Could it be that we already know the Song of the Summer? This year, contenders are taking their turns atop Billboard’s Hot 100 exceptionally early and rapidly. Just since late April, the revolving door at No. 1 has been remarkable. Four new songs topped the chart in four consecutive weeks: tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Bruno [...] Read more

What if “We Are the World” wasn’t about feeding starving people? This month 32 years ago, America’s No. 1 song was nominally about helping to alleviate sub-Saharan famine, but what folks remember best about USA for Africa’s chart-topping 1985 single (and especially its video) was all the superstars getting their turn at the mic. Critics [...] Read more

About four months into 2017, we know who music’s reliable headline-grabbers are: Kendrick Lamar. Ed Sheeran. Drake. Future. The Weeknd. Those danged Chainsmokers. A string of viral, heavily streamed rappers. All have topped the Billboard charts so far this year—either the Hot 100 song chart or the Billboard 200 album chart. But this week, a [...] Read more

He’s now calling himself “Kung Fu Kenny.” But who knew the greatest rapper alive would pull a Carl Douglas and actually hit the top of the pops? It’s not like Kendrick Lamar made it easy on himself—he didn’t rely on the usual performance-enhancing tricks of a dance craze or a viral gimmick to propel “Humble” [...] Read more

Here’s how the United States could have its own “God Save the Queen” moment. In May of 1977, a punk quartet from London called the Sex Pistols released a single titled “God Save the Queen.” The song’s name was plagiarized from the British national anthem, and the record released to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’s [...] Read more

A digital marimba intro that’s so close to Sia’s “Cheap Thrills,” she should probably demand credit. Lyrics about hitting the bar to find a date that would sound more natural coming from Pitbull. Syncopated rhythms that could have come from producer and previous collaborator Pharrell. Multitracked falsetto harmony vocals straight from Justin Timberlake’s bag of [...] Read more

For most hit songs, the catchiest bit, the part that takes up residence in your frontal cortex and won’t let go, is the chorus. But there exists a special species of smash whose stickiest bit is right at the start—some lyrical doggerel that leads off the track and somehow eclipses the refrain. Indeed, it might [...] Read more

A pair of black American brothers, born in the same town as Elvis Presley, lay claim to the legacy of the biggest white rock group of all time, right in the title of their single, and they’re rewarded for it, with thousands of fan videos and the No. 1 song in the country. Just by [...] Read more

For the first 10 seconds, the song sounds like it’s building to something monumental: thundering piano chords, sweeping synth washes, and a swelling echo like you’re down in a vast ravine. And then, at 0:11 … click. It all switches off like a lamp—a finger-snap and a meek “Hey,” as the melody downshifts to two-finger [...] Read more

In their 1931 Tin Pan Alley standard “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” songwriters Lew Brown and Ray Henderson questioned the value of a dime at the height of the Great Depression: “Life is just a bowl of cherries/ Don’t take it serious—it’s too mysterious/ You work, you save, you worry so/ But you [...] Read more