05 September 2020
Newsdesk
The UK’s Official Song of the Summer 2020 is DaBaby’s Rockstar ft. Roddy Ricch, OfficialCharts.com can reveal.
Based on new Official Charts Company streaming and sales data from over 9,000 UK outlets, the US rapper’s chart-topping breakout hit was the biggest track of the 2020 summer period, tracking from the first week of June to the last week of August.
Rockstar, which hit Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart in May and logged six weeks at the summit, scored 654,000 chart sales during three-month period. Rockstar was streamed 72.4 million times in the UK this summer, while its music video – released at the end of June – notched up 14.5 million plays.
The success of Rockstar was boosted considerably by a viral dance challenge on TikTok, in a summer where many people leaned on social media as they stayed at home during the UK lockdown.
This summer may have been one of the most unusual – and hottest – on record, but that didn’t stop artists delivering plenty of sun-soaked bangers this year. Another TikTok favourite, Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat) by 17-year-old Auckland producer Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo, spent three weeks at Number 1 in July and was the UK’s second-biggest song of the summer with 566,000 chart sales.
Meanwhile Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande’s Rain On Me – a chart-topper in the first week of June – ranks third (515k), and The Weeknd’s seemingly unstoppable Blinding Lights is fourth (497k). Despite the track notching up eight weeks at Number 1 this year pre-summer, its popularity has continued throughout the hot season, hovering around the Top 40 for the entirety of 2020.
Rounding off the summer Top 5 is Head & Heart by Joel Corry ft. MNEK – the UK’s current Number 1 at six weeks and counting has already racked up just shy of half a million chart sales.
More dance-pop hits feature in the Official Top 40 Songs of the Summer, including Top 3 hit Breaking Me by German/Croatian DJ Topic ft. A7S (6), Secrets by Regard & Raye (9), and Nathan Dawe’s Flowers ft. JayKae (19) and his KSI collaboration Lighter (31).
UK rap also dominated the charts this summer, led by S1mba’s Top 5 smash Rover, which places seventh on the summer Top 40, AJ Tracey’s Dinner Guest ft. Mostack (10) and mega-collab I Dunno by Tion Wayne, Dutchavelli and Stormzy (13).
Despite first appearing in the charts last November, Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar proved the perfect thirst-quencher this summer, logging ten weeks in the Top 10. Another single by Harry, Adore You, also appears in the summer Top 40 at 38.
Proving summer isn’t all about the bangers, acoustic ballad This City by Australian musician Sam Fischer – a Top 20 hit in June – places at Number 20, while Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved (24) and Before You Go (29) both continue to be popular. Another ballad, Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber’s Top 5 duet Stuck With You – released to raise money for the First Responders Children’s Foundation during the coronavirus pandemic – also features at 30.
