Songs about summer are snapshots of sun-soaked memories, carefree moments, and the wild energy of long days and warm nights. From beachside adventures and childhood nostalgia to summer love and epic road trips, artists across every genre have taken a stab at writing about the season.
Be sure to check out the Songs About Summer Playlist at the bottom of this page.
Best Songs About Summer
1. “Under the Boardwalk” – The Drifters
Lyric Sample: “On a blanket with my baby is where I’ll be.”
The Drifters’ 1964 classic is about escaping the summer heat with someone you love, hidden from the world while everything goes on above.
2. “Summertime” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
Lyric Sample: “Summer, summer, summertime, time to sit back and unwind.”
Will Smith’s legendary ’90s hip-hop song is about the ease of summer in Philly, where school’s out, the streets come alive, and everyone slows down to enjoy it.
3. “Surfin’ U.S.A.” – The Beach Boys
Lyric Sample: “If everybody had an ocean across the U.S.A., then everybody’d be surfin’ like Californ-i-a.”
The Beach Boys’ 1963 breakthrough hit is about the dream of dropping everything and surfing every iconic spot on the California coast.
Related: Best Songs About California
4. “Cruel Summer” – Taylor Swift
Lyric Sample: “It’s new, the shape of your body, it’s blue, the feeling I’ve got.”
Swift’s 2019 synth-pop song is about a summer romance wrapped in secrecy and desperation, where she’s falling hard for someone she can’t quite have yet.
Related: Funniest Karaoke Songs for Men
5. “Kokomo” – The Beach Boys
Lyric Sample: “Bermuda, Bahama, come on, pretty mama.”
This go-to summer hit is about escaping to a fictional Caribbean paradise, where the stress of everyday life doesn’t exist and all you’ve got to do is lie on the beach with someone you love.
Related: Songs About the Beach
6. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” – Sly & the Family Stone
Lyric Sample: “End of the spring, and here she comes.”
This 1969 funk-soul hit is a celebration of summer in its purest form. School’s out, the county fair’s in town, and people are ready to have a good time.
7. “Watermelon Sugar” – Harry Styles
Lyric Sample: “Tastes like strawberries on a summer evenin’, and it sounds just like a song.”
This 2020 funk-pop song is about the euphoria of a new relationship, with the watermelon used as a metaphor for all of its pleasures. It’s one of the most popular modern summer songs.
Related: “Watermelon Sugar” Song Meaning
8. “Margaritaville” – Jimmy Buffett
Lyric Sample: “Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville, searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.”
Buffett’s 1977 tropical tune is about a man spending his days on a beach, drinking margaritas, and slowly coming to terms with the fact that a woman probably had something to do with why he’s there.
Related: “Margaritaville” Song Meaning
9. “Island in the Sun” – Weezer
Lyric Sample: “On an island in the sun, we’ll be playin’ and havin’ fun.”
“Island in the Sun” is a 2001 alt-rock song about getting away from it all to a place where nothing feels bad and there’s nothing to do but enjoy the sun.
Related: Best Songs About Sunshine
10. “Soak Up the Sun” – Sheryl Crow
Lyric Sample: “I’m gonna soak up the sun, I’m gonna tell everyone to lighten up.”
Crow’s 2002 hit is about choosing to be grateful regardless of your circumstances, deciding that wallowing won’t fix anything, and sunshine is still free.
11. “Summer Breeze” – Seals & Crofts
Lyric Sample: “Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind.”
“Summer Breeze” uses a warm summer evening as a symbol for the contentment that comes from love, routine, and a place to belong. It’s a summer classic.
Related: “Summer Breeze” Song Meaning
12. “Summer of ’69” – Bryan Adams
Lyric Sample: “Those were the best days of my life, oh yeah, back in the summer of ’69.”
This rock tune is about nostalgia for a peak moment in youth, a summer so good that everything since has been measured against it.
Related: Best Songs About Nostalgia
13. “The Boys of Summer” – Don Henley
Lyric Sample: “I can see you, your brown skin shinin’ in the sun.”
Henley’s 1980s hit is about aging and the things you can’t get back, with a man clinging to a past relationship and the version of himself that existed during it.
14. “School’s Out” – Alice Cooper
Lyric Sample: “School’s out for summer, school’s out forever.”
Nothing says childhood in the summer quite like this hard rock classic. It’s pure rebellion, making it one of the popular songs to play when summer kicks off.
