Entertainment

The Most Played Song Of Summer 2019 Is Exactly What You Were Expecting

by Alice Broster
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Paul Kane / Shannon Finney / Leon Neal / Scott Dudelson / Noam Galai / Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Every year there's one song that defines my summer. As the year rolls into autumn and winter and all of my adventures in the warmer months feel so distant but that song can take right back to me. There’s a song that defines the first girls holiday I went on, times I spent in certain countries, and even BBQs I had with friends. And there were so many hits that came out in summer 2019. So, what was the UK’s song of the summer? Of course Ed Sheeran was all over the charts, Lil Nas X blew up, and Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello definitely had me doing the salsa around my kitchen, but who else made it to the top of the charts?

While your song of the summer is a deeply personal thing, the BBC did a deep dive into the charts to establish which artists got the most streams, downloads, and listens this summer. As the festival season wound down and the UK has seen the last of the sun for a while, there’s a few names that came out on top.

When establishing which song could be considered the song of the summer, the BBC consulted with the Official Charts Company, who combine sales and streaming figures, to find an overall winner.

It’s perhaps slightly unsurprising that Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran’s “I Don't Care” came out as on top, with 90 million streams and 115,000 downloads, which the BBC says is the equivalent of 755,000 sales. Spotify reported that it was the most played song this summer in the UK.

Sheeran has been super busy over the hotter months releasing an album full of chart-topping collaborations. I, for one, am a "Beautiful People" kind of gal. I haven't stopped playing that song for almost a month. But, yes, I have to admit that “I Don’t Care” is undeniably feel good and catchy.

However, Sheeran and Bieber were up against some pretty fierce competition this summer.

Lil Nas X's broke multiple records when “Old Town Road” reached number one over the summer. The collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus went viral and became the longest-running track at number one in US chart history, Vox reports. It also beat “I Don’t Care” with the number of views it received on Youtube, according to the BBC's findings. It racked up an unbelievable 41.5 million views over the last two months alone.

It's a testament to the amazing music that’s been released this summer that the single topping the Shazam chart was neither “Old Town Road” or “I Don’t Care.” If you’ve needed a song to dance with your pals to this summer, you couldn’t have gone far wrong with “Señorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. And that may be why they topped the Shazam Chart.

With Lewis Capaldi, Stormzy, Billie Eillish, and Mabel all thrown into the mix, and close on the heels on the front runners, it’s truly been an awesome summer of music. One which I reckon will see us through right until 2020.

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