What a bummer — where are all the summer pop hits in 2023?

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.

Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” is one of three country songs at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in history.

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.


Beyoncé on her "Renaissance" World Tour.
Beyoncé had one of the all-time songs of summer with “Crazy in Love” in 2003 and had another hot girl summer with “Break My Soul” last year.
Getty Images for Parkwood

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.

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.


Harry Styles shirtless in fringe vest.
Harry Styles has had two songs of summer with “Watermelon Sugar” in 2020 and “As It Was” last year.
SplashNews.com

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.”


Lizzo and dancers performing on stage.
Lizzo had one of the hottest hits of summer 2022 with her Grammy-winning bop “About Damn Time.”
GC Images

Luke Combs
CMAs’ Entertainer of the Year Luke Combs is riding high on the Billboard Hot 100 with his “Fast Car” cover.
Getty Images

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?

Read the full article Here

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

DON’T MISS OUT!
Subscribe To Newsletter
Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox.
Stay Updated
Give it a try, you can unsubscribe anytime.
close-link