Stay is the kind of shamelessly dramatic, swing-for-the-rafters EDM that sounds laughably bombastic in most settings - but under dark enough cover, with enough adrenaline (or booze) in the listener's bloodstream, has the potential to be magnetic. Yes, Something Just Like This is easily among their best-ever tracks, largely thanks to Chris Martin's presence, his vocals elevating the song to something that's at least distinctive and listenable. The Chainsmokers are 2017's kings of soullessly-thumping background music. Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
Still, for Kanye karaoke, it's not bad.ġ2. Like Puth's weirdly magnetic We Don't Talk Anymore, Attention is better than it deserves to be, considering the entire song is basically Kanye West and Jay Z's No Church in the Wild beat with Puth's paper-thin vocals on top.
Unforgettable, French Montana featuring Swae Leeįrench Montana gets bonus points for snagging Rae Sremmurd's Swae Lee for the chorus' vocals, but unfortunately, thanks to the glut of similar, vaguely-tropical songs that arrived this summer, this track may not be as enduring as its title promises. A new crop of remixes have breathed new life into Sheeran's megahit, though there's not much that can help its chorus' audaciously bad grammar: "I'm in love with the shape of you / We push and pull like a magnet do."ġ4. There's something annoyingly hypnotic about Shape of You, the kind of song you'll be absentmindedly humming for days before realizing how deep it's seeped into your psyche. Despite its sugar-headache sweetness, Issues is a promising start for Michaels, even if the track has, er, problems. Michaels is legitimately an artist to root for, a pop songwriter who stepped out of the shadows and landed a breakout solo hit. There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back, Shawn MendesĪnother faceless pop hit that could've been performed by any number of other artists on this list, Mendes' Energizer Bunny of a track is earnest to the point of embarrassing, destined to live on via upbeat commercials and spin class soundtracks.
Not only are we subjected to hearing an Imagine Dragons song in seemingly every single movie trailer, but Believer also turned into a radio hit this summer, the latest ploddingly rousing track from a band whose songs continue to be near-indistinguishable from one another.ġ7. But few tracks feel as weary as That's What I Like, the sonic equivalent of massaging your brain with a cheese grater. We, on the other hand, couldn’t get past his mildly creepy opening verse where the object of Arthur’s affections pukes, smiles and asks him to stay over.Īt this point, most songs-of-summer contenders have been overplayed to the point of delirium. Perhaps you were among the many listeners touched by Arthur’s British accent and acoustic-guitar strumming. Wondering why some summertime hits didn't make the list? The 20 songs listed below had the longest reigns on Billboard’s songs of summer chart, which left out favorites like Cardi B's Bodak Yellow and new songs like Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do. And with Labor Day marking the unofficial end of the season on Monday, it’s time to look back at the hits that dominated summer 2017 - and pit them against each other for a definitive ranking.
Songs of the summer are, in fact, much like summer itself - starry-eyed and full of promise at first, before the months pass and everything starts to feel sticky, stale and oppressively heavy.Įarlier this summer, USA TODAY ranked every official song of the summer from the past 20 years.