Katy Perry, Usher Top Billboard’s New Songs Of Summer Chart

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Lady Gaga, Drake, Eminem also make top 10 of new list, which ranks biggest summer jams.
By James Montgomery

Katy Perry in her “California Gurls” video

Photo: Capitol Records

It would appear, after years spent debating, deliberating, dissecting and disputing, that there is finally a better way to determine just what is the biggest Summer Jam of the year … and of the past 25 years, too.

On Thursday, Billboard unveiled its brand-new Songs of the Summer chart, which ranks the Top 10 summer jams “based on actual performance on the Billboard Hot 100, from the June 12, 2010, chart date through the most-recent chart.”

Not surprisingly, Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” tops the inaugural Summer chart. After all, the song has been #1 on the Hot 100 for six straight weeks. Usher’s “OMG” — which had previously nabbed the top spot on the Hot 100 — is in at #2, followed by B.o.B and Hayley Williams’ “Airplanes,” and the Travie McCoy/ Bruno Mars track “Billionaire.” Ke$ha’s “Your Love Is My Drug” rounds out the Top 5.

Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” — which won MTV’s Summer Jam Sweepstakes last month — is at #6, Taio Cruz’s “Break Your Heart” is at #7, Drake’s “Find Your Love” is at #8, Eminem’s “Not Afraid” is at #9 and Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me” closes out the Top 10.

The “Songs of the Summer” chart will run until September 9, when Billboard will crown a champion. So it’s still plenty early, which means that you probably can expect to see newer Hot 100 entries — like Eminem’s hard-charging “Love the Way You Lie,” which sits at #2 on the chart after just three weeks — to make a dent on the Summer chart as well. Hot 100 rankings are based on radio play and sales.

Along with the Summer chart, Billboard also unveiled a comprehensive list of the biggest summer songs of the past quarter-century, as determined by impact on the Hot 100 and something called “an inverse point system, with weeks at #1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least.” For music obsessives, it’s a treat. And for trivia buffs, it finally provides an answer to the question “Who had the biggest summer song in 1988?” (Steve Winwood!) So, really, everyone wins.

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