Tag: songs of summer 2024

Introducing Spotify’s 2024 Global Songs of Summer—and Why These Top 5 Tracks Reigned Supreme

August 28, 2024

Every summer, as people across the Northern Hemisphere seek out the perfect songs to soundtrack the season, Spotify is right there with them. The fun starts in early June with our annual Songs of Summer predictions featuring the red-hot hits our global team of editors thinks will pop off. This year, we even gave you our first-ever midsummer update with the top 15 songs from our original list, plus five new wild card additions.

Now, for the big end-of-summer reveal, we’re doing things a little differently. Instead of picking one winner based on streams alone, we’re presenting our Global Top 5 Songs of Summer to capture a more dynamic view of the sounds and moments that soundtracked the season. We also took a more holistic approach to our process, using Spotify streaming data, the expertise of our music editorial team, and cultural impact as criteria.

“Our editors are constantly watching culture evolve and seeing how the music landscape ebbs and flows during certain moments in time,” said Spotify’s Talia Kraines, Senior Editor, U.S. Pop. “The Songs of Summer we’ve chosen this year really reflect the wide variety of sounds our listeners were finding joy in throughout the season, and what resonated with them culturally. We looked beyond the charts—although they still played an important role—to see which songs became a staple in culture throughout the summer. These tracks really encapsulate the unique moods listeners have been leaning into.”

So without further ado, here are the five songs that defined summer 2024 for our listeners around the world—from female pop breakthroughs to country’s global surge to instant hip-hop classics, as featured on our official Songs of Summer playlist.

Spotify’s Global Top 5 Songs of Summer

(Listed alphabetically by artist first name)

“BIRDS OF A FEATHER” – Billie Eilish

“HOT TO GO!” – Chappell Roan

“Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar

“Espresso” – Sabrina Carpenter

“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey

To close out the season, let’s unpack each track and the key trends that contributed to its undeniable popularity.

“BIRDS OF A FEATHER” – Billie Eilish

Billie had a refreshing return to tempo this summer with this breezy hit, which boasts more than 855 million streams on Spotify. One of the biggest tracks from her third studio album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, the song reached a fever pitch after Billie’s unforgettable performance at the summer games closing ceremony on August 11. The following day, it was streamed more than 9 million times on Spotify, quickly rising to the top of our global chart.

“HOT TO GO!” – Chappell Roan

In many ways, it has been the summer of Chappell, with “HOT TO GO!” emerging as a 2024 festival favorite and becoming one of Spotify’s wild card picks in our midsummer update.

Globally on Spotify, the track saw its biggest spike of the summer on June 10, the day after Chappell’s showstopping Gov Ball set in New York City. A photo of the artist in her iconic Statue of Liberty costume became the cover of Spotify’s I Love NYC afterward, and the playlist grew by nearly 350% over the following week. Following her record-breaking Lollapalooza performance, Chappell was also featured on the cover of our Hot Pink playlist, which grew by nearly 145% in the week following.

“Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar

This razor-sharp track transcended the rap beef that brought it to life and became a worldwide summer anthem. It also drove massive boosts for Kendrick’s entire catalog on Spotify immediately following its release.

Both globally and in the U.S., “Not Like Us” saw its biggest surge on June 20, the day after Kendrick’s Juneteenth concert in Los Angeles. And after the music video dropped on July 4, the song spent 28 consecutive days at No. 1 on Spotify’s U.S. chart.

“Espresso” – Sabrina Carpenter

When “Espresso” first dropped in April, it instantly felt like the song of the summer—before the season had even started. With its beach-themed music video, catchy chorus, and idiosyncratic lyrics (“that’s that me espresso!”), this hit held on to its staying power all summer long.

Since June, the song has spent 20 days at No. 1 on Spotify’s global charts while also topping 25 regional charts in countries like Australia, Malaysia, Jordan, and Singapore.

“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey

With “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey secured an instant hit. Based on a familiar, nostalgic track from the early aughts—J-Kwon’s “Tipsy”—this infectious sing-along rendition crossed borders and topped charts around the world.

Since June, the song has hit No. 1 on Spotify’s charts in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. It reached No. 1 on Spotify’s U.S. chart for the first time on July 4, solidifying its status as the perfect summer holiday anthem.

“The global success of Shaboozey really exemplifies a shift in the sound reaching new audiences globally—it’s been incredible to see the growth of country music outside of the U.S. over the last few years,” said Spotify’s Emma Vikström, Editorial Lead, Nordics. “Early spring, we saw ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ take off in the Nordics, and Shaboozey quickly reached his first-ever No. 1 in Sweden. Sweden was also the first country in the world that had him at the top of the charts, and he remained at the top throughout the entire summer. And Shaboozey is not alone—we’ve seen many other country stars have unprecedented success in our Hot Hits flagships all over the world. The country genre is breaking through this season like never before.”

The season’s not over yet, so there’s still plenty of time to queue up our Summer Hits 2024 playlist for your next gathering. And if you’re heading out on one last sunny vacation, check out our beach-themed podcast picks and audiobook selections.

Check Out Our Updated Songs of Summer Predictions (Complete With Five New Wild Card Picks)

July 25, 2024

Last month, Spotify’s annual Songs of Summer predictions made their return, and fans have rallied around the anthems they can’t get enough of. Some have been working late (…’cuz they’re a singer), while plenty have been feeling so Julia. Meanwhile, others have been looking for someone to match their freak. 

Now, for the first time ever, we’re giving you a midsummer update that reveals the top 15 songs from our original list, along with five new “wild card” songs. These updated predictions reflect our final contenders for the Song of Summer as we approach the end of the season.

Backed by Spotify data and cultural buzz, and hand-picked by our global team of editors, our wild cards were either released after we made our initial predictions, or they’ve experienced a recent spike in global streams. Wild card track “360” by Charli xcx, for example, has experienced an 80% increase in U.S. streams in the past month, while streams of “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan have spiked 110% globally on Spotify. 

Spotify’s updated Songs of Summer list 

(Listed alphabetically by artist first name; wild card picks in italics) 

Over the last year, we’ve seen increased popularity of dance and Afro house globally, and summer is the perfect time for these songs to cross over into the mainstream.

“‘Move’ has been an undeniable hit this summer and an obvious choice for our editors as one of our wild card additions,” said Luisa Kristen, Senior Editor, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at Spotify. “The song features the perfect recipe of beautiful Afro house production, earwormy melody, and pop lyricism—sounds that tend to thrive with listeners in warmer weather globally.”

Luisa also noted that in the last few weeks, the song has charted all around the world across many parts of Europe, the U.K., and the U.S. It drove record streams for the German group globally on its release day and was recently added to Today’s Top Hits—a monumental achievement for German artists and the Afro house genre overall. 

“Stumblin’ In,” which was released in November 2023, is also a strong example of how a song can have an extensive lifespan, cross borders, and experience a cultural resurgence during different moments of the year. It highlights the power of Spotify—our editors have tested it in various playlists, and since its release, it has grown and reached new listeners around the world. 

Tinashe’s “Nasty” also surged during the first two weeks of the Songs of Summer predictions reveal, both globally and in the U.S. Since then, the song has seen over a 110% increase in streams globally and in the U.S.

Celebrating 2024’s Songs of Summer

To continue the summer fun, we hosted our 2024 Songs of Summer event in Brooklyn this week, featuring electric performances from two of our contenders, Tinashe and Tommy Richman.