STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The race for the unofficial title of the song of the summer is down to two contenders. One has been at the top of the charts for a month. The other is gaining ground. Stephen Thompson of NPR Music reports on the Summer Song Sweepstakes.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Right now, Shaboozey's "A Bar Song" has every metric working in its favor.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A BAR SONG")
SHABOOZEY: (Singing) Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey. They know me and Jack Daniels got a history. There's a party downtown near Fifth Street. Everybody at the bar getting tipsy.
THOMPSON: It's this week's top streaming song, the top selling song, and the song that's getting the most radio airplay. It's the first song to top all three of those billboard charts simultaneously since Adele's "Easy On Me" in 2021. The rest of the top song's chart looks eerily static. Post Malone's "I Had Some Help," featuring the help of Morgan Wallen, holds it No. 2.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I HAD SOME HELP")
POST MALONE: (Singing) I had some help. It ain't like I can make this kind of mess all by myself. Don't act like you ain't help me pull that bottle off the shelf.
THOMPSON: Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" is in the No. 3 slot yet again.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOT LIKE US")
KENDRICK LAMAR: (Rapping) They not like us. They not like us. They not like us. You think the Bay gon' (ph) let you disrespect Pac, n****? I think that Oakland show gon' be your last stop, n****. Did Cole fouI, I don't know why you still pretending.
THOMPSON: It might leave you wondering, where are all the new songs? Well, the remainder of the Hot 100 offers a few clues as to what might crack the Top 10 once the old standbys start to fade. One answer, not surprisingly, is country music. Post Malone is about to drop his album "F-1 Trillion," which is bound to boost a bunch of its songs. And his collaborator Morgan Wallen has tracks at No. 13 and No. 15.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIES LIES LIES")
MORGAN WALLEN: (Singing) Lies, lies, lies - girl, I'm on a downhill dive. Habits and hard heartbreaks are hard to break. So, I just tell the same old lies, lies, lies.
THOMPSON: So if the dog days of summer are starting to get to you, you're going to have to hang on just a little bit longer for some new top dogs on the charts. Stephen Thompson, NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIES LIES LIES")
WALLEN: (Singing) Lies, lies, lies - look into my eyes, eyes, eyes. I'm still a fool for you. Nothing I wouldn't do for you. Lies, lies, lies - girl, I'm on a downhill dive. Habits and hard heartbreaks are hard to break, so I just tell the same old lies, lies, lying to myself... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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