Song of the Summer 2026

**Brian Lehrer** (0:08)
Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and for our last 15 minutes or so today, a call in on your Song of the Summer nomination for Summer 2026 Give us a call now with what you've been listening, and it can be a new song from this year, or it can be a classic that you found yourself going back to, but going back to it this year, at 212-433-WNYC, particularly this summer, 212-433-9692, your Song of the Summer nomination for summer 2026 We're, of course, about a month into summer, and with a third of it down, we are curious about what you're listening to. We do this from time to time, whether it's on repeat in your car, or you keep hearing it every time you go out to dance or run errands. What is the soundtrack of this summer for you? Whether you're choosing it or whether, like I just said, you keep hearing it every time you go out, because everybody's playing it in the stores or your gym or wherever. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. And it can be a current billboard hit, a deep cut, an old classic. We want to know why you've got it on repeat this season or what you keep hearing no matter where you go, as it seems. Call or text 212-433-WNYC. Your nominations for Song of the Summer. 212-433-9692. Here is one clear contender as an example, at least according to the billboard top 100
Drinking Jack all by herself from Choosing Texas, the song that's been sitting atop the billboard charts for 38 weeks straight. Country pop ballad by Ella Langley. Anybody listening to that in the New York area? It's about an ephemeral romance. It's easy to imagine taking place in those fleeting summer months. What do we think? Is this the Song of the Summer? Or are we Choosing Choosing Texas? 212-433-WNYC. Another one, with the summer being so much about soccer, maybe the Earworm you would choose is one of the official songs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Here's a bit of Die Die from Shakira and Burnaboy.
Yeah, that's much more New York than the Texas ballad, right? Shakira told Billboard, by the way, that the song is, quote, a message for every child who's been told that their dream is too big, and to remind us that every champion started out as a kid who perhaps went through hardship and struggles, but there was someone who believed in them, and that's why they didn't give up, unquote. Great message with an infectious beat. Is that your song of the summer? Um, one more. According to the legendary music magazine Rolling Stone, this hit from 1979 is their number one pick on their list of best summer songs of all time.
And it might not seem like a seasonal tune at first, but that disco classic which dominated the summer of 79, as the song provided the groove for the very first hip hop hit, the Sugarhill Gang's rapper's delight. It stands tall for many people as the proud parent of more subsequent summer jams than any song in history, says Rolling Stone. Okay, what's your song of the summer? Whether it's one you just keep running into wherever you go, or one that you've got on repeat, in your car, on your phone, wherever you listen. 212-433-WNYC, let's see what you bring right after this.
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All right, let's see what some of your songs of this summer are. And if I said Ella Langley, who sang Truth in Texas in the clip we played, might not be so much for New York. I guess I was wrong, because a bunch of people are calling in to say, yeah, Ella Langley, but Abby in Providence has a different Ella Langley song. Right, Abby? Hi, you're on WNYC.

**Nicole** (4:37)
Hey, Brian, I do.

**Dolores** (4:39)
I love Ella Langley, be her. It's my new fave.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:44)
Thank you very much. And we'll let Karen in Massapequa say, yeah, I like choosing Texas here on the south shore of Long Island. Right, Karen?

**Millie** (4:53)
Yeah, I love Ella Langley.

**Dolores** (4:55)
I like all her songs.

**Millie** (4:56)
Great.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:58)
Awesome. Your Song of Summer, Joe in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joe, what's yours?

**Joe** (5:05)
My Song of the Summer is Olivia Rodrigo, but not her radio hit, Drop Dead. I want to shout out What's Wrong With Me, her collaboration with Robert Smith of The Cure.
The first meeting of the song is how love can make you feel sick, but I think it also might be a comment on society in some way. I think that there's a lot of generational warfare vibes in the political system right now, and I feel like Olivia and Robert have the right solution, which is to find a way to work together.