Credit: Far Out / Library of Congress / Capitol Records
Mon 15 June 2026 18:45, UK
Maybe there were just too many incredible pop songs in the 1960s; too many hits in quick succession to ever consider limiting your shimmering summertime memories down to one. Whatever the reason, the expression ‘song of the summer’ was essentially non-existent during the entirety of that decade.
The same was largely true of the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, as well. It’s really only been in the streaming age, starting in the 2000s, that the idea took hold of nominating one track as the grand champion of the northern hemisphere’s hot season. It started out as an oft-repeated promotional gimmick, record companies trying to position their artists’ new singles as something thoroughly anthemic now, and reflective of the June to August vibe. The marketing soon led to internal industry competition, which led to actual debates among the listening public, and after a while, the song of the summer concept started to feel like an actual award to be won: a Grammy for best barbecue jam.
In America, Billboard introduced its own semi-official ‘Song of the Summer’ chart in 2010, and eventually enhanced it to cobble together YouTube views and other indicators of the song’s expansion into the broader zeitgeist. That factor, it seems, is far more essential to a SotS contender than actually being about summertime or even having a summery feel.
Some sunny characteristics can certainly help, but ultimately, the songs Billboard wound up honouring with its imaginary prize were ones that were culturally inescapable, shoved down our throats to such a degree that even people dedicated to avoiding them would still know most of their lyrics and get the melody stuck in their head. Any time you stepped into an Uber, sat in a stadium, or got put on hold by your internet provider, that song would be there waiting for you, all summer long.
Some of the Billboard winners of recent years include the tracks I mention here with considerable hesitation, for fear of them worming their way back into my weakened but still resistant brain: Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’, Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’, Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’, and Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’.
It seemed like everyone in 2024 merely accepted that Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ was the designated song of the summer as a matter of some sort of pre-ordainment, which made it surprising to learn that Billboard’s summer charting machine only had it at the fourth biggest tune of the season that year, with Post Malone’s ‘I Had Some Help’ at number one.
Credit: Raph Pour-Hashemi
I’m not even sure I’ve ever heard the Post Malone song, which serves as a good indication of the changing nature of the SotS and the future of hit songs altogether. The oft-discussed fracturing of the monoculture is gradually decreasing the number of songs we all listen to together during any particular block of time, as dictated over the past century mainly by radio, TV, magazines, social media, and powerful record companies.
With the old delivery systems weakened, the listening divide is no longer along age or demographic lines, but around a thousand other deviation points, as every individual can not only dig down into their own preferred rabbit holes of music interest, but stay down there, sometimes pulling off the magic trick of never actually hearing the song that ten million other people are making memes about. We’ve lost a lot by not having that shared language of the old monoculture, but if there’s a world in which I could have gotten through 2010 without hearing Katy Perry’s ‘California Gurls’, I’m willing to give that new reality a try.
In fact, rather than try to keep up with whoever’s in pole position to be the song of the summer for 2026, I’d prefer to return to the aforementioned, unofficial summer anthems of the 1960s, when new dance crazes, chillout classics, and jumbo-sized pop gems were as abundant as the edible portions of the Wonka factory.
Since there were no official SotS competitions in the ‘60s, and Billboard’s own retroactive accounting of the topic looks less than trustworthy, not to mention US-centric, we’re going to take some liberties in selecting six 1960s tracks most worthy of song of the summer recognition during their own initial time of release.
For this list, record sales and zeitgeistiness certainly matter, as we’ve required all selections to have been number one records in either the US or the UK. They also need to have survived the passage of time as instantly recognisable ‘oldies’ classics, and, as an important bonus, they all need to feel like summertime when you hear them today, even if you weren’t around in the ‘60s to have any nostalgia on the ready.
Artistic legacies or Hall of Fame credentials are less important here, so no griping about why The Beatles or The Rolling Stones aren’t included. A calendar year is only three months long in this competition, and these are your winners.
The six (or seven) best songs of the summer from the 1960s ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE 