Song of Summer 2019: ‘Old Town Road,’ duh.

The competition to be named the “song of summer” wasn’t even close this year.
“Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus topped the charts all season. In fact, it broke the record for the longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100. It was the No. 1 song for 19 consecutive weeks until it was dethroned this week by “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish.
Personally, I prefer “Bad Guy” to “Old Town Road,” which always struck me as a novelty song.
Given how song charts can be manipulated by record companies, it might be more interesting to crown a musical artist of the summer. This year’s breakout artist was Eilish, followed by Lizzo.
Last summer’s breakout star was Cardi B, even though Drake took song of summer honors in 2018 with “In My Feelings.”
The idea behind song of summer is to name a song that captures the season. A song of summer can bring back memories of vacations, parties, beach outings and the like because of its constant play during a particular year.
The song of summer is officially named after Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. Most music fans use Billboard’s chart, but there are others. Rolling Stone, Spotify, Shazam and iHeartRadio are among those that also crown a song of summer.
My personal favorite songs this summer included “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, “Juice” and “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo, “Never Really Over” by Katy Perry, “Nightmare” by Halsey, “Mother’s Daughter” by Miley Cyrus, and “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.

Here is a list of recent songs of summer, according to Billboard magazine:

2008   “I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry
2009   “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas
2010   “California Gurls” by Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
2011   “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
2012   “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen
2013   “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke feat. T.I. + Pharrell
2014   “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX
2015   “Cheerleader” by OMI
2016   “One Dance” by Drake feat. WizKid & Kyla
2017   “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee (feat. Justin Bieber)
2018   “In My Feelings” by Drake

Photo: Cover of Time magazine featuring Lil Nas X, dated Aug. 26, 2019.

Related reading:

Here’s What The “Gay Song Of Summer” Was Since 1994 (BuzzFeed; June 21, 2019)

A Billboard No. 1 Is at Stake, So Here’s an Album With Your Taylor Swift Hoodie (New York Times; June 9, 2019)

Want to Get on the Radio? Have $50,000? (Rolling Stone; Aug. 6, 2019)

Is Billie Eilish An “Industry Plant”? (BuzzFeed; Aug. 17, 2019)

From TikTok smash to Billboard record-breaker: How ‘Old Town Road’ gamed the system and won the summer (Washington Post; Aug. 22, 2019)