In the last week of June, we’re seeing a divide among the on Billboard’s flagship Hot 100 chart. Not pop versus rock, or hip-hop versus dance, or fast versus slow. I’m talking about new versus old.

The major Song of Summer contenders still feel new — they’ve been wafting through the air only a couple of months. For example, current chart-topper “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke has spent a total of nine weeks on the Hot 100. Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” currently No. 2, is also nine weeks old. A bit lower in the Top 10, a pair of starlets have hits of roughly the same vintage — Selena Gomez’s “” (No. 8) is nine weeks old, and Ariana Grande’s “” (No. 9) is at week 11.

By contrast, in the middle of the Top 10, you’ll find a pair of hits that are now positively ancient. At No. 6 is Florida Georgia Line’s 36-week-old country-crossover smash “Cruise”. A couple of weeks ago this song, fueled by , sneaked into the Top 5 in its 34th chart week, setting a record for . Just two weeks after that, the record was broken: Imagine Dragons’ turgid rock hit “,” in its 42nd chart week, just leaped to No. 4, Read more