What will be the hits of summer 2023? Our predictions!

The “Lambada”, the “Macarena”, “Asereje”, “Soca Dance” or even more recently “Despacito”, these summer hits have punctuated our holidays. The beach, the sun, friends, and that heady tune that will become the melody of our memories. So, this year, what will be THE summer hit of 2023? We reveal our predictions.

Dua Lipa, the queen of the beaches this summer?

Whether Miley Cyrus is currently at the top of the charts with his title “Flowers” (450 million views on YouTube in one month) – even becoming the artist who was the fastest to pass the milestone of one billion plays with this song on the platform of streaming Spotify on May 4 -, “I think the title came out a little too early to become a summer hit”, according to the RTL2 music programmer. The specialist relies more on Dua Lipa with “Dance The Night” (released this Friday, May 26 and which already peaks at more than 1.3 million views in a few hours).

For Éric Jean-Jean, TV presenter and radio host on RTL and RTL2, “I think that ‘Tatoo’ by Loreen [NDLR, la gagnante de l’Eurovision] can be a good summer song”.

recycled songs

If the last title of David Guetta“Baby Don’t Hurt Me”, just released a few weeks ago, we’re focusing more on his “I’m Good (Blue)” with Baby Rexha – which takes up the instrumental of the title “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by the group Eiffel 65 – released at the end of August 2022. We also bet that “Bailar Contigo”, Black Eyed Peas accompanied by daddy yankee, pace our summer (already 23 million views in one month). There too, nothing new, since the title samples the timeless “Scatman”.

To believe that “it’s in old pots that we make the best soup” applies perfectly to future hits: proof is with “Jumpin” by pit bull And Lil Jon where you want to ignite the dance floor from the first notes! “Who Let the Dogs Out”, originally released by Baha Men in 2000, has also just been picked up by US streamers iShowSpeed And Kai Cenat with “Dogs”. If we were to bet on a single “revival” song, we would put a coin on the American Conan Graywith “Never Ending Song”, which gives us the impression of diving into the new wave of the 80s!

French songs

As for French songs, “Malembe” by Maes And gims smells of the sun, just like “Desperado” by Kendji Girac. Without forgetting “You were lying” by Keen’V. What if this song, released eleven days ago and which puts the sun in your ears in a few seconds, became THE song of this summer…?

Latin songs

Latin songs remain a safe bet for binging in the middle of summer: it’s hard to sit still listening to “BZRP Music Sessions #53” by Shakira (552 million views in four months); “Esta Vida” by Marshmello and Farruko or “Niña Bonita” by Feid and Sean Paul. Also a big thumbs up for Grupo Frontera x Bad Bunny with “un x100to” (217 million views in one month).

The surprises “

In a completely different styleCalvin Harris and Ellie Goulding could well, too, rank high this summer with “Miracle”, which takes us back to the dream-music of the 1990s. Special mentions also to “Ovami” fromOxlade and “Charm” by Rema (who was a hit last year with “Calm Down”).

How does a song become a summer hit?

For Éric Jean-Jean, there is no miracle recipe, but several essential ingredients: “A rhythm to which you can dance, a melody, a color, an easy-to-remember choreography – it participates a lot, it plays all the way – and if the song is supported by a label, it’s better! »

Since when does the summer tube exist?

“There have always been summer slows and jingles, campground hits, that has always existed: for example, in 1981, “Pour le Plaisir” by Herbert Léonard and “Elle est d’ailleurs” by Pierre Bachelet had been two big hits of the summer; in 1982, it was Philippe Lavil’s “He taps on bamboos”. But there was no real strategy,” explains Éric Jean-Jean. In 1988, Chico Buarque and his “Essa moça tá diferente” seem to have opened the door to a whole series of summer hits: “He doesn’t do it on purpose, but he gives everyone ideas…”, says the specialist music.

With the “Lambada”, the summer hit becomes something almost industrial

But the real change took place in 1989 with Kaoma’s “Lambada”: “There was a real turning point at that time, the summer hit became something almost industrial, it became serious and we begins to make songs to be shown on television”, emphasizes Eric Jean-Jean. The “Lambada” had, in fact, benefited from a nice combination of circumstances with a partnership between the CBS label, Orangina and TF1 which will not stop broadcasting the clip on the air throughout the summer of 1989. discs, commercial strategies are starting to be put in place, we say to ourselves that there is perhaps something to do on certain songs, it becomes an industry, ”recalls the host.

The hits then follow: “Maldon” (Zouk Machine), “Soca Dance” (Charles D. Lewis), “Saga Africa” (Yannick Noah), etc. and then the apotheosis in 1996 with the “Macarena”.

“Despacito”, the last big hit of the summer

According to Éric Jean-Jean, “the golden age of the summer hit as we understand it was the 90s, it was the flamboyant decade of summer hits. From the 2000s, it does not work as much. There were of course hits during the summer, like Stromae, David Guetta or Billie Eilish; but they were songs cut out to be hits, summer or not. »

One of the biggest things in the world that we didn’t see coming!

However, music is not an exact science. In 2006, for example, Magic System arrives with “C’est chaud, ça brule” which is a real hit in France! According to the musical specialist, the last “big hit of the summer as we imagine it is “Despacito” [NDLR. de Luis Fonsi] : it’s been streamed billions of times, it’s one of the biggest things in the world that we didn’t see coming! »

What if, this year, the summer hit was also something “we didn’t see coming”…? To your predictions!