What Will Be This Year's Summer Song?

Edison Research's Sean Ross once again asks the question, What song will ultimately be remembered the most as the quintessential 2008 summer tune?

Last year, it was pretty obvious that Rhianna's "Umbrella" would wind up as the song. With its catchy "-ella, -ella" chorus, the song dominated the charts and the airwaves all summer long. Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" wasn't too far behind.

This year, there doesn't seem to be an obvious contender just yet. Ross breaks it down:

Kid Rock, "All Summer Long" - It's been just lying in wait on his "Rock N Roll Jesus" album since the end of last summer. It is already off to a good start in medium markets, but as "Picture" showed, Kid always has to scrap his way back on to major-market, rhythmic-leaning Top 40 stations which could take, well, all summer long.

New Kids On The Block, "Summertime" - A co-worker who grew up with NKOTB heard this and liked it, but couldn't help making the comparison to LFO's "Summergirls," which is a little like the singer John Wesley Harding's joke about the Beatles reuniting and sounding a lot like ELO and XTC. And, besides, we've now seen them go from Boyz II Men as well. Also took a few weeks to get some major-market momentum, but is picking up this week.

Boys Like Girls, "Thunder" - As a power ballad, it's disqualified. But it belonged on this list because the trade ads have emphasized its "soundtrack of my summer" lyric.

Natasha Bedingfield, "Pocketful of Sunshine" - It's growing slowly now, but if it can hang in there for a few weeks, it will, like "Unwritten," then hang around for months. And if having a pocketful of sunshine doesn't quite sum up the national psyche right now, aren't summer songs meant to alleviate the national mood?

A few more of Ross' finalists: Katy Perry, "I Kissed a Girl"; Metro Station, "Shake It"; Danity Kane, "Damaged"; Duffy, "Mercy"; Chris Brown, "Forever"; Alicia Keys, "Teenage Love Affair"; Miley Cyrus, "Seven Things"; Lady Antebellum, "Love Don't Live Here"; Carrie Underwood, "Last Name"; Flo Rida, "In The Ayer"; Maroon 5 & Rihanna, "If I Never See Your Face Again"; Lloyd f/Lil Wayne, "Girls Around The World."

And what are your summer picks?