Every year when the summer comes along there’s always one song that shines through and becomes the soundtrack for that season. Here is my ranking on what I think the best of those songs were from the past five years.

HM. 2017: Slide by Calvin Harris ft. Frank Ocean and Migos

This song is from 2017 and just missed the cut for this list since it’s only about the last five summers. This has to be the best out of all these songs. The catchy hook from Frank Ocean, the flowy verse from the Migos, and the bouncy production Harris creates the perfect song for this season and it stays in my rotation to this day. 

5. 2021: Kiss Me More – Doja Cat ft. SZA

This song went from a fun collaboration between the newest pop star Doja Cat and R&B star SZA to an overplayed TikTok song.

Every single video on TikTok’s FYP was this song. At first I didn’t mind it, but after two million videos on TikTok, if I heard this song I was instantly irked. Sure it was an okay song, but not much more before it became the most overplayed song in the world.

4. 2022: Running up that Hill – Kate Bush

This has got to be the oldest song of the summer. It was released in 1985, and the song’s appearance in “Stranger Things” skyrocketed it to the #1 spot on the charts 37 years after the initial release.

This is another song I heard constantly on TikTok, but it just never seemed to get old. Though my friends and I never streamed the song, everyone still knew it from the constant exposure.

Overall this song is pretty good, super catchy, and even though Yeat’s “Rich Minion” was my favorite song this summer, “Running up that Hill” is undeniably THE song of the summer.

3. 2020: Rockstar – DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch

After DaBaby’s incredible 2019 run, dropping one classic song after another with “Suge,” “Baby on Baby,” and “Bop,” he was bound to make something huge the next year. But a song with Roddy Ricch, who also came off a monster year in 2019 with mega hit “The Box,” broke the charts.

This song was the only thing people had to listen to during quarantine. That whole summer, whether on TikTok, the radio, or just streaming, this song kept getting played.

This was a good song for DaBaby to show he had more than one flow, as he took melodic approach with the song. That combined with a classic Roddy Ricch verse helped cement this as one of the only songs of the summer I genuinely listen to.

2. 2019: Ransom – Lil Tecca

Lil Tecca was 16 years old when he made his breakthrough hit “Ransom.” Its popularity was boosted with a music video from Lyrical Lemonade, and going into my freshman year, everybody knew this word for word.

This song brings back good memories, and the catchiness makes it the one I revisit the most of all of these (besides “Slide” because that song is undefeated). This song just screams summertime.

1. 2018: God’s Plan – Drake

Think back to summer 2018, JR Smith just sold the biggest game of the year, you can’t go anywhere without hearing about Fortnite, and everyone is talking about the yodel boy. The only song people listened to during this time was “God’s Plan.”

It was played on the radio, at parties, and at home in your room. This was at the top of Drake’s 2018 run with his Scorpion album. He came out with, “In My Feelings,” “Nice For What,” and “Nonstop” and basically ran the billboard charts that summer.

The thing that separates this song from the others isn’t the popularity though. It’s that it was just that good. It was simple, catchy, and when the beat cuts everybody and their and their parents would sing along.

Everything about this hit screams song of the summer, and it has to be the best song on this list.

Overall, there have been some massive hits these years, but the ones that stand out are the ones that define your summer. These song’s defined my last five years and in my opinion the best years make the best music.