{"id":889064,"date":"2026-04-12T13:04:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/889064\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T13:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:04:41","slug":"billboard-names-the-beach-boys-surfin-u-s-a-the-top-beach-song-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/889064\/","title":{"rendered":"Billboard Names The Beach Boys’ ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ the Top Beach Song of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun, the surf, the sand, the sound… when you think of the beach, there may be a few staple songs that come to mind. One of them, most likely, is The Beach Boys<\/strong>‘ “Surfin’ U.S.A.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 1963 hit became an anthem for the beach, summertime, vacation\u2014heck, it even became a theme park anthem. Personally, I remember going to Kings Dominion as a kid and always hearing it playing at the wave pool in the park’s Soak City (and that was in the ’90s, decades after its release). Simply put, it’s one of those instantly recognizable tracks that makes you drift back to memories of sunny, smiley, sea-filled days.<\/p>\n

Billboard<\/a><\/strong> even ranked the song No. 1 on its list of the\u00a0best beach songs of all time<\/strong>, which includes\u00a010 of the all-time greatest summer songs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The famed\u00a0music<\/a>\u00a0publication rounded up \u201c10 best songs the past century of music has to offer on the topic, featuring contemporary pop stars such as\u00a0Miley Cyrus<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Katy Perry<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to visionary groups like\u00a0The Drifters<\/strong>\u00a0and, of course, the\u00a0Beach Boys. Some of them are exactly as fun and free as they seem on the surface, while others were written with deeper metaphors inspired by the\u00a0ocean<\/a>\u2019s many mysteries in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

With lyrics written by the band’s Brian Wilson<\/a><\/strong>, it was released in March 1963. Wilson was a huge fan of music trailblazer Chuck Berry<\/strong>, taking inspiration from the Father of Rock & Roll’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” and modeling “Surfin’ U.S.A.’s” famous guitar riff after Berry’s iconic style. The song quickly became one of the biggest of its era, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n

Related: ’50s Rock Legend Ranked Among Top 5 ‘Greatest Songwriters’ of All Time Only Had One No. 1 Hit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Best Beach Songs, According to\u00a0Billboard<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0Billboard\u2018s complete roundup of Top 10 summery songs (published in 2024) about hitting the beach, below.<\/p>\n

10. Rupert Holmes, \u201cEscape (The Pi\u00f1a Colada Song)\u201d \u2013 1979<\/strong><\/p>\n

9. Social House feat. Lil Yachty, \u201cMagic in the Hamptons\u201d \u2013 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

8. Miley Cyrus, \u201cMalibu\u201d \u2013 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Jimmy Buffett<\/a>, \u201cOldest Surfer on the Beach\u201d \u2013 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. Lorde, \u201cSolar Power\u201d \u2013 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Weezer, \u201cIsland In the\u00a0Sun<\/a>\u201d \u2013 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Ziggy Marley<\/a>, \u201cBeach in Hawaii\u201d \u2013 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Katy Perry feat.\u00a0Snoop Dogg<\/a>, \u201cCalifornia Gurls\u201d \u2013 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. The Drifters, \u201cUnder the Boardwalk\u201d \u2013 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The Beach Boys, \u201cSurfin\u2019 U.S.A.\u201d \u2013 1963<\/strong><\/p>\n

Related: 1967 Classic No. 1 Hit Ranked Ultimate ‘Greatest Song’ of All Time Turns 59 Years Old Today<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Apr 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sun, the surf, the sand, the sound… when you think of the beach, there may be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5311],"tags":[83225,33132,251148,42616,251147,49,978,659],"class_list":["post-889064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-beach-boys","tag-brian-wilson","tag-kings-dominion","tag-miley-cyrus","tag-the-drifters","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116391881433921858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}