Billboard crowns Post Malone’s ‘I Had Some Help’ song of the summer

Morgan Wallen topped the outlet’s “Song of the Summer” chart for a second year in a row with his collaboration with Post Malone.

Post Malone and Morgan Wallen perform onstage during the 57th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 8, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn.

With the fall not far off, Billboard has announced the song took that the top spot on its Songs of the Summer chart: “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen.

The summer songs chart tracks the popularity of a tune based on weekly streaming, airplay and sales data between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which totals 14 weeks. “I Had Some Help” was No. 1 on the chart for all 14 weeks.

This is the second year in a row that a country song has snagged the song of the summer title, according to Billboard’s chart. Wallen also topped the summer songs chart in 2023 with his song “Last Night.”

Country artist Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was the second-most popular song this summer, followed by rapper Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us” at No. 3.

Songs from Charli XCX’s “Brat” were noticeably absent from the summer songs chart. The album spawned a trend called “brat summer” in which people were encouraged to be their messy, unfiltered selves.

The trend was inescapable this summer, with the Kamala Harris campaign embracing it and the album cover’s distinctive green color taking over social media. Charli XCX declared brat summer was over in an X post on Monday: “goodbye forever brat summer.”

Music fans on X, which remains a popular platform among fan communities, debated the results on Tuesday. Many were surprised that “Not Like Us” or Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” were not in the top spot.

“Espresso,” an early contender for song of the summer, finished at No. 4 on the Billboard chart.

Billboard’s senior director of music Jason Lipshutz told NBC News in May that the definition of song of the summer has changed in recent years as music has become more personalized.

“Colloquially, the song of the summer doesn’t even need to be a huge chart hit,” Lipshutz said at the time. “It’s just going to be what defines someone’s summer, whether it’s something they heard on the radio a lot or something they’re listening to on their own streaming service.”

Recently, apps like Spotify and TikTok have also tracked their own songs of the summer, which align closely with what has trended online over the course of the past few months.

Spotify determined its songs of the summer based on streams and cultural relevance as determined by its editorial staff. Like Billboard, Spotify included “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” “Not Like Us,” “Espresso” and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather.”

But it also deemed “Hot to Go,” by Chappell Roan, a song of the summer, nodding to Roan’s explosive growth and the song’s increasing popularity over the course of the season. Roan did not have a song on Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart.

“In many ways, it has been the summer of Chappell, with ‘Hot To Go!’ emerging as a 2024 festival favorite and becoming one of Spotify’s wild card picks in our midsummer update,” Spotify shared in a newsroom post about the songs of the summer.

Meanwhile, according to TikTok, which remains a crucial tool for music discovery, Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” was the top song on the platform this summer. The title was determined by how many posts used the song over the course of the season.

“Million Dollar Baby” landed at No. 5 on Billboard’s Songs of the Summer chart. It was followed by Carpenter’s “Please Please Please,” folk pop singer Hozier’s “Too Sweet,” singer-songwriter Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and pop-rock singer Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things.”