Every year, there’s a debate over what the ‘song of the summer’ was. And every year, influencers and content creators alike take to social media to voice their opinions or even write what they hope would be a ‘song of the summer.’ But what exactly was the 2023 song of the summer?
Based on the Billboard Hot 100, “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen is considered the most popular song this summer. It spent 16 weeks in the number one spot and was the longest-running number-one song in 2023. However, different songs have taken the peak position in charts outside of the United States. So, is ‘Last Night’ truly the ‘song of the summer’, or just America’s ‘song of the summer?’ In my opinion, ‘Last Night’ is neither.
Tiktok also has its opinion on the ‘song of the summer.’ For the first time ever, it released the list of the most used songs on the app. Tiktok has deemed Jain’s ‘Makeba’ the number one ‘song of the summer’ in the U.S. and Mae Stephens’ ‘If We Ever Broke Up’ the number one ‘song of the summer’ globally. However, since these songs are just the most popular songs used on one app, I don’t believe that either of them are the ‘song of the summer’ either.
Personally, I believe a song from the “Barbie: The Album” took control of the music world this summer. It is hard to choose a specific song from this album, considering all of the songs on it have made it on the Billboard Hot 100 and have found their way topping Spotify and radio stations. Barbie was a very popular movie this summer, having grossed $1.342 billion dollars so far. So, it only makes sense that the music used in the movie has also become very well-known. Some popular songs include “Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa, “What Was I Made For” by Billie Ellish, and “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua. All of which presently rank in the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200. “Dance the Night” and “What was I Made For” also rank top 10 in the Billboard Global Excluding the United States. However, out of the three, “Dance the Night” has ranked the highest, leading me to believe that Dua Lipa created the 2023 ‘song of the summer’. The Daily Beast seems to think so too, saying that “Dance the Night” is “leading the charge” for the ‘song of the summer’ because it “takes that Future Nostalgia disco-pop sheen and dumps even more pink glitter on top.”
Overall, there were many great songs this summer that were constantly playing over the radio and taking over Spotify. However, out of all of them, in my opinion, Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” is the 2023 ‘song of the summer’.
