New York (AP) – Every summer arrives with lively energy. Outside the school, the sun is shining, music is buzzing through the car windows, and speakers are exploding on the beach.
However, the beaches look quiet this summer. I feel that the playlist has no purpose. Radio waves are not dominated by normal, bright songs. Where are we? Summer song?
In this age of broken listening habits, it is difficult to fully quantify winners each year. However, Billboards are available every week. Summer Chart Song The attempt to crown one each year by tracking streaming, airplay and sales between US Anniversary and Labor Day has been from Katy Perry’s “California Girl,” the first pick in 2010. Last year, “I had some help,” By Post Malone and Morgan Warren.
However, counting the past 14 weeks, the top spot is being held by Love Ballad: Alex Warren’s “Normal.” As Joe Bennett, a professor and forensic scientist at Berklee College of Music, points out, the February release is “are much slower than the average average for Hot 100 or summer historic songs.”
So did Warren’s romantic slow jam rest comfortably on top almost the entire summer?
Listeners are back to familiar hits
One reason why “normal” remains at the top is the lack of competition this year. Summer songs are usually released before bliss, but even so, interest in the latest products from our favorite pop stars is also waning, with little competition from Warren. For example, something like Justin Bieber And while Sabrina Carpenter has given us new music this summer season, nothing like “normal” is far apart.
According to Medium-term report from Luminatecompanies that generate data for Billboard charts, listeners cling to the past and select old songs.
Compared to 2024, streaming on new tracks fell 3.3% in the first half of 2025. Only three of the ten songs in the report based on the US on-demand audio stream were released in 2025.
Luminate’s music insights and industrial relations vice president Jaime Marconette says that the new musical indifference and our ambitious listening habits have led to the revival of “recession pop.”
“Recession Pop” refers to music originally released following the 2008 financial crisis. “In fact, we’re looking at pop music that year, outweighing the overall industry growth. It highlights a potentially large theme of nostalgia and escape,” explained Malnett.
Last year’s song expiration date proves that last year’s song expiration dates have been longer, causing space to get crowded and there’s little room for new music to break through. Paula Harper, a musicologist and assistant professor at the University of Chicago, said last summer was “an absolute tsunami, surplus, and pop vibe.”
“When you talk to people about songs from the summer 2025, it’s not uncommon for them to quote songs from one of their 2024 releases. And when they notice the time when those songs actually came out, they sometimes become Jumps cards.”
What does “regular” say about listeners?
It’s not uncommon for a summer song to become a ballad. Think of Olivia Rodrigo’s “driving license.” But they are not designed to dominate the seasons.
“It’s not going to liven up the barbecue mood. I’m not going to liven up the pool party,” Harper said of “normal.” “In the end, it’s designed for something other than a summer status song.”
Ethan Hein, an adjunct professor of music at New York University and the new school, says listeners’ gravity for songs like “normal” reveals something about their happiness.
“When I teach songwriting, I always assign a fun pop banger to one of my projects. This year, no one felt enthusiasm for it or turned out to be a ‘normal’ slurred track,” he said. Hein believes that the typical bright pop indifference indicates a light emptying for both the present and the future.
“Pop music is usually aimed at young people. I remember being a kid in the ’80s and ’90s. “But now, I don’t know many young people who are excited about the future.”
Music psychologist Ray Leone studies the intersectionality of music and health, but says that people may support “normal” because it is an antithesis of a seemingly extraordinary world state.
“No matter where you look, it seems like there’s chaos every day,” Leone said. “I think countering that makes people look more inward-looking. They’re looking for something that has personal connections. It’s as if a song like this tells us on a personal level, not on a collective level.”
Warren’s love song written about his wife appears to act as a beacon of light in dark times.
“Songs of love and devotion are constant in our world,” Bennett said. “No matter what else is happening in our lives, someone is always singing a timeless love song.”
