100 Biggest Summer Songs of all time

[Gary]

www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6634563/the-100-biggest-summer-songs-of-all-time-a-complete-list?page=0%2C0

1 I'll Be Missing You Puff Daddy & Faith Evans featuring 112
2 The Boy Is Mine Brandy & Monica
3 Tossin' and Turnin' Bobby Lewis
4 Blurred Lines Robin Thicke featuring TI & Pharrell
5 Every Breath You Take The Police
6 We Belong Together Mariah Carey
7 I Just Want To Be Your Everything Andy Gibb
8 When Doves Cry Prince
9 (Everything I Do) I Do It For You Bryan Adams
10 Alone Again(Naturally) Gilbert O' Sullivan
11 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction Rolling Stones
12 Hot In Here Nelly
13 Bad Girls Donna Summer
14 Roses Are Red(My Love) Bobby Vinton
15 I'm Sorry Brenda Lee
16 In The Year 2525 Zager & Evans
17 Eye of the Tiger Survivor
18 Lonely Boy Paul Anka
19 Umbrella Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
20 Crazy In Love Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
21 Can't Help Falling In Love UB40
22 Waterfalls TLC
23 I Swear All-4-One
24 I Gotta Feeling Black Eyed Peas
25 Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot
26 (They Long To Be) Close To You Carpenters
27 Macarena Los Del Rio
28 Promiscuous Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
29 The Battle Of New Orleans Johnny Horton
30 Light My Fire The Doors
31 California Gurls Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg
32 Shadow Dancing Andy Gibb
33 Call Me Maybe Carly Rae Jepsen
34 Windy Association
35 Genie In A Bottle Christina Aguilera
36 I Kissed A Girl Katy Perry
37 How Can You Mend A Broken Heart Bee Gees
38 You're Still The One Shania Twain
39 Party Rock Anthem LMFAO
40 It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move Carole King
41 Best Of My Love Emotions
42 It’s Still Rock N Roll To Me Billy Joel
43 Roll With It Steve Winwood
44 Whomp! (There It Is) Tag Team
45 Ghostbusters Ray Parker Jr.
46 Big Girls Don't Cry Fergie
47 Ring My Bell Anita Ward
48 Magic Olivia Newton-John
49 Vision Of Love Mariah Carey
50 Jessie's Girl Rick Springfield
51 Hurt So Good John Cougar
52 Alone Heart
53 Wild Thing Troggs
54 Stay Lisa Loeb
55 Rush Rush Paula Abdul
56 Fingertips Part 2 Little Stevie Wonder
57 Fancy Iggy Azalea
58 Love The Way You Lie Eminem Featuring Rihanna
59 Brandy(You're A Fine Girl) Looking Glass
60 One Of These Nights Eagles
61 Summer In The City Lovin' Spoonful
62 Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown Jim Croce
63 Payphone Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa
64 If You Had My Love Jennifer Lopez
65 Don't Go Breakin' My Heart Elton John/Kiki Dee
66 This Guy's In Love With You Herb Alpert
67 I Can't Stop Loving You Cray Charles
68 Give Me Everything Pitbull
69 Kiss and Say Goodbye Manhattans
70 Shout Tears for Fears
71 Hips Don't Lie Shakira
72 Where Did Our Love Go Supremes
73 It's Now Or Never Elvis Presley
74 I Can't Help Myself Four Tops
75 Annie's Song John Denver
76 Bent Matchbox 20
77 Love Will Keep Us Together Captain & Tenille
78 Party Like A Rockstar Shop Biyz
79 Hello, I Love You Doors
80 Indian Reservation Raiders
81 Coming Up (Live) Paul McCartney & Wings
82 You're Makin' Me High Toni Braxton
83 Weak SWV
84 I Get Around Beach Boys
85 Right Here Waiting Rivhard Marx
86 Flashdance Irene Cara
87 Bette Davis Eyes Kim Carnes
88 What's Love Got To Do With It Tina Turner
89 Everybody Loves Somebody Dean Martin
90 Rude Magic
91 Three Times A Lady Commodores
92 I Wanna Dance With Somebody Whitney Houston
93 People Got To Be Free Rascals
94 Somebody That I Used To Know Gotye
95 Good Times Chic
96 U Remind Me Usher
97 Honky Tonk Women Rollig Stones
98 Confesions Part II Usher
99 Boom Boom Pow Black Eyed Peas
100 Papa Don't Preach Madonna

