The outcomes are in: Publish Malone’s “I Had Some Assist,” that includes an enormous help from Morgan Wallen, is the official Billboard music of the summer season.
The nation crossover smash, which dominated the Songs of the Summer time chart for all 14 weeks of its 2024 run, held off a hard-charging second-place finisher in Shaboozey’s nine-week Billboard Sizzling 100 No. 1 “A Bar Track (Tipsy)” — the second straight 12 months that nation titles completed within the chart’s prime two spots, following Wallen’s “Final Evening” and Luke Combs’ “Quick Automobile” cowl claiming Nos. 1 and a pair of in 2023, respectively. In the meantime, Kendrick Lamar takes the No. 3 spot with “Not Like Us,” whereas Sabrina Carpenter lands twice inside the prime 10, with “Espresso” (No. 4) and “Please Please Please” No. 6.
How intently does this 12 months’s chart align with our personal anecdotal impressions of what the songs of the summer season have been? And which summer-defining songs and artists are notably lacking from the ultimate tally, if any? Billboard staffers reply these questions and extra beneath.
1. Publish Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Assist” ranks as Billboard’s Track of the Summer time. On a scale from 1-10, how would you price it each as a summer season music, and as a defining music of THIS explicit summer season?
Katie Atkinson: I’m going to provide it a ten as a summer season music. To show its warm-weather bona fides, look no additional than the music video, which ends with Publish and Morgan singing from a truck mattress throughout a parking-lot celebration as a large American flag waves above them and fireworks take off within the evening sky. It was principally tailored for a Fourth of July tailgate. Now for this summer season specifically, I’m going to go along with a 9. The highest two songs from the previous two summer season charts have all been nation, so a Nashville party-starter at No. 1 is proof-positive of the style’s unbelievable reputation proper now. I’m solely shaving off one level as a result of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” was my explicit music of this summer season and it simply has that further dose of sunshine – or further shot of you-know-what.
Eric Renner Brown: “I Had Some Assist” sounds like a scorching, humid summer season afternoon – it’s a 9 as a summer season music. As a mirrored image of 2024, the music feels each out and in of sync with the broader music panorama. On the one hand, nation had a large summer season, pushed partly by crossover successes and new breakouts; because the lead single from Publish’s massive foray into nation music, “I Had Some Assist” is of a chunk with that. Then again, Wallen’s presence takes me again to final summer season – when the nation star was much more dominant – and each him and Publish really feel out of sync with different main pop storylines from this summer season like Sabrina, Chappell and Charli. I’d give it a 7 because the defining music of this summer season particularly.
Kyle Denis: I’d say it’s a strong 8 as each a summer season music and a defining music of this explicit summer season. In my view, the complete prime 5 of Billboard’s Track of the Summer time rating was fairly spot-on. All of these songs are consultant of what I heard and danced to whereas outdoors all summer season. I don’t suppose anyone music reigns over the others besides possibly “Not Like Us.” This summer season felt extra pushed by moments (Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter phenomena, nation music’s comeback on the singles chart, Brat Summer time, Glorilla and Bossman Dlow’s respective 2024 runs and so on.) than particular person data.
Jason Lipshutz: A 7 and a 6. “I Had Some Assist” actually has a summertime tempo and sing-along refrain, inviting raised cups throughout yard gatherings and seashore hangs alike. And it was massive this season, if not ubiquitous; that speaks extra to the dissolution of the monoculture that makes it more durable for a single music to behave inescapable throughout each platform, but additionally to how its run at No. 1 on the Sizzling 100 was not the longest of this summer season, coming in second to “A Bar Track (Tipsy).” Artists like Shaboozey, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Kendrick Lamar have been simply as current this summer season as Morgan and Publish, however the chart factors labored out in order that “I Had Some Assist” completed above all of them.
Andrew Unterberger: A 9 music of the summer season, and a 7 defining music on this summer season. Each numbers raised at the least some extent by a pal’s latest barbecue the place the music was performed no fewer than 4 occasions (and went off every time).
2. The SotS rating is neatly bookended by nation – each by its prime two songs (“I Had Some Assist” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Track (Tipsy)”) and its backside two (Luke Combs’ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” and Dasha’s “Austin”) – whereas different songs by Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen and Kane Brown fall between them. Why do you suppose this was such a country-heavy summer season? Did it really feel that technique to you anecdotally?
Katie Atkinson: It’s not only a country-heavy summer season; it’s been a country-heavy previous two years! However there’s something about these 4 summer season 2024 songs you talked about that makes them good for a BBQ or pool celebration playlist – and so they’ve all been in rotation for me all summer season. I might additionally argue that three of the 4 (excluding Luke Combs’ twangy Twisters monitor) transcend style, as a result of I’ve heard them performed in locations I’ve by no means heard nation earlier than. So I feel the crossover enchantment did a number of the heavy lifting.
