10 best songs of summer 2019: Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Madonna and more
- Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ was the king of the Billboard pop chart but there are plenty of other notable tracks this summer – and not all bops and bangers
- Lizzo, Jonas Brothers, Lana del Rey, Mark Ronson and of course Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber are all in on the action
Music lovers all live in their own playlisted and algorithmed bubbles – one person’s favourite track will be hated by another. And it’s better that way: who needs a monoculture when everyone can have his or her own personalised microculture?
That said, Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road is the song of the summer. How could it not be? The yee-haw agenda hillbilly rap anthem spent 13 weeks on top of the US Billboard pop chart, with established artists such as Taylor Swift and new-schooler Billie Eilish unable to dethrone it.
So you will find Old Town on this songs-of-summer playlist, which is designed not as a list of contenders for that championship title, but rather as a multi-genre mix that acknowledges summertime is not only for bops, bangers and songs that slap. Though sometimes it is.
Lizzo, Truth Hurts