I was smiling from ear to ear the other morning on the treadmill when I saw the “Songs of Summer” segment on the Today Show. Yes, I did look like a freak and no, I did not care a bit! They had someone from Billboard magazine and they were discussing the iconic “top” (most popular) song for each year of the last 30.
What fun! I won’t remind you of last year’s Carly Rae Jepsen song name lest the lyrics/tune stick in your head for the entire day like they did mine. I don’t know about you, but some of these songs deliver me to a place and time in an instant. Like Shout by Tears for Fears from 1985 reminds me of my friends in Old Bridge and our pre-high school antics, Waterfalls by TLC reminds me of my training for my first “real job” with Andersen Consulting in St. Charles and having beers at the (now defunct) CowboyCadillac Ranch (thanks, to the husband for a reminder on the facts!) and on and on. Take a look at this Billboard list (with links to Spotify, Rdio and MySpace (who knew?) for the #1s) and enjoy a trip down your own memory lane. I guarantee that at least a few of these songs will make you smile.
The segment then went on to discuss predictions for what the “Top Summer Song” of 2013 will be. They also went to the Twittersphere. They got a zillion responses of course! Here are a few:
Billboard has a running weekly post with the top 10 predicted hits to get the title “Song of the Summer 2013.” [It is actually “The summer’s most popular songs across all genres, based on cumulative performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Rankings are determined by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data as compiled by Nielsen and streaming activity data from online music sources tracked by Nielsen BDS.”] The post has indicators of what is moving up and down in popularity on the Billboard charts. And even better, they have a playlist so you can listen and decide for yourself. This week’s rankings look like this:
I just added a bunch of these feel good, pop tunes to my iTunes. What? Guilty pleasures that make me smile are awesome. I love Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, but my vote thanks to Molly and good memories of the trip to Red Mountain Resort is Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore. Actually, as I listened again writing this post, I have to say that Icona Pop’s I Love It could have the catchiness factor required for “Summer Song” nailed. Hmmm….
What is your vote for the “Song of the Summer”? What other guilty pleasures should land on my “Get Happy” iTunes playlist?
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