20 Best Summer Songs of 2016, Ranked

As August wanes and summer draws to a close, we look back at 20 summer songs that helped define this season’s sound.

Ah, August. The younger set is going back to school and I am gazing out the window wondering if spending that vacation time I didn’t take in June to watch Netflix and eat nachos as fall sets in is a poor use of it (probably not). With autumn’s new sound right around the corner, it’s a fabulous time to look at the music that comprised the summer songs of 2016 and all of the season’s strange political and social fervor.

Most of these songs debuted in June, July, or August of 2016–I took liberties on a few that seemed particularly appropriate or represented a genre well. All of them either found their audience in summer listeners or were particularly fitting for the season in some way. Some of these songs have graced the tops of the Billboard charts. A few are more niche in either notoriety or genre. You should listen to them all before time and new music carry them off the charts and YouTube playlists and we all become interested in other things.

Here you are; the best 20 summer songs of 2016, for your enjoyment.

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