Summer lovin' happened so fast.
Zara Larsson
Charlotte Rutherford
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.
