Summer is in full swing, which means it’s time to take your get-togethers with friends and family outdoors. But your transition from tasteful dinner parties to sun-drenched backyard cookouts won’t be complete without the right soundtrack to accompany it. Consider the following tracks—celebrating lazy days, hot weather, summer flings, and nostalgia for simpler times—a starter playlist for your next grilling session. Read on for the 25 best songs to play at your BBQ, and find our original Spotify playlist below! (Keep in mind that some songs include adult content and/or strong language.)
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It’s not summer without watermelon, and this infectious 2019 pop hit from former One Direction-er Harry Styles seems made for playing loud at the beach. (Never mind that he’s not actually singing about watermelon.)
This tune from the Texas-based rockabilly trio’s 1990 album Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em is incredibly on-theme for a barbecue, listing every cut of meat under the sun. The whole thing plays like a toe-tapping ode to living carnivorously. (Sorry, vegetarian guests.)
The lyrics of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s signature tune are loaded with touchy racial politics, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a warm weather staple, equally at home on a road trip mixtape or blasting out of a boombox in your backyard.
This is one pop hit that has very little on its mind other than having fun. The early hit from Miley Cyrus is all about dancing and having fun in the L.A. sun, which is exactly the kind of energy you want to bring to your backyard gathering.
A good barbecue is all about the vibes, so bring some literal good vibrations into the mix with some familiar singalong fodder from a band that’s all about chilling out in the hot sun.
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If you want your barbecue to have a bit of a Wes Anderson vibe, this 1972 hit from Paul Simon’s sophomore solo effort fits the bill. The percussive beat, created with a Brazilian cuica, gives it a Samba flair that pairs nicely with relaxed chatter around the grill.
This hot tune from Luis Fonsi and Demi Lovato might be more suited to a nighttime party like the one in its music video, but every good barbecue could do with a between-burgers dance break.
Fretting that the forecast calls for temps in the high 90s on the day you’ve invited everyone over? This 1983 hit will remind them that they can still go on like a blister in the sun—even if, again, the lyrics are more metaphorical than literal.
This 1966 folk track from the Lovin’ Spoonful is all about recreating the feeling of a steamy day in a crowded city. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a gathering on the tiny square of pavement behind your crowded apartment building.
Singer Bryan Adams and his co-writer Jim Vallance have differing accounts of what this 1985 hit is about, but if you choose to take the title literally, it’s as good as song as any to get you in a hot weather kind of mood.
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With a hypnotic beat and lyrics all about trying to put aside your stress and enjoy a lazy summer afternoon, this 1966 hit was the U.K.’s song of the summer that year, according to the band’s biographer Johnny Rogan, kicking the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” from the top of the charts.
Speaking of songs of the summer, why not throw 2024’s own into the mix? The lyrics of this addictive and energizing Sabrina Carpenter bop don’t have a ton to do with warm weather, but the beach-set video makes its aspirations clear.
This campy attempt to recreate the singalong success of The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” dropped in August 2023 and is current burning up the streaming charts. The lyrics are all about getting too hot and having fun anyway, and what barbecue wouldn’t be improved by a choreography dance break?
This one does what it says on the tin: A simple but undeniable ode to all the joys of summer, it will help ensure your guests get what they came for. (Well, in addition to the hot dogs and corn on the cob.)
When it’s time to take things down a notch, break out the chilled drinks and throw this one on for the Parrotheads in the crowd. No, your backyard probably isn’t quite an island paradise, but this tune will bring some of that energy.
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Bring the feeling of strolling through a beachside town to your backyard with this 1964 hit from the Drifters, and keep an eye out to catch any guests who might try to slink away for a little private time in the shade (if you know what I mean).
Kick it to the beat while celebrating the best summer has to offer with this relaxing groove from DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will “The Fresh Prince” Smith, which aims to bring you right back to a summertime cookout in the duo’s hometown of West Philadelphia.
Nothing can launch you into a nostalgic reverie quite like a warm summer night. So after the sun has set, put on this romantic country pop ode to young love, and bring your guests back to those days when the summer seemed to stretch on forever.
Best known as the theme song to the mid-aughts teen soap The O.C., this tune from L.A. rockers Phantom Planet (including actor Jason Schwartzman on drums) is all about returning to the place and the people that made you—a perfect match for a get-together with friends.
Backed by a slinky synth beat, this propulsive dance rock hit from Demi Lovato was crafted to be the perfect sexy summer hit, with lyrics that hint at a steamy romantic tryst that New York Magazine called “the most perfectly manufactured Song of Summer maybe ever.”
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Some people might swap this one out for the Taylor Swift hit of the same name, but if you ask me, the darker vibes of the 1983 original captures that feeling of hot weather frustration and romantic yearning even better.
If you try not to listen to the lyrics—which paint a foreboding picture of a world heating up due to climate change—this sonically laidback jam from Childish Gambino spins up a perfect summer groove.
A dreamy, hazy ballad with a beat, this hit from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack will slot nicely into the wind-down portion of your party mix.
Another one about looking back at summers gone by, this 1977 single from Kentucky rock band NRBQ is a wistful remembrance of a relationship that didn’t work out, but the upbeat tempo and powerfully poppy chorus keep the vibes from going sour.
Send your guests off into the night with this romantic, contemplative two-hander in which Khalid and Halsey trade off verses about their memories of young love, unrealized dreams, and the hope that a drive on a summer night can make everything better.