Related: Best Songs About School
15. “Hot Girl Summer” – Megan Thee Stallion ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign
Lyric Sample: “It’s a Hot Girl Summer, so you know she got it lit.”
The phrase “hot girl summer” took on a life of its own after this came out in 2019. It’s a hip-hop song about unapologetic self-confidence and doing whatever makes you happy.
16. “Summer in the City” – The Lovin’ Spoonful
Lyric Sample: “Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty.”
“Summer in the City” is a 1960s pop-rock song about the split personality of New York in summer: brutal and exhausting by day, cool and alive by night.
17. “Summertime Blues” – Eddie Cochran
Lyric Sample: “I’m gonna raise a holler about workin’ all summer just to try to earn a dollar.”
Cochran’s 1958 rockabilly classic is about being a teenager stuck working all summer with no money, no car, and no way to have any fun, while adults keep telling him what he can’t do.
Related: Best Songs Relating to Work
18. “Summer Nights” – Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta
Lyric Sample: “Summer lovin’, had me a blast, summer lovin’, happened so fast.”
In this classic, the two leads of Grease retell their summer romance to their respective friend groups, and the two accounts couldn’t be more different..
19. “Vacation” – The Go-Go’s
Lyric Sample: “Vacation, all I ever wanted, vacation, had to get away.”
The Go-Go’s 1982 new wave hit isn’t really about a tropical getaway as much as it’s about using one to escape a relationship that isn’t working.
20. “All Summer Long” – Kid Rock
Lyric Sample: “My hair was long, caught somewhere between a boy and man.”
Kid Rock blends the melodies of “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Werewolves of London” into a nostalgic look back at a summer spent up north, drinking, making memories, and falling in love.
21. “Summer” – Calvin Harris
Lyric Sample: “When I met you in the summer, to my heartbeat sound.”
This 2014 EDM hit is about a man looking back on a summer relationship that turned out to be built on lies.
22. “Feels Like Summer” – Childish Gambino
Lyric Sample: “You can feel it in the streets, on a day like this, the heat, it feels like summer.”
Beneath the laid-back feel of this 2018 song, Childish Gambino is singing about climate change, describing a world getting hotter every day and running out of time to do anything about it.
Related: Best Songs About Nature
23. “Summertime Sadness” – Lana Del Rey
Lyric Sample: “Kiss me hard before you go, summertime sadness.”
Del Rey wrote this 2012 pop song about the way heartbreak hits differently against a backdrop of sunshine and warm nights, when everything around you says you should be happy.
Related: “Summertime Sadness” Song Meaning
24. “Solar Power” – Lorde
Lyric Sample: “Can you reach me? No, you can’t.”
This 2021 indie pop song is about the way summer changes everything, trading cynicism and screens for sunshine and bare feet.
25. “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” – Brian Hyland
Lyric Sample: “She wore an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polkadot bikini, that she wore for the first time today.”
This 1960 novelty pop tune follows a girl at the beach who’s too embarrassed to be seen in her new bikini.
26. “Summer Girls” – LFO
Lyric Sample: “I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch, I’d take her if I had one wish.”
This playful ’90s pop-rap hit is a stream-of-consciousness look back at a summer filled with random pop culture references.
27. “In the Summertime” – Mungo Jerry
Lyric Sample: “In the summertime when the weather is hot, you can stretch right up and touch the sky.”
This cheerful 1970s tune is a celebration of summer freedom, including driving fast, chasing girls, and staying out late.
28. “Summer Renaissance” – Beyoncé
Lyric Sample: “It’s a new vibration, I feel like levitatin’.”
This 2022 disco-infused track is a sexually charged song in which Beyoncé plays the pursuer on the dance floor and makes her intentions unmistakably clear.
29. “Endless Summer Nights” – Richard Marx
Lyric Sample: “Time was all we had until the day we said goodbye.”
This smooth 1988 ballad is about a man replaying a summer romance in his head, knowing it’s over but unable to stop returning to the memory of how good it was.
30. “That Summer” – Garth Brooks
Lyric Sample: “She had a need to feel the thunder, to chase the lightning from the sky.”
Brooks’ 1992 coming-of-age song is about a teenage boy who goes to work on a widow’s farm one summer and ends up in a relationship that changes him for the rest of his life.
31. “Summer of Love” – Shawn Mendes & Tainy
Lyric Sample: “It was the summer of love, a delicate daydream.”
