Posted 8/31/25 1:30 pm
As I mentioned on Podcast #108 (hopefully fully edited and posted tonight), being sick this week led to some down time. My music history geekiness is on full display with these retro playlists loaded with songs from around Labor Day weekend of years past! I’ll be adding to the list, but let’s fire up the grill with the past 10 years of summer wrap-up weekends:
Labor Day Weekend 2024
Here’s what the AT40 chart (American Top 40) had on their chart around a year ago:
Labor Day Weekend 2023
And same for 2023! I went with AT40 because Billboard’s system, at least for the past couple years, seems off to me, while American Top 40 looks like it has a better read on the pulse of pop music.
Labor Day Weekend 2022
I think this was the most recent year where both the AT40 and Billboard Hot 100 were, while very different, both pretty accurate in their own ways … so here’s both! Compare and contrast, depending on your nerd level.
Labor Day Weekend 2021
Same for ’21 as what I did for ’22.
Labor Day Weekend 2020
OK, bad year…but interesting music. This was the most recent year where I thought Billboard’s Hot 100 was pretty sensible, so I went with that as the source.
Labor Day Weekend 2019
Little tweak here…I much prefer Billboard’s AIRPLAY charts as a measuring stick for what was going on in everyone’s shared pop music consciousness. And 2019 is the most recent year where I could access the airplay charts for free! After 2020, they make you buy the stupid subscription to dig into the archives, so… Anyhow, I start the list with the top Mainstream Pop songs, and then add in any additional songs from the Rhythmic Pop airplay chart.
Labor Day Weekend 2018
Just like for 2019 — I blended the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop chart.
Labor Day Weekend 2017
A blend of the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop chart.
Labor Day Weekend 2016
A blend of the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop chart.
Labor Day Weekend 2015
A blend of the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop airplay chart (tracks that were legit radio hits).
MORE YEARS COMING UP THROUGH MONDAY 9/1!
Labor Day Weekend 2014
A blend of the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop airplay chart. After 11 years, I do want to point out how huge of a summer hit “Rude” by Magic was. Every pop format played the hell out of it because it was so different. Here in the Chicago area, all these stations played it heavily all summer: B96 (Rhythmic Top 40), KISS (Mainstream Top 40), The Mix (Hot Adult Contemporary), and Q101 (alternative). That’s an impressive range of *types* of music listeners (with different tastes and frame of reference) converging on one song for a whole season. We don’t see that happen too much in the 2020s…everyone’s very walled and compartmentalized. I blab on about this stuff here because: what’s the potential impact on song choice for choreography, and what’s the eventual impact on choreography itself?
Labor Day Weekend 2013
A blend of the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop airplay chart. Not gonna lie…this wasn’t our best work, coming from a music industry perspective. This probably played at least a little bit of a role in some of the “meh-ness” of dance team routines over the next couple seasons.
Labor Day Weekend 2012
A blend of the Billboard Mainstream Pop chart with the Rhythmic Pop airplay chart. Ready for some Norm bias? I freakin’ LOVE Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake.” It was so different from the biggest hits off that album. She dug deeper within herself for those lyrics. Elsewhere in the chart: by Labor Day we were coming down from the “Call Me Maybe” dominance of spring and early summer. In case you weren’t old enough in 2012 to realize it, Carly Rae Jepsen’s infectious track sounded like a late ’90s or early ’00s throwback; it STOOD OUT and that’s why it was a hit (in addition to being catchy as hell).
Labor Day Weekend 2011
You won’t believe me, but I’ll say it anyway: I’m not a Katy Perry superfan…but I think “Last Friday Night’ is such an underrated hit! The most memorable track that summer: “Super Bass.”
Labor Day Weekend 2010
If you’ve ever wondered about what I mean when I comment on songs and routines having a “shuffle” kind of rhythm or feel, check out Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me” at #3.
Labor Day Weekend 2009
Here’s that last year I had to lean on the Billboard airplay charts…I’ll explain more for ’08 below. But there’s T-Swift at #2 in country-pop mode! Fave song that summer: Keri Hilson’s “Knock You Down” at #3. An R&B ballad with those fast hi-hats, blurring the lines between slow and fast? No one was doing that before ’09.
Labor Day Weekend 2008
A big moment for a music geek…here’s the last Labor Day weekend where I could use the preferred method of reading the pulse of pop music: the airplay charts from Radio and Records magazine (which stopped publishing in the middle of 2009). My playlist for Labor Day Weekend 2008 is their Mainstream Top 40 chart plus any different songs found on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart. “Forever” would be played for, like, years…but “Leavin'” is a forgotten gem.
Labor Day Weekend 2007
I took the easy route here. These are just the top 10 songs from each of these radio formats: mainstream pop, rhythmic pop, urban, and hot AC (adult contemporary). I added in a few of the notable up-and-coming songs that were outside the top 10. And for spice, I threw in a personal fave from alternative radio that late summer (Paramore “Misery Business,” their first hit).
Labor Day Weekend 2006
Same approach as ’07, except I included the top airplay songs at alternative radio. “Promiscuous” still sounds pretty fresh in ’25.
Labor Day Weekend 2005
Such a fascinating top 10 in mainstream pop. Main takeaway: the song for dance teams that mid-and-late summer was Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control.” Still hits hard 20 years later.