Alex Warren’s chart-topping ballad “Ordinary” is this summer’s most popular song by the numbers, but critics and music fans have lamented that this summer seemed to have few breakout hits as the ...

Crumpton is a music, pop culture, and politics writer from Dallas. Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: Atstock Productions/Getty Images, Deagreez/Getty Images, Xavier ...

Each week, we use this column to break down major takeaways from the latest Billboard albums and singles charts. But it seems like a good week to break down a larger question about the charts circa ...

As summer slowly melts into fall, the songs that defined the warmer months are coming into clearer view. While last year's soundtrack was dominated by grunge queen Charli XCX's "Brat" and bubble gum ...

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, which must mean that the final word is in on the Songs of the Summer. What does Billboard‘s chart-determined Song of the Summer tell us about the state of Songs of ...

What makes a great song of the summer? Is it an up-tempo pop banger? Something with an earworm chorus? Does it need to feature the words “summer,” “sunshine,” or another synonym — “California” — in ...