Drake's massive smash "One Dance" was the most streamed song of the summer according to global data recently released by Spotify. Desiigner's "Panda," meanwhile, earned the most total U.S. streams of all songs this summer according to Billboard's Songs Of The Summer chart analysis.
Summer isn't officially over until Sept. 22, but most people consider the summer season to begin with Memorial Day at the end of May and run through Labor Day, which landed on Sept. 5. That's how Billboard sees it, while Spotify's summer measuring period covers the period from June 1 through Aug. 31. With both those time frames now passed, both entities have now released their official tallies for the top songs of Summer 2016.
As expected, Drake's "One Dance" tops both summer charts. The catchy Caribbean-flavored tune dominated the airwaves this summer and led Billboard's summer chart every single week for the measured period.
While other tunes eventually knocked Drake off of his perch on Spotify's global most streamed chart later in the summer, he still came out on top of the overall period. Calvin Harris and Rihanna's dance hit "This Is What You Came For" came in second, and Sia's "Cheap Thrills," an unexpected late contender, nabbed third place. "Don't Let Me Down", the EDM smash by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya was fourth, while Justin Timberlake's disco flavored "Can't Stop The Feeling" rounded out Spotify's global top 5.
Billboard's summer song chart measures not only U.S. streams, but also radio airplay and sales, and features the exact same songs as Spotify on its top 5 summer chart, although in a different order.
Timberlake comes in second on Billboard's tally, buoyed by huge U.S. sales figures of more than 1 million during the measured period and nabs the prize for most purchased tune of summer overall. The Chainsmokers took the third position on Billboard's tally, with Sia coming in at fourth, while Calvin Harris and Rihanna at the fifth spot.
While Sia's late season surge made a valiant effort to hit the top, it wasn't enough to topple Drake, as OMI's "Cheerleader" did last year in beating out favorite Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth's ballad "See You Again" in the summer of 2015's final weeks to ultimately win the prize.
Although it didn't make the top 5, Desiigner's "Panda", at number 6, was Billboard's most streamed song of the summer across all streaming platforms, tallying more than 300 million U.S. streams. Those numbers include Spotify streams, which placed the song at number 7 on that streamer's global summer chart.
The most interesting trend of summer 2016's top streamed songs was the prevalence of upbeat dance tunes. Indeed, all most streamed songs of summer could be placed in that category, with not one ballad to be found in the top 5.
