As we head in to June, we know that there will be a Summer Song of 2022 that Top 40 radio is enthusiastic about.
We have multiple front-runners already in the top 15:
Harry Styles, “As It Was” — the most phenomenal record of the year to date, and a song that will almost certainly remain in power throughout the summer. “’As it Was’ has Song of the Summer wrapped up and will likely be Song of the Year,” says industry veteran Lee Chesnut. But there is also an outpouring for …- Jack Harlow, “First Class” — also already a power; also already a Hot 100 No. 1; coming on the heels of a resurgence of uptempo Hip-Hop crossovers, following Latto’s “Big Energy” this spring and Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa’s “Sweetest Pie.”
- Lizzo, “About Damn Time” — No. 1 on Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits at this writing. Often, Facebook commenters asked for their predictions tended to mention the three songs in the same sentence. (Whether you choose Styles’ melancholy or Lizzo’s willful optimism says a lot about what you want from pop music in our troubled times, and I decided that rates a separate article.)
We have the songs timed thematically for summer:
- Nicky Youre f/Dazy, “Sunroof,” has been a TikTok phenomenon since February. I had previously asked why radio hadn’t grabbed it already, and the answer is that it was being timed for summer, “Watermelon Sugar”-style. “Sunroof” is one of the increasing number of mainstream pop songs that just happen to be at TikTok first, but we also have a true TikTok novelty in Duke & Jones x Louis Theroux’s “Jiggle Jiggle.”
- Super-Hi & Neeka, “Following the Sun,” made its first appearance on this column’s Big Hits Energy playlist in January, when it was a European hit.
- Sofi Tukker, “Summer in New York.”
We have a rock candidate in Maneskin, “Supermodel,” raising the possibility that the Song of Summer could rock for two years in a row, depending on how you count Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U.” In some years, I’ve done separate articles on all the Alternative chart songs that could be great summer CHR records. I could write that article again; this year both the Black Keys (“Wild Child”) and Florence & the Machine (“My Love”) have finally made their “hit singles,” even if CHR never becomes aware of them. Imagine Dragons’ “Bones” is also building steadily even pre-impact and with “Enemy” still in the top 10.
There would also be a case for pop radio using “Stranger Things” to go back for Meg Myers’ “Running Up That Hill,” warmed up by Alternative for the last three years. (Update, the Kate Bush original has since been serviced, although not worked to pop, and is growing at Top 40 and Hot AC.)
There are more than a half-dozen uptempo singles among the top 50 going into summer with appropriate growth:
- Doja Cat, “Get into It (Yuh)”;
- Ed Sheeran f/Lil Baby, “2 Step”;
- Ava Max, “Maybe You’re the Problem”;
- Leah Kate, “10 Things I Hate About You”;
- Khalid, “Skyline”;
- Harry Styles, “Late Night Talking” — a test only of whether he can have two powers when “As It Was” isn’t going anywhere soon;
- Calvin Harris w/Dua Lipa & Young Thug, “Potion,” the most recent major artist release at this writing;
- Pitbull f/Zac Brown, “Can’t Stop Us Now”
- DNCE, “Move”
The early-summer formation of dance and Latin product has been less noticeable in recent years, but on the Latin side includes Becky G & Karol G’s “Mami” (already top 25) and Bad Bunny’s “Moscow Mule,” helped by first-week streaming of the entire Un Verano Sin Ti album. In dance, Diplo & Miguel, “Don’t Forget My Love”; Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott, “Where Are You Now”; KXS/Kaskade/Deadmau5, “Escape,” and Chainsmokers, “I Love U,” are already getting CHR airplay. David Guetta, Becky Hill & Ella Henderson’s “Crazy What Love Can Do” is already a Top-10 UK hit.
There is a leading Country Song of Summer 2022 contender in Kane Brown’s “Like I Love Country Music.” From the title down, that one seems engineered not to cross to pop, especially after Brown’s CHR appearances coincided with a brief moment of seeming resistance from Country radio. There’s also excitement about Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me At ‘Heads Carolina,’” and that has just been released as a Country-radio single. Country and streaming combined to give us the one true surprise of last summer with Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like,” and even with so many contenders already in formation, I again have to mention the possibility of a TikTok-driven outlier that isn’t currently in play. There is also forthcoming music from BTS and AJR.
It’s been nearly 15 years since “All Summer Long” created a strategy of left-field artist comebacks propelled by a summer song. There are surprisingly few of those lined up thus far. Streaming has already given us one (Sia’s “Unstoppable”). Diana Ross & Tame Impala are already top 15 airplay in the U.K. with “Turn Up The Sunshine.” John Legend is only starting to emerge at Adult R&B with “Dope.”
The Summer Song Handicap is never meant to be the entire list of growing singles — it spotlights songs with tempo, summer themes, summer vibes. There are ballads and mid-to-ballad titles that will be among the summer’s biggest songs. Dove Cameron’s “Boyfriend” is already there. Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” has the excitement of Top Gun: Maverick behind it. There are also 3-4 uptempo songs in the No. 9 – No. 15 chart range where the initial excitement has evaporated, but regaining momentum is not impossible. Those won’t likely be Song of the Summer either, but I want them to be hits. Like the ballads, they reinforce the notion of a varied Top 40 with hit inventory on the shelves.
I talk about inventory on the shelves a lot lately. One of last summer’s more gratifying developments was a regular flow of Thursday-afternoon and Friday-midnight surprises from major artists. Going into Memorial Day, that flow has been erratic. That should be creating the opportunity for more varied projects to get attention from radio and labels–R&B crossovers, the aforementioned rock contenders. Instead, I’ve talked to more than one major-label rep who feel they have almost nothing to work right now. TikTok as both America’s Music Director and its label promotion person isn’t a good scenario, in part because even its biggest phenomena can’t quite reach the consensus hit level needed to unify the mother/daughter coalition.
Radio and labels, for their mutual benefit, still need a way of working together that keeps the shelves stocked in a way that works for both sides. I’ve had some thoughts on that too recently. Uptempo, melodic hit music — the thing I think of as key to both a successful format — is the one thing that’s not really in short supply now, and once again, I have the playlist to prove it. Big Hits Energy contains my best left-field candidate this week, OneRepublic’s “I Ain’t Worried,” also from Maverick, but numerous others as well. I also wrote about the whole process of finding those songs.
So how does more music get to listeners? And what are your thoughts on the Song of Summer 2022?
