Way-Too-Early Song of the Summer 2023 Contenders: The Front-Runners, Outside Shots & Question Marks

Last year’s song of the summer competition wasn’t really a competition at all: “As It Was,” the monster hit from Harry Styles’ third solo album Harry’s House, spent a total of 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart last year, including prolonged stays in the top spot during June and July 2022. Considering that “As It Was” logged the most weeks at No. 1 for any song by a solo artist in Hot 100 history, there was little doubt that Styles would finish atop Billboard’s annual Songs of the Summer chart, which runs each year from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend.

But here’s a fun fact about “As It Was”: It was released on April 1, 2022, more than a month before the Songs of the Summer chart even launched. And with its one-year anniversary just a couple of days away, it’s fair to suggest that the song of the summer for 2023 is about to be released — or may already be out in the world at this moment.

After all, plenty of songs that have been released in the early days of a calendar year have gone on to dominate the dog days: DaBaby and Roddy Ricch’s “Rockstar” in 2020, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” in 2019 and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” in 2017, for instance, were all released months before they powered their ways to the top of the Hot 100 and were crowned the song of their respective summers. Even though it’s still only March, it’s worth taking a look at the current field of contenders, and identifying which songs are currently favorites, which tracks could swoop in from the outside, and which artists should never be counted out, especially given recent context clues.

So roll out the beach towel, put on some sunscreen and crank up the warm-weather playlist: it’s our annual way-too-early song of the summer breakdown!