Eric Renner Brown: For one, it’s an election 12 months! Nothing will get these patriotic juices flowing – and the nation music blaring – like candidates posturing over who loves the celebs and stripes extra. On prime of that, next-gen style stars like Wallen and Brown have lastly solidified their spot atop nation music whereas main non-country artists like Beyoncé and Publish have given the style most cultural cachet amongst yeehaw-skeptical audiences (Stereogum’s Chris DeVille even astutely famous that Sabrina’s album was, in a way, “an superior Kacey Musgraves album.”) Nonetheless, the fundamental truth stays that nation is just huge in lots of components of the nation; all summers are “country-heavy” summers, to an extent.
Kyle Denis: I feel we’re reached the ultimate stage of nation music’s mainstream comeback to the highest of Sizzling 100 with the way in which pop-facing artists and listeners will not be simply accepting, but additionally deliberately in search of out nation components of their music. This summer season we’ve had each straight nation songs (Combs, Malone/Wallen) and country-infused pop tunes (Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please,” for instance) attain the Sizzling 100’s highest heights.
Anecdotally, nation has much less of a presence than the respective single runs of Kendrick Lamar, GloRilla and Bossman Dlow, however the style was actually a sound that was anticipated to pop up in some unspecified time in the future throughout an evening out or a night drive. I wouldn’t have been in a position to say that even three years in the past.
Jason Lipshutz: We’re seeing the complete integration of nation music into streaming platforms in actual time: whereas genres like hip-hop and pop extra naturally commanded Spotify and Apple Music through the 2010s as nation listeners targeted on radio blocks, that shopper behavior has steadily shifted, and the nation’s massive summer season hits are a lot larger than they have been a decade in the past. The assorted personalities inside the style have actually helped grease the wheels of this business explosion — Wallen, Bryan and Combs specifically are no-doubt superstars at this level, and all have prolific streaks — however the way in which that they’re commanding each day streaming playlists is the important thing to understanding the previous couple Songs of the Summer time charts.
Andrew Unterberger: I don’t know if nation is admittedly towering over the mainstream the way in which our charts typically appear to indicate, however I feel it’s true that nation all the time has a serious radio presence — and extra now than ever, given what number of songs are crossing over to pop radio — and now it has lastly totally caught up on streaming as properly. With that form of foothold in these two mediums, when a music actually pops off, there’s actually no restrict to how massive it may well get, or how lengthy it may well keep that massive for.
3. The one artist with two songs within the prime 10 this 12 months is Sabrina Carpenter: “Espresso” (No. 4) & “Please Please Please” (No. 6). Carpenter was unquestionably one of many defining pop presences of the season, however she vote-split slightly together with her a number of large hits — do you suppose we’re getting to a degree the place we must be having an Artist of the Summer time dialogue as a lot as a Track of the Summer time one? Would it not have simply been Carpenter if we did?
Katie Atkinson: Please please please make it occur, Billboard charts group! It will be fascinating to see if we used our Artist 100 methodology only for the summer season months whether or not it could have been Sabrina or possibly Morgan who would put on the summer season 2024 crown, however I do suppose there’s worth in seeing which musician guidelines the summer season, not simply what music.
Eric Renner Brown: The Track of the Summer time dialog has expanded a lot that typically I feel it’s strayed too removed from its genesis: The one omnipresent music that was inescapable at barbecues, seashores, and bars through the 12 months’s warmest months. I wouldn’t say we shouldn’t have an Artist of the Summer time dialogue, but it surely appears like a unique factor that doesn’t essentially correlate to the Track of the Summer time.
In reality, I don’t suppose having the Track of the Summer time would essentially be a prerequisite for being Artist of the Summer time. No Charli XCX music achieved the cultural saturation that Sabrina’s massive hits did this summer season – and but, Charli was the one getting promoted by one of many two main celebration candidates for president, and the one who had celebrities and influencers doing the “Apple” dance on TikTok. All that to say, no, I don’t suppose it could have simply been Sabrina – it could’ve been Charli, and even Chappell Roan, who felt much more current as a person than Sabrina did.
Kyle Denis: I feel I touched on it with certainly one of my earlier solutions, however artist of the 12 months looks like a extra correct unit of measurement for this explicit summer season. I’m unsure Carpenter has it sewn up tho, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX actually have some pores and skin within the recreation – as do Lamar, Billie Eilish, GloRilla and Bossman Dlow.
