As the summer of 2025 draws to a close, Spotify has dropped its annual list of the songs that defined the season.

In a year that chart analysts say has produced the least new hit songs in US history, Spotify is revealing what tracks have been popping over summer 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere. This year’s picks tell a different story compared to the high-energy BRAT-filled summer of 2024.

Instead of hard-hitting anthems, listeners turned toward moodier, more personal tracks. This summer’s biggest songs had slower tempos, softer beats, and more emotionally vulnerable themes. In fact, Spotify described the season as more chill than “any summer in the last decade.”

Is 2025 the year that chart music and hit singles died?

The top 5 songs of Summer 2025

So what are they? Well, here are Spotify’s top 5 tracks of the summer, based on streaming numbers, cultural impact, and editorial insight:

Ordinary – Alex Warren

Shake It To The Max (FLY) Remix – MOLIY, Silent Addy, Skillibeng, and Shenseea

Love Me Not – Ravyn Lenae

Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter

back to friends – sombr

Each year, Spotify makes early predictions about which songs will be hot, before adding a wild card update midseason for any new arrivals. Spotify’s early predictions were mostly on point this year, accurately predicting four of the five tracks. The platform then added Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” to the updated midseason predictions after its June release.

Bigger picture

While Summer 2025 may not go down as the season of all-time anthems, it does paint a clear picture of where listeners’ heads (and hearts) are at.

With events such as political unrest and global conflicts continuing to impact listener’s moods, perhaps the popularity of more upbeat summer tunes will be put on pause for the foreseeable future.

For now, you can check out Spotify’s Songs of Summer playlist to see what’s been popular:

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