Let the Games Begin!

As with drinking, we like to start summer early — and so, bless it, does popular music. The songs that will be boomin’ out of Jeeps, other vehicles, apartment dwellings, and cheap white headphones throughout the hot months are limbering up now, but just one will peak as the jam of our collective conscious (only, quite possibly, to become completely intolerable by August). That joint will be the Song of the Summer, 2009. With this list, we begin our pursuit of this magical and, most likely, frankly sexual few minutes of recorded sound. Once you’ve all weighed in, commenters, with your characteristic mix of incredulity and disdain, we will begin tracking the new entries and biggest gainers, and telling you a little something about the songs in the process. So please, read the list and tell us what we’re missing — or which single you’re banking on to take it all.In alphabetical order. Highlighting denotes editors’ early favorites. 1. Asher Roth, “I Love College” 2. Beyonc