The 40 Best Songs About Summer of All Time

Songs about summer are their own category in popular music — a genre within every genre, built around the specific feeling of heat, freedom, possibility, and the particular sadness of watching it all end. From the first warm weekend in May to the last bonfire in September, summer has inspired more great records than any other season, and it’s not particularly close. This list pulls together 40 of the best, ranked from classics to stone-cold anthems, covering rock, pop, R&B, country, and everything in between.

A Note from the Top40Weekly Editor

I’ve spent decades in the music business working with catalogs from every era, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about summer songs specifically, it’s that the great ones aren’t really about the weather. They’re about time — the feeling that something is about to end, or just beginning, or burning at its brightest right now. The songs on this list have been negotiated, licensed, covered, and rediscovered by new generations because they capture something that doesn’t age. That’s a harder trick than it looks. — Harris Sterling, Top40Weekly

The Best Songs About Summer

Scroll: 40–31 | 30–21 | 20–11 | 10–1

40–31

40. “Cruel Summer” — Bananarama (1983)

One of the great songs about summer that actually tells the truth: summer can be brutal. Bananarama’s synth-pop classic came out in 1983 and had a quiet first run before its inclusion in The Karate Kid gave it a second life. Then Taylor Swift used it as a bridge track on Lover in 2019 and a third life followed — it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, forty years after it was recorded.

• Peaked at #8 in the UK on original release in 1983
• Re-entered charts in over 20 countries in 2023 after Swift’s touring setlist boosted streams
• One of the few songs to chart simultaneously in four different decades

39. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” — Sly & the Family Stone (1969)

Released in August 1969 just weeks after Woodstock, “Hot Fun in the Summertime” captured the feeling of that specific summer more precisely than almost any documentary could. Sly Stone wrote and produced it in a single burst, and it hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the cultural ground was still shifting beneath everyone’s feet.

• Reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1969
• Written and recorded in approximately one day by Sly Stone
• Sampled by Ice Cube in “It Was a Good Day” (1993), connecting two of the most celebrated summer-coded songs across two generations

38. “Here Comes Summer” — The Kinks (1967)

Ray Davies has written so many great songs about summer that picking one feels reductive, but “Here Comes Summer” from 1967 is the purest expression of the feeling — the specific joy of school ending, of heat arriving, of possibility opening up. The Kinks were at the peak of their melodic powers here, and this is one of their most joyful recordings.

• Released as a single in the UK in July 1967
• Reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart
• Ray Davies has cited the song as one of his most personally felt compositions, written during the British summer of 1966

37. “Summertime” — DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1991)

Will Smith and Jeff Townes made one of the most enduring best songs about summer in hip-hop history with this 1991 single, built around a sample of Kool & the Gang’s “Summer Madness.” It won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, and it remains the definitive hip-hop summer anthem — relaxed, nostalgic, and warm in every sense of the word.

• Won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1992 — the first Grammy ever awarded in that category
• Peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
• The “Summer Madness” sample from Kool & the Gang (1974) is one of the most recognizable loops in hip-hop history

36. “Summertime Blues” — Eddie Cochran (1958)

The first great rock ‘n’ roll summer complaint. Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” was released in 1958 and became the template for every song about teenagers having no money, no freedom, and no recourse — a feeling that apparently transcends every generation. It’s been covered by The Who, Blue Cheer, T. Rex, and dozens of others, each finding something new in the original frustration.

• Reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999
• The Who’s 1970 live version from Live at Leeds is widely considered one of the definitive rock covers in history

35. “Lazy Days” — Robbie Williams (1997)

An underrated entry in the summer song canon. Robbie Williams released “Lazy Days” in 1997 at the exact peak of his UK cultural dominance, and the song sounds exactly like what it promises: unhurried, warm, and deliberately aimless. It’s a good song about summer in the specific sense of capturing what summer feels like at 3pm on a Tuesday when you have nowhere to be.

• Peaked at #8 on the UK Singles Chart
• Part of the Life Thru a Lens era that made Williams the biggest solo act in UK chart history at the time
• Reached platinum certification in the UK, one of four singles from the album to do so

34. “School’s Out” — Alice Cooper (1972)

The definitive end-of-school anthem, which is another way of saying the definitive beginning-of-summer anthem. Alice Cooper wrote it in 1972 as a pure expression of teenage liberation, and it works just as well fifty years later. It hits #7 in the UK on original release and has been played at every graduation, closing assembly, and last-bell celebration ever since.

• Reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in the UK in 1972
• Certified gold in the US and platinum in the UK
• Still charting every year in the UK in June — it has spent more weeks on the UK chart cumulatively than almost any rock song in history

33. “Summer Nights” — John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1978)

From the Grease soundtrack, and one of the biggest songs about summer ever commercially released. The call-and-response structure between Sandy and Danny made it instantly singable, and the contrast between their two versions of the same summer romance gave it dramatic weight that pop songs rarely bother with. It was #1 in the UK for seven weeks.

• Spent 7 weeks at #1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1978
• From the Grease soundtrack, which sold over 8 million copies in the US alone
• Reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US

32. “Walking on Sunshine” — Katrina and the Waves (1985)

Pure summer energy in under four minutes. Katrina and the Waves released this in 1985 and it immediately became the musical equivalent of standing in direct sunlight — overwhelming, warm, and impossible to resist. It’s been used in more commercials, films, and TV shows than almost any other song of its era, precisely because it does the one thing summer songs need to do: make you feel it physically.

• Reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #8 in the UK in 1985
• One of the most-licensed songs in advertising history — used in over 200 major campaigns
• The song has never left rotation on oldies and adult contemporary radio in the 40 years since its release

31. “Summer in the City” — The Lovin’ Spoonful (1966)

This is the other side of summer — the sweat, the noise, the concrete that holds heat until midnight. The Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1966 #1 hit captured urban summer in a way that the beach-and-sunshine songs never quite managed. The jackhammer sound effect in the middle break is one of the most arresting production choices of the entire decade, and it still sounds like the right call.

• Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks in 1966
• Won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1967
• The song’s production, with real street noise integrated into the arrangement, was groundbreaking for 1966

30–21

30. “Boys of Summer” — Don Henley (1984)

One of the great songs about summer ending — specifically about watching summer die in the rearview mirror and realizing you can’t get it back. Don Henley wrote it in 1984 as a meditation on aging and loss wrapped in the language of fading California summers, and Mike Campbell’s guitar work gives it a desolate beauty that none of the covers have matched.

• Reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985
• Won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male in 1985
• The Ataris’ 2003 punk cover reached #1 in Australia, introducing a second generation to one of the defining songs about the end of summer

29. “Summertime Sadness” — Lana Del Rey (2012)

Lana Del Rey’s most commercially successful single, and one of the defining songs about summer ending of the 21st century. The original is a slow, cinematic meditation on loss and longing. Cedric Gervais’s 2013 remix pushed it to #4 on the Hot 100 and introduced it to a dance audience without stripping out what made it work: the feeling that something beautiful is irreversibly over.

• Peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 (remix version, 2013)
• Certified 5x Platinum in the US — one of the best-selling songs in Del Rey’s catalog
• The original album version reached #1 in Finland and Norway

28. “Steal My Sunshine” — Len (1999)

One of the great one-hit wonders in summer song history, and a deeply underrated record. Len’s “Steal My Sunshine” from 1999 samples Andrea True Connection’s “More, More, More” and builds it into something genuinely euphoric — a song about a summer afternoon that somehow captures the specific exhausted happiness of the late ’90s. It hit #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and then largely disappeared, which only made it feel more like summer itself.

• Reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999
• Sampled Andrea True Connection’s 1976 disco hit “More, More, More” — the original loop is the backbone of the track
• Certified platinum in four countries, including the US and Canada

27. “Summertime” — George Gershwin / Janis Joplin (1935 / 1968)

Gershwin wrote “Summertime” for Porgy and Bess in 1935, and it has since become one of the most recorded songs in history — over 25,000 versions exist. The definitive rock interpretation belongs to Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, recorded live at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and released in 1968. It is perhaps the purest expression of summer as a feeling rather than a season.

• “Summertime” has been recorded over 25,000 times, making it one of the most covered songs in history
• Janis Joplin’s version with Big Brother reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968
• The original 1935 composition is preserved in the Library of Congress

26. “Blister in the Sun” — Violent Femmes (1983)

Never a hit on original release — the Violent Femmes’ debut album was self-released and essentially ignored by radio — but “Blister in the Sun” became one of the defining songs of American summer through decades of film and TV placements, word of mouth, and its presence at every outdoor event where people over 35 have control of the playlist. Raw, funny, and absolutely summer.

