No surprise here: 'Call Me Maybe' officially the song of summer 2012 by Billboard

Listen to Carly Rae Jepsen on iHeartRadio

There are times when an expert opinion is valuable in cleaning up a muddy dispute. Then there are times when the experts only confirm what everyone already knew.

That’s the case this morning, as Billboard officially dubbed Our Girl Carly Rae Jepsen‘s “Call Me Maybe” the Song of the Summer, something we’ve personally known since the first time that orchestra hook buried its way into our heads.

The Canadian pop singer’s maiden American hit spent nine weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. After fellow Canadian Justin Bieber revealed his affinity for the song to his then-approximately 20 million Twitter followers, the song’s popularity surged, spurring impromptu versions of it by everyone from the all-male Harvard baseball team to (thanks to digital ingenuity) President Obama.

“Maybe” has sold 5.5 million downloads since its release, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and garnered an astounding 1.8 billion in cumulative audience on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart, according to Nielsen BDS.

It’s an impressive feat all around for Our Girl, who is the first artist to have her Hot 100 debut win the honor since Katy Perry in 2008. Will it spur her on to greater success at tonight’s VMAs?

Rounding out the top five spots on the Billboard Songs of Summer list are Maroon 5′s “Payphone,” Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake,” and Ellie Goulding’s “Lights.” Distinguished company for an underdog artist from Canada, right?

Now, for the millionth time:

READ MORE: PopDust

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