song of the Summer if I’ve never heard the name of either the song or the person singing it.
But that’s the case for the #10 song on Billboard’s Song of the Summer chart: Ravyn Lenae’s ‘Love Me Not.’ The pop/R&B banger is the first single from the Chicago singer-songwriter’s sophomore album, Bird’s Eye.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 