Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” is a contender for this summer’s most impactful song. photo courtesy of “Manchild” music video
What music defined the summer of 2025?
In past years, the song of the summer has become a much-coveted position for songs released in the summer months. The top spot goes to a song that has become emblematic of the year. A song of the summer must fulfill two important criteria. It must be fun and upbeat—the kind of song you’d hear blasting at a waterpark or a barbecue—and it must be absolutely inescapable. You should not be able to open your phone without hearing the song of the summer. If you keep up with popular music at all, the song of the summer feels as inescapable as air.
Think back to 2024’s “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. Upon release, the song immediately became popular on TikTok and radio. It was the second most streamed song on Spotify in 2024. “Espresso” has a catchy synth beat and lighthearted lyrics. It is everything a song of the summer should be. If 2024’s song of the summer was “Espresso,” what is 2025’s? No song was nearly as inescapable as 2019’s “Old Town Road” or 2005’s “Hot In Herre.” With no obvious winner of the song of the summer race, let’s review the candidates.
“Ordinary” by Alex Warren
The biggest measure of a song’s success is its ranking on the Billboard charts. Billboard’s Hot 100 tracks the 100 most popular songs at any given time. Billboard also runs a Song of the Summer chart, tracking the most popular song based on sales, streaming, and radio play between Memorial Day and Labor Day. According to Billboard, the song of the summer was “Ordinary” by Alex Warren. “Ordinary” is a chamber-pop song about Warren’s love for his wife. It’s romantic and soft with a gentle beat and lots of string instruments. It’s also just not that big—compared to “Espresso,” which was the second-fastest song to hit a billion Spotify streams in history, “Ordinary” is a blip on the radar. So if “Ordinary” is not the song of the summer, then what is?
“Golden” by HUNTR/X
You might not have heard of the biggest K-pop act of 2025, HUNTR/X. They’ve had several huge hits this year, including a #1 song. However, they don’t actually exist. HUNTR/X is a fictional band from the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters, which came out earlier this year. Both HUNTR/X and their fictional enemies the Saja Boys are ghostwritten and performed by real-life K-pop juggernauts. HUNTR/X’s biggest song, “Golden,” is fun and upbeat, but it’s not that popular. If you spend any time with kids, it may seem inescapable, but the song isn’t getting much radio play. It’s more indicative of how stagnant the music scene is this year than anything else.
“Mystical Magical” by Benson Boone
Benson Boone’s new single “Mystical Magical” is an upbeat pop song, interpolating the beloved Physical by Olivia Newton-John. While “Mystical Magical” has been huge on TikTok, the love for the song there seems to be more ironic than earnest. Its TikTok popularity hasn’t translated into actual streams, sales, or radio play. Just as hate-watching doesn’t get a movie nominated for an Emmy, hate-TikTok-trending a song doesn’t win it song of the summer.
Morgan Wallen
Morgan Wallen is one of the biggest artists in the world right now. Three of his songs are in the top five for the SOTS chart: “What I Want” with Tate McRae, “Just In Case,” and “I’m The Problem.” Morgan Wallen has made a career out of miserable drunken breakups, and these three songs are no exception. They make excellent songs of the summer for people who feel miserable and are regretting all of their decisions.
“Luther” by Kendrick Lamar ft. SZA
Kendrick and SZA are a fantastic duo. Their performance earlier this year at the Super Bowl was easily my favorite musical moment of 2025. Their chemistry is astounding, and “Luther” proves this better than anything. “Luther” itself is a sweet love ballad which interprolates “If This World Were Mine” by Marvin Gaye. The flow is great, the lyrics are great, the beat is great. As far as being the song of the summer, though, it might fall short. “Luther” is a great song, but it’s also just too gentle to really count as the summer smash we’re looking for.
“Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter
Of course, we have to consider the fact that Sabrina Carpenter won song of the summer this year as well as last year. Her single “Manchild” off of her new album Man’s Best Friend peaked at #9 on the Song of the Summer chart. Man’s Best Friend released at the very end of the summer. Its glitter pop dance tracks, especially the ones that edge into country, would’ve made for perfect songs of the summer. But “Manchild” struggled to make the impact needed to be a true song of the summer.
I would argue that, despite having multiple candidates for song of the summer, no one song from 2025 fulfills the requirements to be a true song of the summer. The songs that were hugely popular weren’t fun enough and the songs that were fun weren’t big enough. If I had to choose a single song to crown the song of the summer, it would be HUNTR/X’s “Golden.” It’s catchy, bright, and cheerful. For kids especially, it’s the biggest song in the world. If HUNTR/X was a real band, able to promote their music and follow up as a real K-pop group would, “Golden” would have smashed through to the mainstream. But, for now, its status as music from a kids movie keeps the song from being a true song of the summer. 2025’s stagnant charts have kept us from truly having a classic summer smash. Even if there isn’t one massive hit to become representative of summer 2025, there’s still plenty to choose from to pick your own personal song of the summer.
