For decades, the “song of the summer” was a cultural inevitability. It might have been Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, Drake’s One Dance, or Olivia Rodrigo’s Good 4 U. Whether you liked it or not, you heard it—on the radio, in cafés, at pool parties, in mall speakers.

But this summer? Nothing.

This week, Business Insider called it “brain rot summer”—the vibe defined by the absence of a unifying soundtrack. Axios reported that Google searches for “no song of the summer” are at an all-time high. Even Billboard’s nine-week No. 1 track, Alex Warren’s moody ballad Ordinary, hasn’t reached the kind of saturation that earns anthem status. Instead, the most widely heard piece of audio might be a budget airline jingle—Jet2’s chirpy hook—repurposed for millions of TikTok memes.

CNN noted the Hot 100’s unusually mellow tone: older songs, laid-back tempos, and a lack of festival-ready bangers. The Guardian added a telling stat: of the year’s most-streamed tracks in the U.S., only one was actually released in 2025.

The monoculture didn’t just miss a beat. It’s fading out entirely.

CNN noted the Hot 100’s unusually mellow tone: older songs, laid-back tempos, and a lack of festival-ready bangers.

Data Doesn’t Lie: The Age of the Megahit Is Over

Industry analytics from Luminate, which powers the Billboard charts, confirm what listeners are sensing. In the first half of 2025:

• Top 10 songs in the U.S. accounted for just ~0.5% of all streams, down from 1.6% a few years ago.
• “Current” releases (under 18 months old) lost more share, while catalog tracks—songs from past years—kept climbing.
• Global growth in music streaming (+12.6%) now far outpaces the U.S. (+4.6%), with Latin music posting the fastest rise in new-music streams.

What this means: the oxygen once consumed by a single hit is now spread across thousands of micro-successes. You might be looping Peso Pluma’s latest track in Mexico City while someone in London is streaming 2015 Jess Glynne, and a creator in Seoul is making memes to a remixed video game soundtrack.

Quotes from the Front Lines

“There’s been this huge pattern of media fragmentation for a very long time… Because more people stream, the catalog becomes just as important as anything new.”
— Joel Penney, Montclair State University, on the end of monoculture.

“The brain rot is super real… This summer is almost an escape from all of that, where people are going offline.”
— Andrew Roth, CEO of youth-insight firm DCDX.

“The brain rot is super real… This summer is almost an escape from all of that, where people are going offline.”— Andrew Roth, CEO of youth-insight firm DCDX.

“We’re starting to notice a jump in people streaming ‘recession pop’—a yearning for comfort from the past.”
— Jaime Marconette, VP, Luminate.

Algorithms as the New Gatekeepers

In the 1990s, radio programmers decided the summer anthem. In the 2000s, MTV, big-label marketing, and late-night TV appearances did the job. In 2025, the algorithm—particularly TikTok’s—controls what you hear most.

But TikTok’s logic is different: it promotes audio, not necessarily songs. The Jet2 airline jingle works as a punchline template, a soundtrack for vacation memes, and a soundbite with zero interest in full-song chart performance. It’s not a single—it’s a sound asset.

The result? Even when a song like Ordinary tops the Hot 100, the “shared” audio moment everyone remembers may be an unrelated meme.

Why This Hits Home for 16–35-Year-Olds

1. You’re living in algorithm bubbles. Personalization means your summer playlist might share zero overlap with your friends’.
2. Nostalgia is king. With economic and political instability, older tracks feel safer and more familiar.
3. Globalization of taste. Latin pop, Afrobeats, K-pop, and niche EDM scenes compete directly with U.S. pop for attention.
4. Micro-moments trump mass moments. A well-timed meme may be more influential than a million-dollar music video.

What This Means for Creators and Listeners

• Artists: The “one-hit” dream is giving way to sustained niche engagement. Your superfans matter more than passive mass listeners.
• Music industry hopefuls: The hot skills aren’t just songwriting—they’re content strategy, cross-platform promotion, and understanding data.
• Fans: Expect less consensus, more diversity. Your anthem might be theirs—but only if the algorithm lets it travel.

A Summer Made of Fragments

Maybe 2025 didn’t need a single song of the summer. Maybe the real soundtrack is a patchwork—half nostalgia, half novelty, all tailored to your feed.

Music industry hopefuls: The hot skills aren’t just songwriting—they’re content strategy, cross-platform promotion, and understanding data.

The question isn’t What’s the song everyone’s listening to? anymore.
It’s What’s your anthem—and who’s listening with you?