EVERY YEAR, A few songs duke it out for the coveted title of Song of the Summer.
Songs like Cheerleader by OMI, Lean On by Major Lazer, Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke and Get Lucky by Daft Punk have defined the summers of yore. But what will this year’s summer anthem be?
Let’s take a look.
The contenders
1) Drake – ‘One Dance’
Release date: April 5th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #1
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #7
Spotify chart (June 17th): #1
Drake has produced a string of bangers in recent years — chief among them Hotline Bling and Hold On, We’re Going Home — but One Dance might just be the biggest banger of them all. It has everything you want from a summer jam — vaguely tropical vibes, sultry vocals, a beat to pop your hip to and too many infectious hooks to count.
As of writing, it’s sitting pretty at the top of the charts and we don’t envisage it disappearing any time soon.
2) Justin Timberlake – ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’
Release date: May 6th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #3
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #1
Spotify chart (June 17th): #4
Back in 2014, Pharrell Williams struck gold with a benign, inoffensive song called Happy. You might have heard of it. The song was featured in Despicable Me 2, sold 14 million copies worldwide and garnered an Oscar nomination.
Justin Timberlake clearly took note because Can’t Stop The Feeling is essentially a carbon copy of Happy. It, too, is taken from an animated film and takes on the divisive topic of… dancing.
It may not be vintage Timberlake, but it *is* summery and sure to inspire a flashmob at some point. So now.
3) Calvin Harris – ‘This Is What You Came For’
Release date: April 29th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #1
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #2
Spotify chart (June 17th): #2
The dynamic duo are back with another club banger and while it’s not as ~transcendent~ as We Found Love, it’s still good for a sweaty bop. Song of the Summer, though? I’m not convinced it has the crossover appeal. Like, would your aunt dance to it at a wedding? I don’t think so.
4) Sia – ‘Cheap Thrills’
Release date: February 11th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #1
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #4
Spotify chart (June 17th): #23
Cheap Thrills has been around for yonks now, but it’s showing no signs of slowing down. It’s still in the top five in the Irish Top 40 and killing it on the radio airplay charts. And with good reason — it’s a consummate summer bop and has somehow yet to grow annoying?
Its placement on the Spotify chart would suggest that interest is beginning to wane. But who cares? Long live Cheap Thrills, we say.
5) DNCE – ‘Cake By The Ocean’
Release date: September 18th, 2015
Top 40 peak: #6
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #3
Spotify chart (June 17th): #15
If you had told me last year that Joe Jonas would be vying for Song of the Summer, I would have laughed in your face. But here we are!
Cake By The Ocean, which is about riding on the beach, is very “going for a spin on a sunny day,” and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s relatively mindless and extremely catchy. What’s not to love?
That said, I fear it’s treading a very fine line and might grow to be deeply annoying as the summer wears on. For now, though: “Ah ya ya ya ya, I keep on hoping we’ll eat cake by the ocean”
6) Galantis – ‘No Money’
Release date: April 1st, 2016
Top 40 peak: #5
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #11
Spotify chart (June 17th): #3
Remember D.A.N.C.E by Justice? This song is vaguely like that in that it also seems to be sung by children. But it’s not quite as good, is it? It is everywhere, though, so has to be viewed as a serious contender.
7) Drake and Rihanna – ‘Too Good’
Release date: May 15th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #10
Airplay chart (June 7th to 13th): n/a
Spotify chart (June 17th): #8
Look, I’m just going to lay all my cards on the table: I think Too Good is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and it hurts my heart that Drake and Rihanna can’t see that they’re perfect for one another.
Too Good is a chilled out, melancholy affair compared to Drake’s other contender One Dance, but it’s still summery in a “drinking cans at dusk” sort of way. Will it be crowned Song of the Summer? Unlikely, but we can still enjoy it and pray that Rihanna and Drake see sense and get married some day.
8) Kungs VS. Cookin’ On 3 Burners – ‘This Girl’
Release date: April 5th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #7
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #9
Spotify chart (June 17th): #6
This Girl is a lovely little soul number by Australian group Cookin’ On 3 Burners. This year, French DJ took it upon himself to remix it and now it’s topping the charts all over Europe. In fact, it’s set to chart at number one in Ireland this weekend.
Could it be a dark horse for Song of the Summer? Very, very possibly.
9) Adele – ‘Send My Love (To Your New Lover)’
Release date: May 16th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #13
Airplay chart (June 7th to 13th): #5
Spotify chart (June 17th): #12
A decidedly more upbeat number than Hello and When We Were Young, Send My Love (To Your New Lover) is Adele’s attempt at a summer hit. And it’s good! But it’s no summer anthem.
Soz, bbz.
10) Cheat Codes x Kris Kross Amsterdam – ‘Sex’
Release date: February 19th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #9
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #24
Spotify chart (June 17th): #5
A humorless remix of Salt-n-Pepa’s Let’s Talk About Sex. Just what we all needed!
Anyway, this is trash and completely saps all the fun out of the original.
Next.
11) Mike Posner – ‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’
Release date: July 24th, 2015
Top 40 peak: #1
Airplay chart (June 10th to 13th): #13
Spotify chart (June 17th): #7
‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’ has been around for approximately one million years, but what with it now being the season of taking pills in Ibiza, it’s refusing to go away.
Can a song that’s as old as Methuselah *really* be named Song of the Summer? Absolutely not. Burn it with fire.
12) Fifth Harmony – ‘Work From Home’
Release date: February 26th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #3
Airplay chart (June 10th to 16th): #10
Spotify chart (June 17th): #9
Fifth Harmony are like the American Little Mix in that they produce a decent number of bangers, but I wouldn’t recognise any of them if I walked past them on the street.
Work From Home is a bit like a Don’t Cha for 2016. It’s a little bit risqué but, most importantly, it’s a stone cold banger.Will it continue to hypnotise us for the rest of the summer? It’s gonna take some work, work, work, work. (I apologise.)
13) The Chainsmokers – Don’t Let Me Down (feat. Daya)
Release date: February 5th, 2016
Top 40 peak: #9
Airplay chart (June 7th to 13th): #23
Spotify chart (June 17th): #10
I cannot in good conscience acknowledge the existence of a group called The Chainsmokers, so I am hereby ruling this out of contention.
So, who will reign supreme?
At the moment, it’s shaping up to be a three-horse race between Drake, Calvin Harris and Justin Timberlake, with Timberlake slightly edging the others out on account of the song’s inevitable popularity with toddlers and Mams alike.
But KUNGS vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners could sneak in there if the song continues to build in popularity. Only time will tell!
See you at the end of the summer, folks.