[Gary]

1. "I'll Be Missing You" - Puff Daddy & Faith Evans ft. 112

Lead contender for 2015's Song of the Summer is Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth's "See You Again" -- but the Paul Walker homage isn't the first memorial anthem to define the season. On March 9, 1997, Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace was murdered leaving a Soul Train Awards afterparty in Los Angeles. Soon after, Puff Daddy, R&B group 112 and Wallace's widow, Faith Evans, paid him tribute on a song that sampled The Police's "Every Breath You Take" and Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." The video -- which culminates with Evans singing the spiritual "I'll Fly Away" from atop a hill -- premiered in early May and quickly became one of MTV's most-played clips. "It really hit home when I saw the video," says New York DJ Funkmaster Flex, who remembers broadcasting the song from a promo CD before Bad Boy Records sent him a proper 12-inch. The single then debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 14, remained there for 11 weeks and was succeeded by Wallace's own "Mo Money Mo Problems" from his posthumous LP Life After Death. "It was a tough time," recalls Flex. "But between Big's album and Diddy's album, it almost felt like Biggie didn't pass."

Fun Fact: Sting joined 112, Evans and Puff Daddy to perform the track live at the 1997 Video Music Awards.


9. "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" - Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams was finishing up his sixth LP, Waking Up the Neighbours, when film composer Michael Kamen approached the Canadian musician's team about collaborating on the theme to Kevin Costner's early-'90s vehicle Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Co-written with Adams' frequent collaborator Mutt Lange, the lyrics for Robin and Maid Marian's surging love song were composed in 90 minutes - and then went on to become the foundation of the biggest hit of the year. Remembers Adams' manager Bruce Allen: "It was a big wedding song, but you heard it at the mall -- everywhere."

Fun Fact: "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" lost the best original song Academy Award to Celine Dion's rendition of "Beauty and the Beast."


22. "Waterfalls" - TLC

Amped from the success of its triple-platinum debut, TLC entered the studio in late 1993 to record a follow-up with a dream team of producers -- among them Babyface, Jermaine Dupri, Puff Daddy and production team Organized Noize. What resulted was 1994's CrazySexyCool, an LP that sold 7.6 million copies stateside (according to Nielsen Music) and delivered the act's biggest hit. Written by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Marqueze Etheridge and Organized Noize -- with backup vocals by then-unknown Cee Lo Green -- the Grammy-winning, chart-dominating single wasn't just a commercial juggernaut.

Released in the midst of the AIDS epidemic and the drug war, the song's lyrics addressed these issues (e.g., "His health is fading and he doesn't know why/Three letters took him to his final resting place"), and its MTV Video Music Awards-sweeping clip, helmed by director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Straight Outta Compton), brought these concerns into the living rooms of millions.

Fun Fact: The video cost more than $1 million. "I had no idea how huge the record was until I heard how much the video budget was," says Etheridge.

[Gary]

30. "Light My Fire" - The Doors

This 1967 breakthrough single catapulted Jim Morrison's four-man psych circus from Whiskey a Go Go house band to Elektra Records' million-selling success. Countless acid trips, 14 platinum certifications and one Oliver Stone biopic followed, along with a 1968 Jose Feliciano cover that hit No. 3 and extended the song's life. "The jazz world picked it up, then I'd hear it in elevators," says drummer John Densmore.

Fun Fact: Buick offered $75,000 to adapt the smash for an ad, which The Doors ultimately declined, a decision Densmore has never regretted: "Would this song be on this list if we'd done 'Come on Buick, Light My Fire'?"

[Gary]

45. "Ghostbusters" - Ray Parker Jr.

The year 1984 was a colossal one for pop culture: Madonna, Michael and Bruce owned the airwaves; Beverly Hills Cop, The Karate Kid and The Terminator lit up the box office; and the CD player and the first Apple Macintosh arrived in stores. Against this backdrop, Ray Parker Jr. wrote one of the 20th century's most memorable movie themes. While Parker later settled out of court with Huey Lewis to avoid a copyright suit over similarities to Lewis' hit "I Want a New Drug," "Ghostbusters" was an international smash. "I remember hearing the song and thinking, 'This isn't like anything else on the radio -- he is basically talking," says Bowling for Soup frontman Jaret Reddick, whose pop-punk band covered the tune for 2005 film Just Like Heaven. "It's the keyboard line that sucks you in: You find yourself whistling it for two days."

