Billboard has ended the warmest season of the year by naming one track the official "Song of The Summer." They crunch numbers from the Hot 100 every summer and follow Labor Day with the formal announcement of the winner. The 29-year tradition led to the creation of a strictly "Songs of The Summer" chart for tracking what's hot in the heat. This year's winner was easy to track for those who kept an eye on the chart: "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea topped the list every week, along with plenty of time atop the Hot 100.
So how does Azalea's hit single match up to the rest of this millennium's summer hits? Music Times looked back at the 15 summers we've had thus far and Billboard's ranking soundtracks that accompanied them. Check out who was hot, and who was unusually cold. Our rankings take both quality of song and its overall warmth into consideration.
15) "Confessions Part II" by Usher (2004)
This goes directly to the heart of our ranking system: The second "Confessions" chapter is a great track, no doubt. But heartbreak numbers are not what we want to listen to at the beach. Usher doesn't mess around, going into the messy details of an unplanned pregnancy and the resulting turmoil. Those kind of particulars generally make this a greater R&B track but simultaneously hurts it as a summer anthem.
14) "Bent" by Matchbox 20 (2000)
Yeah, Matchbox 20 hadn't given up one rocking the pop charts when the new millennium started. "Bent" is another track that loses points for being generally depressing. It's another addition in a line of great singles from the band (stretching back into the previous decade) but Rob Thomas is less than upbeat in this number.
13) "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland (2006)
Not sure what to say about this number. Furtado's practice in playing the titular promiscuous girl paid off for Timbaland's own "Give It To Me" (and Justin Timberlake helped that effort) during 2007 but it wasn't working for this single. Everyone knows "promiscuous" is just a more complicated way of saying "slutty," not necessarily a nicer one. Makes this track a tad awkward, an argument that will come back to bite us a few songs down.
12) "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Eve ft. Gwen Stefani (2001)
A tough choice because this is a hot track, both in terms of quality and subject matter. It's more of a steamy affair than a summer sun one however, with Eve and Stefani bringing a burn that's slower than you might realize. Great song but not for our summer playlist.
11) "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey (2005)
There was a period between 2004-'06 where the music industry didn't seem to churn out any summer anthems. Again, Carey's single was great but it didn't fit the mood for what we'd define as a "Song of The Summer." Of course some music industry executive is reading this list and rolling his eyes at us for thinking that they give a damn what kind of weather a song matches. Carey's track went platinum and it would've done so in any seasonal market.
10) "California Gurls" by Katy Perry (2010)
Now we can get into tracks that were clearly designed for the season...but still fell short. No other track on this list that's more "summer" in its attitude, as California pretty much sums up what we think about when we think about summer. Except this track is terrible, as we noted last week in our review of Max Martin's no. 1 tracks. Perry had better tracks during the summer of 2010 ("Teenage Dream" comes to mind) so it's unfortunate this one topped the charts.
09) "Hot In Herre" by Nelly (2002)
Theoretically this track should trail everything when it comes to our typical songwriting snobbery. "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes." The subconscious genius here is that it's impossible to screw up that line, and the hook is designed for crowds to contribute. Good summer songs, and catchy hooks in general, invite crowd participation. Plus the PG-13 catchphrase "so take off all your clothes" makes more sense in the summer heat. You win this time Nelly.
08) "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry (2008)
Perry is the only performer thus far to land multiple Songs of The Summer...and this time it doesn't seem like she was trying. "I Kissed A Girl" is hardly a party anthem but it works for the same reasons that "Hot In Herre" did: It's got an extremely catchy hook and it encourages women to do kinky things, which guys love and girls tend to put up with when it comes to hit singles.
07) "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell Williams and T.I. (2013)
Remember when we called ourselves out for criticizing questionable sexual activity? This is what we were referencing. There's no doubt that this track took everyone who heard it to the dance floor, but there was no avoiding the controversy brought about by the implications of not-100-percent-consensual sex. Thicke and company didn't help their cause with the music video (both versions).
06) "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas (2009)
We, personally, cannot stand this song but it's impossible to deny how functionally it operates as a summer anthem. Summer is a time for optimism and the Peas seem to suggest that it's going to be a good, good Summer even if it's only literally calling for a good, good night. And there's no amount of autotuned Will.i.am that can take that away. You win this time Black Eyed Peas.
05) "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea (2014)
This year's biggest summer hit was no fluke. Any doubts we had were crushed when we caught the rapper at Lollapalooza: No song outside of "Hey Ya" by Outkast was sung along with equal intensity from the thousands of fans gathered for the festival. Ironically however, Azalea herself does the least to make this song a classic. Her rapped lyrics are barely qualified to stand in the shadow of Charlie XCX's superb hook and the minimalistic beat of The Invisible Men.
04) "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen (2012)
You'll note that you have soft spots for a number of tracks on these rankings that are, in reality, bad songs ("Hot in Herre" and "I Gotta Feeling" come to mind). "Call Me Maybe" is not one of those songs. Will she ever have another hit single? We doubt it. But there's absolutely no shame in loving this PG-rated single, even if it seems packaged for some yet-to-be-named Disney project. Everyone from your little sister to the Insane Clown Posse love this track, without a hint of irony.
03) "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO (2011)
LMFAO may be an act developed for strict club usage, and it may be "in the house tonight," but it's best track was meant for much more than indoor usage. "Party Rock Anthem" is just what is says. This may be the only quality track the duo ever gave us but it will continue to party-rock summer parties for years to come.
02) "Crazy In Love" by Beyoncé ft. Jay Z (2003)
Way before Beyoncé and Jay Z became the celebrity world's most powerful celebrity couple, we could feel the chemistry between them. This track doesn't need a seasonal affiliation to land near the top of the charts: Two talented and charismatic performers coming together to rock the world's world, while just happening to be upbeat enough to satisfy our summer playlist's needs. A great preview to what we still know to be true more than a decade later.
01) "Umbrella" by Rihanna ft. Jay Z (2007)
Maybe Jay Z is actually the greatest summer performer without us realizing it...after all he's been in the best two Songs of The Summer this millennium. No offense to Hov but this track only gets only a slight boost from his appearance, and we don't say that in a negative way. Rihanna simply owns it. Way before the drama and the tabloid horror stories the world was simply gripped by the pop star's presence on this single. She's continued to supply jaw-dropping hooks for other performers in the years since, but nothing was the whole package quite like this. Simply one of the best pop songs of any summer, or any season, in the last 15 years.
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