“Summer of Love” is a 2021 pop song about looking back on an unforgettable summer relationship and wishing those perfect moments together could last forever.
32. “Summer Wind” – Frank Sinatra
Lyric Sample: “Like painted kites, those days and nights, they went flyin’ by.”
Sinatra’s 1966 ballad uses the summer wind as a symbol for a love that came and went, drifting away just like the season itself.
33. “Rockaway Beach” – Ramones
Lyric Sample: “The sun is out and I want some, it’s not hard, not far to reach.”
This 1970s punk track is about getting out of the house and heading to the beach, though the beach sounds less like a vacation and more like an escape.
34. “Summer Feelings” – Lennon Stella ft. Charlie Puth
Lyric Sample: “Hey, gettin’ in my summer feelings, and I’m trying to keep it cool.”
This 2020 pop song from the animated film Scoob! celebrates beach days, romance, and leaving your worries behind for a season of sunshine and possibilities.
35. “Surf City” – Jan and Dean
Lyric Sample: “I bought a ’34 wagon and we call it a woodie.”
This 1960s surf-rock classic is about a dream beach town where the waves are perfect and there are “two girls for every boy.”
36. “Beach Baby” – First Class
Lyric Sample: “Beach baby, there on the sand from July to the end of September.”
“Beach Baby” is a nostalgic ’70s song about looking back on a teenage summer romance and wishing you could return to those carefree days by the beach.
37. “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer” – Nat King Cole
Lyric Sample: “You’ll wish that summer could always be here.”
Nat King Cole’s joyful 1963 pop tune celebrates the slow, unscheduled days of summer, the kind where the biggest decision is what to eat and where to sit in the shade.
38. “Saturday in the Park” – Chicago
Lyric Sample: “People talking, really smiling, a man playing guitar.”
Chicago’s 1972 classic is about a perfect July 4th afternoon in the park where musicians play, kids run around, and strangers smile at each other.
Related: Best Songs About Chicago
39. “Summer Jam” – The Cool Kids
Lyric Sample: “In the Summertime, nothing matters, we just keep on rolling, rolling.”
“Summer Jam” is a 2011 hip-hop track is a laid-back celebration of summer days spent with good company, good food, and nothing on the agenda.
40. “Summer Love” – Justin Timberlake
Lyric Sample: “This just can’t be summer love, you’ll see.”
Timberlake’s 2006 R&B track is about a brief summer romance that he’s not ready to let end when September comes.
41. “Cool for the Summer” – Demi Lovato
Lyric Sample: “Got my mind on your body and your body on my mind.”
Lovato’s 2015 pop hit is about giving in to a secret attraction and choosing excitement over worrying about what other people might think, for the summer.
42. “Suddenly Last Summer” – The Motels
Lyric Sample: “It happened one summer, it happened one time.”
This 1983 new wave tune is about looking back on a brief but unforgettable summer romance that still lingers in memory years later.
43. “Summertime” – George Gershwin
Lyric Sample: “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.”
Written for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, this lullaby promises a sleeping child that life will be easy someday, though the melody tells a different story.
44. “Summer Days” – Martin Garrix ft. Macklemore & Patrick Stump
Lyric Sample: “She looks good in the morning, and she don’t even know it.”
This 2019 collab is about falling for someone at first sight one summer day and imagining a future together from the very beginning.
45. “Surfin’ Safari” – The Beach Boys
Lyric Sample: “Let’s go surfin’ now, everybody’s learning how.”
The Beach Boys’ 1962 debut single mapped out a California surfing road trip from Huntington Beach to Malibu, introducing a whole generation to the idea of summer as a way of life.
46. “Beachin’” – Jake Owen
Lyric Sample: “And it’s sunshine, blue eyes, tan lines, it’s low tide.”
Owen’s 2014 country hit is exactly what it sounds like: a simple, good-natured ode to beach days, cold drinks, and zero obligations.
47. “Long Hot Summer” – Keith Urban
Lyric Sample: “It’s gonna be a long, hot summer, we should be together.”
Urban’s 2010 country song is about missing someone you love and imagining all the great summer moments you’ll share once you’re finally together again.
Conclusion
Whether it’s the kind of summer you want to bottle up forever or the kind you’re glad is over, there’s a song on this list for it.
Be sure to check out some of our other themed lists, like the Songs About the Beach, Songs About Sunshine, and Songs About Rain lists!
