Who doesn’t love summer love? When the sun is out, the air is warm and the ocean breeze beckons, romance suddenly becomes way more intense — and pop artists including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Harry Styles have proven just that in their music over the years.
So, in honor of the season kicking into gear with the solstice taking place in late June, Billboard has compiled a list of some of the greatest pop songs of the past few decades that explore one of the wildest experiences life has to offer: the summer fling. From the ferocity of that first crush to the heat of a new love growing stronger over the months — backdropped by dates at the beach, pool, state fair, baseball stadium, rooftop bar, etc. — there’s a lot of material to work with. Not to mention the wildly different ways such hot-and-heavy love stories can end, whether they last into the fall, winter, spring and countless summers after that, or fracture and fizzle out as the season comes to an end.
No matter what the situation, there’s a song for you below that’s ready to be on repeat all summer long. Not every single one is explicitly about love in the summertime, but all of them manage to bottle up that ephemeral, addictive, magical feeling of a summer fling in the sound and lyrics.
Check out Billboard‘s top pop songs about summer romance — including tracks by artists such as Charli xcx, Justin Timberlake, Zara Larsson and more — in alphabetical order below.
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Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z, “Drunk in Love”
Image Credit: Columbia Records/YouTube Album: Beyoncé (2013)
Flirtiest lyric: “Last thing I remember is our beautiful bodies grindin’ up in that club/ Drunk in love.”
Listen above.
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Calvin Harris, “Summer”
Album: Motion (2014)
Flirtiest lyric: “When I met you in the summer/ To my heartbeat’s sound/ We fell in love/ As the leaves turned brown.”
Listen here.
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Charli xcx, “Boom Clap”
Album: Sucker (2014)
Flirtiest lyric: “You are the sun, the glowing halo/ And you keep burning me up with all your love.”
Listen here.
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Demi Lovato, “Cool for the Summer”
Album: Confident (2015)
Flirtiest lyric: “Got a taste for the cherry/ I just need to take a bite.”
Listen here.
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DNCE, “Cake by the Ocean”
Image Credit: Republic Records/YouTube Album: Swaay (2015)
Flirtiest lyric: “You’re a real-life fantasy, you’re a real-life fantasy/ But you’re movin’ so carefully, let’s start livin’ dangerously.”
Listen above.
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Harry Styles, “Watermelon Sugar”
Album: Fine Line (2019)
Flirtiest lyric: “Strawberries on a summer evenin’/ Baby, you’re the end of June/ I want your belly and that summer feelin.’”
Listen here.
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Justin Timberlake, “Summer Love”
Album: FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)
Flirtiest lyric: “I can’t wait to fall in love with you/ You can’t wait to fall in love with me/ This just can’t be summer love.”
Listen here.
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Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream”
Album: Teenage Dream (2010)
Flirtiest lyric: “We drove to Cali and got drunk on the beach/ Got a motel and built a fort out of sheets/ I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece.”
Listen here.
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Lana Del Rey, “Summertime Sadness”
Image Credit: UMG/YouTube Album: Born to Die (2012)
Flirtiest lyric: “Got my bad baby by my heavenly side/ I know, if I go, I’ll die happy tonight.”
Listen above.
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Lorde, “The Louvre”
Album: Melodrama (2017)
Flirtiest lyric: “Well, summer slipped us underneath her tongue/ Our days and nights are perfumed with obsession/ Half of my wardrobe is on your bedroom floor.”
Listen here.
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New Kids on the Block, “Summertime”
Album: The Block (2008)
Flirtiest lyric: “Been a few years and I can’t deny/ The thought of you still makes me crazy/ I think about you in the summertime/ I’m sittin’ here in the sun with you on my mind.”
Listen here.
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Taylor Swift, “Cruel Summer”
Album: Lover (2019)
Flirtiest lyric: “I snuck in through the garden gate/ Every night that summer, just to seal my fate/ And I screamed, ‘For whatever it’s worth/ I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?’”
Listen here.
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Zara Larsson, “Midnight Sun”
Image Credit: Epic Records/YouTube Album: Midnight Sun (2025)
Flirtiest lyric: “Hold me like the pebbles in your hand, initials in the sand, yeah/ Summer isn’t over yet/ Skinny-dipping with your heart out, it’s my favorite part now.”
Listen above.
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