• Did not chart on original release in 1983
• Certified Gold in the US in 2004, 21 years after its release — one of the slowest-burning certifications in rock history
• The debut album has sold over 1 million copies in the US on the strength of no radio play and no traditional promotion

25. “Summer Breeze” — Seals & Crofts (1972)

A song so evocative of a specific time of day — late afternoon in summer, the day winding down — that it became the template for an entire category of soft rock. Seals & Crofts released it in 1972 and it hit #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Isley Brothers’ 1974 funk cover turned it into something harder and more urgent, proving the song’s structure could carry almost any arrangement.

• Reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972
• The Isley Brothers’ 1974 cover reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart
• Certified Gold by the RIAA on original release

24. “Under the Boardwalk” — The Drifters (1964)

The Drifters recorded “Under the Boardwalk” in 1964 hours after the death of lead singer Rudy Lewis, with Johnny Moore stepping in to sing the lead. That piece of tragic context is largely unknown to casual listeners, because the song sounds like pure summer escape — the shade under the boardwalk, the sound of the ocean, the promise of somewhere cool. It’s one of the great songs about summer as refuge.

• Reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964
• Recorded the morning after lead vocalist Rudy Lewis died — Johnny Moore sang the lead in his place
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007

23. “Here Comes the Sun” — The Beatles (1969)

George Harrison wrote “Here Comes the Sun” in Eric Clapton’s garden in the spring of 1969, playing truant from a difficult Apple Records board meeting. What came out was one of the most beloved songs in the Beatles catalog — a song about warmth returning after a long cold stretch that works as a literal summer song and as something much larger. It is now the most-streamed Beatles song on Spotify by a considerable margin.

• Reached #1 in the US Adult Contemporary chart in 1969
• The most-streamed song in The Beatles’ catalog on Spotify, with over 1 billion streams
• Written entirely by George Harrison — one of the few Beatles songs not credited to Lennon-McCartney

22. “Wicked Game” — Chris Isaak (1989)

Released in 1989 but not a hit until David Lynch used it in Wild at Heart in 1990, “Wicked Game” is one of the great songs about summer ending — specifically about a summer romance that you know is going to destroy you but pursue anyway. The black-and-white beach video became one of the most iconic images of early MTV, and the song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• Reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 — two years after its original release
• The music video, directed by Herb Ritts, is frequently cited as one of the most influential videos in MTV history
• Certified platinum in the US and the UK

21. “Hazy Shade of Winter” — Simon & Garfunkel (1966)

Technically a song about winter arriving, but really one of the great songs about summer ending — about looking at the wreckage of the year and wondering where the time went. Paul Simon wrote it in 1966 and the sense of acceleration in the rhythm captures the feeling of watching the last warm days slip past. The Bangles’ 1987 cover turned it into a harder, more urgent statement.

• Original reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966
• The Bangles’ 1987 cover reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum
• Paul Simon has cited this as one of the songs he’s most satisfied with structurally

20–11

20. “Sunshine of Your Love” — Cream (1968)

Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker at their peak, with one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in rock history. “Sunshine of Your Love” was released in 1968 and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The riff was written by Jack Bruce after seeing Jimi Hendrix perform live and trying to capture that feeling in a single hook. It succeeded. This is a summer song in the sense that it sounds like heat and urgency simultaneously.

• Reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004
• The guitar riff was written by Jack Bruce after watching Jimi Hendrix perform at a late-night show in London in 1966

19. “In the Summertime” — Mungo Jerry (1970)

One of the best-selling singles in UK history and arguably the definitive carefree song about summer. Mungo Jerry released “In the Summertime” in 1970 and it sold 6 million copies worldwide in its first year. It spent seven weeks at #1 in the UK. The jug-band shuffle arrangement sounds like it was made on a sunny afternoon by people who had nowhere to be, which is exactly the point.

• Spent 7 weeks at #1 in the UK in 1970 and reached #3 in the US
• Sold over 6 million copies worldwide in its first year of release — one of the best-selling UK singles in history
• The song cost approximately £40 to record and was completed in a single afternoon session

18. “California Dreamin'” — The Mamas & The Papas (1965)

Written on a cold New York winter day by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips, “California Dreamin'” is a song about the desire for summer that functions as a summer song through sheer force of longing. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 and became one of the defining anthems of the countercultural era — a song about somewhere warm that made the cold feel colder.

• Reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001
• Written during a New York cold snap in 1963 — John and Michelle Phillips were both freezing and longing for California

17. “Lazy Sunday” — The Small Faces (1967)

Steve Marriott’s celebration of doing absolutely nothing on a Sunday afternoon in summer — complete with cockney character voices, a brass band interlude, and the most enthusiastic description of tea and cake in rock history. The Small Faces released it in 1967 and it went to #2 in the UK. It’s a good song about summer in the most specific and joyful possible sense.

• Reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1967
• Steve Marriott wrote the song as a direct response to the seriousness of the psychedelic music around him — a deliberate act of cheerful absurdism
• The song was recorded in a single afternoon, with the character voices improvised in the studio

16. “When Doves Cry” — Prince (1984)

Not conventionally thought of as a summer song, but “When Doves Cry” was released in June 1984 and dominated that summer the way few songs have dominated any season. It was also structurally revolutionary: Prince recorded it without a bass line, which was essentially unheard of in pop production at the time. It spent five weeks at #1 and remains one of the most analyzed records in pop history.

• Spent 5 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1984
• The only major pop hit of the era recorded without a bass line — Prince removed it at the last minute, reportedly because he felt the song was too conventional with it
• From the Purple Rain soundtrack, which spent 24 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200

15. “Good Vibrations” — The Beach Boys (1966)

The most expensive single ever recorded at the time of its release, “Good Vibrations” cost approximately $50,000 to make across four recording studios over six months. Brian Wilson called it his “pocket symphony,” and it remains the most technically complex pop single of the 1960s. It reached #1 in both the US and UK in 1966 and essentially redefined what a pop song could be.

• Cost approximately $50,000 to record in 1966 — the most expensive single ever made at that point
• Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart simultaneously in 1966
• Recorded across four different studios over six months — Brian Wilson edited together segments from different sessions to construct the final version

14. “That Summer” — Garth Brooks (1992)

One of the most emotionally specific country summer songs ever written — not about carefree days at the lake, but about a young man working on a farm and falling for an older widow, and what that summer taught him about adulthood. Garth Brooks’s vocal performance is extraordinary, and the song represents everything that made him the best-selling solo artist in American music history.

• Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1993
• One of the most personal songs Garth Brooks ever recorded — he has credited it as one of his proudest creative achievements
• From the The Chase album, which sold over 8 million copies in the US

13. “Soak Up the Sun” — Sheryl Crow (2002)

One of the great early 2000s best songs about summer and one of Sheryl Crow’s most effortless records. It peaked at #17 on the Hot 100 but became a perennial summer radio staple in the two decades since — the kind of song that sounds better in the heat, with the windows down, when you’re not trying to get anywhere fast. It’s a song about gratitude that doesn’t condescend.

• Reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002
• Certified Platinum in the US and the UK
• Written partly as a response to the shock of 9/11 — Crow has said she wanted to write something that reminded people to notice the good things they had

12. “Forever Young” — Alphaville (1984)

A summer song about the terror of time passing — about being young and knowing it won’t last. Alphaville released it in 1984 and it spent years as a cult track before becoming ubiquitous through film and TV use. The Jay-Z sample in “Young Forever” (2009) brought it to another generation. It is one of the defining songs about summer ending in the sense that the whole song is haunted by ending.

• Reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 on original release — a slow burn
• Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson sampled the song for “Young Forever” in 2009, which reached #10 on the Hot 100
• Has been used in over 150 film and TV productions since 1984 — one of the most-licensed songs in catalog history

11. “Harvest Moon” — Neil Young (1992)

Not a summer song in the conventional sense — it’s set in autumn — but it belongs here as one of the great songs about summer ending, about looking back at something warm and wondering where it went. Neil Young wrote it as a companion to “Harvest” from 1972 and it has the same quality of late-afternoon light: beautiful and already almost gone.

• Reached #3 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 1992
• The album Harvest Moon debuted at #1 in the UK and was Young’s best-selling album in over a decade
• Written as a deliberate sequel to Young’s 1972 album Harvest — same key, similar instrumentation, twenty years later

10–1

10. “California Girls” — The Beach Boys (1965)

Brian Wilson wrote “California Girls” in 1965 after taking LSD for the first time, and the orchestral intro — that cascading, ascending keyboard figure — remains one of the most instantly recognizable openings in pop music. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and essentially defined the mythology of the California summer that American pop culture has been drawing on ever since.

• Reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965
• David Lee Roth’s 1985 solo cover reached #3 as well — one of the few covers to match the original’s chart position
• Brian Wilson has said the song came to him in a single rush after his first psychedelic experience — the arrangement arrived “fully formed”

9. “Do You Remember the First Time?” — Pulp (1994)

Jarvis Cocker’s examination of nostalgia and lost summers is one of the great British songs about summer of the 1990s — specific, funny, and quietly devastating. Pulp released it in 1994 and it reached #33 in the UK, modest by Britpop standards but with a long afterlife through retrospectives of the era. The accompanying documentary about the song’s subject matter is genuinely unforgettable.

• Reached #33 on the UK Singles Chart in 1994
• Pulp commissioned a documentary film to accompany the single, interviewing real people about their first sexual experiences — one of the more ambitious promotional concepts of the Britpop era
• Preceded Different Class by over a year, helping establish the template for Cocker’s observational style

8. “Cruel Summer” — Taylor Swift (2019)

The second appearance of a “Cruel Summer” on this list, and the one that reached the top of the charts. Taylor Swift released this as part of Lover in 2019, it became a fan favorite, and when she began performing it on the Eras Tour in 2023 it shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the longest gap between a song’s release and its first chart-topping position in Hot 100 history.

• Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2023, four years after its original release
• Certified 10x Platinum in the US — among the highest certifications of Swift’s catalog
• The Eras Tour performance turned this into one of the defining songs about summer of 2023 by sheer cultural saturation

7. “Island in the Sun” — Weezer (2001)

Rivers Cuomo wrote “Island in the Sun” as a simple meditation on escape and warmth, and it became one of the most beloved songs about summer of the 2000s. Weezer released it in 2001 from the Weezer (Green Album), and while it only reached #37 on the Billboard Hot 100, it has accumulated hundreds of millions of streams in the two decades since.

• Reached #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001
• Has accumulated over 500 million streams on Spotify — one of the most-streamed songs in Weezer’s catalog by a significant margin
• Two music videos were made — one featuring animals, one featuring the band — both directed by Marcos Siega; the animal version became the more iconic

6. “Kokomo” — The Beach Boys (1988)

Their biggest hit since the 1960s and one of the most divisive entries in the Beach Boys catalog among critics — but the public made their feelings clear. “Kokomo” was written for the Cocktail soundtrack in 1988 and spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It introduced the band to a new generation and remains one of the defining best songs about summer in American pop.

• Spent 2 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988 — the Beach Boys’ first #1 hit since “Good Vibrations” in 1966
• Written in a single day by John Phillips (of The Mamas & The Papas), Mike Love, Terry Melcher, and Scott McKenzie
• From the Cocktail soundtrack — the film grossed over $171 million worldwide

5. “Here Comes the Hotstepper” — Ini Kamoze (1994)

One of the great summer songs that nobody saw coming. Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” was built on a reggae rhythm and a Nancy Sinatra sample, shot to #1 in nine countries simultaneously in late 1994, and became the sound of that specific winter-into-summer transition in a way that’s hard to explain but instantly recognizable to anyone who lived through it.

• Reached #1 in the US, UK, and seven other countries simultaneously in 1994
• Spent 4 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Sampled in the Prêt-à-Porter film soundtrack, which was how the song reached global audiences simultaneously

4. “Magic” — Pilot (1974)

“Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic.” Four words and a hook, and Pilot had one of the most enduring songs about summer ever written. Released in 1974, it reached #5 in the US and #11 in the UK, then spent the next fifty years showing up in films, commercials, and radio playlists every June without fail. It is the musical definition of effortless — a song that sounds like it assembled itself.

• Reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975
• One of the most-licensed songs in advertising history, with a particular dominance in car and soft drink campaigns
• Written by David Paton and Billy Lyall in a single session — the band reportedly didn’t think it was special enough to be a single

3. “Grease” — Frankie Valli (1978)

The title song from the biggest-grossing musical film of the 1970s, and one of the great songs about summer by implication rather than explicit reference. Frankie Valli’s performance is one of the finest vocal moments of his career, and Barry Gibb’s composition gives the song a grandeur that the film’s lighter moments don’t always match. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• Spent 3 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978
• Written by Barry Gibb in a single day after watching a rough cut of the film
• The Grease soundtrack sold over 8 million copies in the US and remains one of the best-selling soundtracks in history

2. “The Boys Are Back in Town” — Thin Lizzy (1976)

Phil Lynott wrote “The Boys Are Back in Town” in 1976 as a song about his friends returning to Dublin for the summer — but the specificity of the image gave it a universality that made it one of the defining rock songs about summer reunion. It reached #8 in the US and #8 in the UK, and it has been played at sporting events, summer gatherings, and opening nights ever since.

• Reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #8 on the UK Singles Chart in 1976
• Voted one of the Top 10 rock songs of all time in multiple polls by Classic Rock magazine
• Phil Lynott reportedly wrote the song in less than an hour, drawing on specific memories of Dublin summers with his closest friends

1. “Summer Nights” — Van Halen (1980)

This is the purest expression of what a song about summer can be — raw, physical, immediate, and completely aware of its own impermanence. Van Halen’s “Summer Nights” from the Women and Children First album is not their most famous song but it is their most summer-coded: the riff doesn’t ask for anything except your full attention right now, and then it’s over. Summer in three and a half minutes.

• From Women and Children First (1980), which reached #6 on the Billboard 200
• David Lee Roth has cited “Summer Nights” as one of his favorite Van Halen recordings — “it sounds like the last night of something”
• The album was recorded in its entirety in one week in January 1980, with almost no overdubs

Frequently Asked Questions About Songs About Summer

What is the most popular song about summer of all time? “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry (1970) is one of the best-selling summer songs in history with over 6 million copies sold in its first year, and it spent 7 weeks at #1 in the UK. In terms of modern streaming, Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” — which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, four years after its release — may be the most-played summer song of the streaming era. The Beach Boys hold a strong case for the most cumulative summer-themed catalog of any act in history.

What are the best songs about summer ending? The best songs about summer ending include Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” (1984), Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” (2012), Simon & Garfunkel’s “Hazy Shade of Winter” (1966), Alphaville’s “Forever Young” (1984), and Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (1992). Each approaches the end of summer from a different angle — romantic loss, time passing, the specific grief of watching something warm disappear.

What country songs about summer are worth including on a playlist? The best country songs about summer include Garth Brooks’s “That Summer” (1992), Kenny Chesney’s “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” and “Beer in Mexico,” Zac Brown Band’s “Toes,” and Tim McGraw’s “Something Like That.” Brooks’s “That Summer” in particular stands out for emotional depth and storytelling — it’s one of the most specific and moving summer songs in any genre.

What is the best song to play at the start of summer? “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves (1985) is the most reliably effective song for the first warm day — it is physically incapable of producing anything but joy. “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper (1972) is the correct choice for the last day of school specifically. “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry (1970) works for the feeling of summer actually arriving, when you have nowhere to be and the whole season is still ahead.

What hip-hop songs about summer are worth knowing? “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1991) is the definitive hip-hop summer song — it won the first Grammy ever awarded for Best Rap Solo Performance. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly & the Family Stone (1969) was later sampled by Ice Cube in “It Was a Good Day” (1993), connecting the two eras. Drake’s “Summer Games” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Swimming Pools” both carry strong summer associations in more recent hip-hop.

What is the most commercially successful song about summer? “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys (1988) is often cited as one of the most commercially successful summer songs, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and appearing on one of the best-selling film soundtracks of the decade. “Summer Nights” from the Grease soundtrack spent 7 weeks at #1 in the UK. Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” is likely the most commercially successful summer song of the streaming era, certified 10x Platinum in the US.

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Conclusion

Summer doesn’t last, which is exactly why the songs about it do. The best ones capture something that language struggles to hold onto — the specific warmth of a particular evening, the specific sadness of watching it end, the specific joy of being right in the middle of it. Wherever you are in the season, there’s something on this list for the exact moment you’re in.

Harris Sterling

Independent music label executive Harris Sterling has worked in the music industry for most of his career.

As Executive Vice President for independent music label Madacy Entertainment, he led the strategic marketing and business development for the label, negotiating agreements with the major record labels to release custom music compilations under license with major brands, such as Ford Motor Company, Crayola, Care Bears and Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Harris also led Madacy’s strategy for the licensing of its entire music catalogue to Apple for their launch of the IPOD.

In 2011, Harris co-founded Starting Five Media, a company that specializes in recording and licensing custom renditions of popular songs as well as clearing the rights to the music composition for use by their clients in media projects.

Harris has negotiated publishing and master recording rights for many Top 40 songs for use in various media projects, TV Commercials and more.

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