Fun Fact: "Ghostbusters" was initially tied to a summer blockbuster, but now it's the second-most Shazamed track on Halloween, after Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

[Gary]

50. "Jessie's Girl" - Rick Springfield

After emerging from the 1970s as a pop heartthrob, Rick Springfield hoped that 1981's Working Class Dog -- his first album in five years -- would convince critics that he had grown into a serious artist. "I thought, 'OK, I wrote and played all these songs and produced most of the album, so they can't see me as a teen idol any frigging longer," he remembers now. "But they did." At least with "Jessie's Girl," he was a teen idol with a No. 1 hit. The track peaked on Aug. 1, 1981, a little more than a year after he met the woman (and her boyfriend) who inspired the lyrics in a stained-glass class. "Writing the song took about three weeks," he says. "Being hot for the girl took about five seconds."

Fun Fact: Springfield accepted his part as General Hospital's Dr. Noah Drake after recording "Jessie's Girl," unsure if the song would ever be released.

[Gary]

METHODOLOGY:
The Biggest Summer Songs of All Time chart is based on each track’s performance on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer tracking period from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The chart was compiled utilizing an inverse point system for 1959 (the Hot 100’s first full summer) through 1991 (the final summer prior to the advent of Nielsen Music data), with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. From 1992 through 2014, the chart incorporates point totals accumulated from radio airplay and sales, as well as points from other data sets (i.e., streaming) that were included in the Hot 100. Years were then weighted to ensure fairly equal representation for songs of all eras of the Hot 100’s history.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I don't think Billboard should be putting focus on lists like these because many of these songs don't have summery associations for most people and it's really just coincidence that they were hits in the summer months. While technical, which is what BB's focus is, a list like this is easily discountable and could result in lost credibility based on misassumptions.

[Deleted]

Jul 18, 2015 13:44:16 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

I don't think Billboard should be putting focus on lists like these because many of these songs don't have summery associations for most people and it's really just coincidence that they were hits in the summer months. While technical, which is what BB's focus is, a list like this is easily discountable and could result in lost credibility based on misassumptions.

Maybe that's a good thing? Many of us are guilty of saying something does or doesn't "feel" like a summer hit, or mope "where's this year's song of the summer?" or nitpick what we think someone's single choices should be based on this notion that the single that coincides with summer should actually have some supposed summery essence. Not that the concept is entirely wrong - only about a quarter of this list would be considered ballads or more 'dreary' midtempos - but it shows that we may be putting a bit too much stock in it.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Jul 18, 2015 21:43:49 GMT -5 @antigonerising said:

Jul 18, 2015 13:44:16 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

I don't think Billboard should be putting focus on lists like these because many of these songs don't have summery associations for most people and it's really just coincidence that they were hits in the summer months. While technical, which is what BB's focus is, a list like this is easily discountable and could result in lost credibility based on misassumptions.

Maybe that's a good thing? Many of us are guilty of saying something does or doesn't "feel" like a summer hit, or mope "where's this year's song of the summer?" or nitpick what we think someone's single choices should be based on this notion that the single that coincides with summer should actually have some supposed summery essence. Not that the concept is entirely wrong - only about a quarter of this list would be considered ballads or more 'dreary' midtempos - but it shows that we may be putting a bit too much stock in it.

That's true. Though there is a certain idea or expectation behind songs that are considered to be "summer" hits, and even those tend to be pretty broad as it is, even beyond the obvious California Gurls and California Girls, you have the beach bonfire sing-alongs and acoustic mid-tempos, rock songs, club bangers, etc. In any case, is this whole idea of having songs for the summer a more recent thing anyway?

[felipe]

I agree this is kind of a weird list. When you read for "biggest summer songs" you assume the songs are going to be related in theme or feel to the season, and not just songs that were popular during those months. It's like reading a "biggest Christmas songs" list that features any song that was popular during the Christmas period, whether related to it or not.

[when the pawn...]

Random but fun, I guess. Funny to see "I'll Be Missing You" at #1 and "Every Breath You Take" at #5.

[pancakes]

Lol at Magic! at the list.