Exactly one year ago, the top of the Billboard Hot 100 was bumping with chart-busting beats from Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul, Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” and Harry Styles’ pogo-pop powerhouse “As It Was.”
There’s no denying the summer of 2022 was nothing short of a boppity bopfest, one that would send us all twirling into the dog days with an extra pep in our step.
Fast-forward to the start of another August, and the top trio looks a whole lot different: Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and CMA Entertainer of the Year Luke Combs’ “Fast Car,” a Tracy Chapman cover.
So that’s two problematic — to put it mildly — country artists in Aldean and Wallen, and a wistful classic borrowed from a ’90s folk-rocker. (Which, incidentally, makes Chapman the first African American woman to pen a country chart-topper on her own.)
It is, in fact, the first time in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 — since it started way back in 1958 — that three country singles have claimed the uppermost spots on that pop chart.
Where in the “Hot in Herre” hell did all the summer pop bops go? (Shout-out to Nelly and his Band-Aid.)
Twenty years ago, we had Beyoncé making a sizzling solo splash with “Crazy in Love,” including a killer assist from baby-daddy-to-be Jay-Z.
Behind an insane go-go groove that just wouldn’t quit for eight consecutive weeks at No. 1, it became one of the all-time songs of summer.
And since then — from Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” in 2005 and Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in 2007 to Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” in 2020 and any number of Drake jams (2015’s “Hotline Bling,” 2016’s “One Dance,” 2018’s “In My Feelings,” take your pick) — there has always been a song of summer that you will remember as if the sand was still between your toes.
Not in 2023.
Top summer hits from years past
- “Hot in Herre” (2002)
- Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, “Crazy in Love” (2003)
- Mariah Carey, “We Belong Together” (2005)
- Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, “Umbrella” (2007)
- Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, “California Gurls” (2010)
- Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe” (2012)
- Robin Thicke featuring T.I. + Pharrell, “Blurred Lines” (2013)
- Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber, “Despacito” (2017)
- Drake, “In My Feelings” (2018)
- Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road” (2019)
Seriously, with just one month to go before the unofficial end of summer on Labor Day, it’s hard to think of one single summer shimmy that has united — to quote a certain 1978 Funkadelic classic — one nation under a groove.
Yes, there has been Jungkook’s “Seven” — the first solo song from a BTS member to go No. 1 — Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” chill-out with Afrobeats artist Rema, and Olivia Rodrigo’s moody “Vampire” chart-topper.
But none of these songs will come close to defining the summer season in the way that we have come to expect, going all the way back to the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” in 1965.
The OG Kens’ seminal surfer song “Fun, Fun, Fun” was featured in an early trailer for the current “Barbie” blockbuster, but even the soundtrack to that smash flick hasn’t been able to give us that summer slay with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World” reworking of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.”
We love Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” — another Oscar contender for the 21-year-old star that is also on the “Barbie” soundtrack — but damn, what a mellow summer bummer. Can we please do a remix of “Bad Guy” or something?
And even Travis Scott’s new single “K-pop” — the rapper’s triple-threat comeback featuring both Bad Bunny and The Weeknd — is kinda meh-pop.
At least the queer community has had a certified winner in the electro ecstasy of Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam.”
But unless something hotter comes out this month, we may just have to settle for Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” which has found new love — four years after it was first released as a track on 2019’s “Lover” — thanks to her epic Eras Tour.
Wouldn’t that be cruel?