Jason Lipshutz: In all probability — though you could possibly make a case that Kendrick Lamar would stand alongside her because of his avalanche of diss tracks, and Chappell Roan is true there too with “Good Luck, Babe!” all the assorted slow-burn smashes that she has accrued. Even Publish Malone, who completed atop the chart with “I Had Some Assist,” had one other music, “Fortnight” with Taylor Swift, that completed within the prime 20. This summer season was stuffed with artists who notched a number of smashes, as an alternative of being glad with only one — though, together with her two songs as dominant as they’ve been, Carpenter would most likely earn my vote within the Artist of the Summer time election.
Andrew Unterberger: It does appear to me that this summer season was outlined extra by artists than by songs — and that whereas the Publish Malone and Shaboozey songs have been each huge, I’m unsure the respective artists behind them actually had an outsized seasonal presence in any other case — so yeah, I do suppose it could be fascinating to have a separate dialogue about that distinction. If there was an AotS debate available, Carpenter would definitely be within the combine, together with Charli XCX, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter and doubtless Taylor Swift.
4. What music (or artist) is absent from this 12 months’s prime 20 that you just suppose was actually essential for understanding the summer season in standard music?
Katie Atkinson: 100% Charli XCX. How can we finish Brat Summer time with out a single Brat music on our summer season chart? All these songs had an absolute chokehold on TikTok, however I feel the one which must be on our chart to correctly symbolize summer season 2024 is “360,” which debuted on the Sizzling 100 in June and peaked at No. 41 in August – aka, a summer season second.
Eric Renner Brown: It’s Charli, child! If you’ve bought Jake Tapper unpacking the cultural significance of your album on CNN, you’re central to standard music.
Kyle Denis: Forgive me for invoking their names but once more, however GloRilla (“Yeah Glo,” “All Dere,” “Wanna Be,” “Bop,” “Finesse,” “TGIF”) and Bossman Dlow (“Get In With Me,” “Speak My Shit,” “Mr. Pot Scraper,” “Finesse,” “Shake Dat Ass,” “2 Slippery,” “Huge One”).
Jason Lipshutz: “Apple” by Charli XCX. Though Brat Summer time just isn’t represented on the Songs of the Summer time chart, Charli’s newest album was a lightning rod of curiosity and chatter, and “Apple” greatest crystallizes its viral attain, an immaculate pop gem that launched numerous TikTok-ready actions. Runner-up goes to the “Lady, So Complicated” redo with Lorde, which is probably probably the most totally realized pop remix of the 2020s.
Andrew Unterberger: Past Charli XCX — the plain reply, because the season was principally renamed in her newest album’s likeness — it’s most likely additionally price mentioning the individuals’s champ Tinashe, whose early viral success with “Nasty” was seemingly willed to life by the collective consciousness of Pop Twitter. When it was clear the music was gonna hit the Sizzling 100, that was the primary time I bear in mind pondering that this was gonna find yourself being a fairly particular summer season for pop music. And it did!
5. We don’t have a Songs of the Autumn chart at Billboard (but) – however when you might make a private choose for a brand new and/or rising music to emerge as an early frontrunner for the late-calendar months, which wouldn’t it be?
Katie Atkinson: After the sudden folky resurgence that began the 12 months (Benson Boone, Hozier, and so on.), it appears like an artist like Mark Ambor might maintain climbing up the chart as temperatures drop. His breakout hit “Belong Collectively” has to this point peaked at No. 74 on the Sizzling 100, however with a latest push at radio and the discharge of his debut album Rockwood final month, his music could possibly be soundtracking various pumpkin spice latte runs this fall.
Eric Renner Brown: There’s no approach Kendrick doesn’t put out one other new music between now and his Tremendous Bowl halftime present gig in a couple of months, proper? For a Track of the Autumn, I’d put my cash on what he or one other Track of the Summer time chart presence who I’ve a sense would possibly drop a contemporary loosie –Chappell Roan – places out. (That is additionally a referendum on the truth that a number of the season’s A-list releases, together with Halsey, Katy Perry, and Shawn Mendes, don’t precisely appear poised to launch a music into the higher vary of the Sizzling 100.)
Kyle Denis: It will make my coronary heart smile if any of the next songs bought some love this fall: “Nissan Altima” (Doechii), “Sweep It Up” (Coco Jones), “Blick Sum” (Latto), “Lonely Is the Muse” (Halsey) and “Final of My Type” (Shaboozey & Paul Cauthen).
Jason Lipshutz: None of us have heard The Weeknd’s “Dancing within the Flames,” his new single arriving this Friday — however lest we neglect, Mr. Tesfaye comes alive within the fall time. I’m anticipating to listen to that sensual croon whereas sipping my pumpkin spice latte.
Andrew Unterberger: Can Pop Twitter do it once more? In that case, look to Addison Rae’s “Food plan Pepsi,” a rising popheads favourite, to be one of many greatest songs of 2024 earlier than 12 months’s finish.
