After Harry Styles’ “As It Was” was declared the Billboard Song of the Summer for 2022 — check out the final chart here — Billboard decided to take a look back to 2010 and beyond for the biggest songs of summers past. And as it turns out, Harry Styles had your favorite previous Song of the Summer too!
In Billboard‘s very first Song of the Summer Face-Off bracket game (see the final bracket below), music fans picked between the songs that instantly bring back summer vibes. All 64 of these songs ended up in the top 10 on Billboard‘s seasonal Songs of the Summer chart, from Katy Perry’s West Coast anthem “California Gurls,” featuring Snoop Dogg (2010’s No. 1), to last summer’s silky-smooth chart-topper “Butter” by BTS.
But only one song had the juice to make it all the way to the end: Harry Styles’ 2020 summer smash “Watermelon Sugar” was chosen as the best Song of the Summer from 2010 and beyond by Billboard readers. “Watermelon Sugar” was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and ended the summer of 2020 as No. 6 on our Songs of the Summer chart.
Styles took out a fellow Brit to take home the crown, besting Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” in the championship round.
It’s been a pretty great week for Styles, whose “As It Was” spends its 15th nonconsecutive frame atop the Hot 100 while his new movie Don’t Worry Darling is No. 1 at the box office. What can’t Harry do?
See the final bracket below:
