How Song of the Summer became an American pastime.

“Summer in the City.” “I Feel the Earth Move.” “Bette Davis Eyes.” “Whoomp! There It Is.” “Get Lucky.” “Espresso.” What do all these big summer hits have in common? None of them was Billboard’s official song of the summer.

Wait… there is a officially Song of the summer? Doesn’t that just happen naturally? Every year, everyone seems to have an opinion on this musical national sport. But the Hot 100 often tells a different story. For every “Light My Fire,” “Bad Girls,” “Crazy in Love,” “California Gurls” or “Call Me Maybe” – a summer hit that unites the charts and the punditry – there are confirmed summer hits that no one would pick out of a lineup, from Zager and Evans to Iggy Azalea.

Join Chris Molanphy as he journeys through the tangled story of how America decided it should have one winning summer hit to trump all the others. And he counts down the summer’s best songs by decade. Will it be “Hot in Here” or is it just us…?

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.