QR Code for Spotify Playlist

 Josi Patti ‘27, Angelina Cappelli ‘27, Blair Nagle ‘27

RIPE EDITOR, STAFF WRITER, REPORTER

As summer rolls around, new songs just hit the spot and play on repeat. The songs that define a summer differ from person to person, and encompass a variety of hot genres and trending artists.

To find out the winners, we conducted a survey through a QR code posted in numerous classrooms to collect data on what Unionville High School students were listening to over the summer. We gathered results from about 90 students that were compiled into a Spotify playlist, taking note of variables like grade level and genre.

Differing from our previous survey taken from Spring of 2024, the outcome of this survey showed that Pop, which was the top genre in that survey, dropped to second place, with country pulling ahead at a listening average of 15.5 percent. As for artists, Zach Bryan earned the title of top artist. However, many other artists in that country niche such as Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and Noah Kahan also ranked highly. A close second for artists were Sabrina Carpenter and A$AP Rocky.

Based on the statistics for each grade level, the senior class pulled through with 52.4 percent of the responses. Next, the sophomore class took 30.5 percent, the juniors had 9.8 percent, and finally the freshman class made up just 7.3 percent of the data collected. The top songs of Summer 2024 varied throughout the grade levels. First, the freshman class loved “Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter, the genres of pop and rap, and artists like Zach Bryan, Aqua, Metro Boomin, and Billie Eilish. The Sophomore class’ results showed its love and pride for the “National Anthem” and the “Star Spangled Banner” by Chris Stapleton. Sophomores had top genres of pop andcountry this summer with high-ranking artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Zach Bryan, Billie Eilish, and SZA. Classic rock and rap were favorite genres with the junior class, with Drake and Bruno Mars as the top artists. Finally the senior class, with the highest number of votes, also favored the country genre this summer. Top tracks consisted of “All Your’n” by Tyler Childers, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, and “Pink Skies” by Zach Bryan. The responses ranged from pop, country, and rap, increasing the diversity of the results. However, country ultimately pulled through in the lead for the top genre, just above pop. The top artists among the seniors included Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, and Lana Del Rey.

This survey disproved the idea of a song being the standalone “song of the summer,” as there was a wide-ranging diversity of results. The results give a teenage perspective on music, showing a noticeable shift throughout the seasons, as the summer showed a shift in favor of country & pop music, as opposed to our spring survey where rap and country emerged on top.