Katy Perry – The One That Got Away

Katy Perry’s Decade-Old Ballad Becomes 2026’s Song of the Summer

Fifteen years is an unusually long wait for a song to finally become someone’s biggest hit, but that’s exactly what happened to Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away,” which TikTok has now officially crowned both its Global and US Song of the Summer for 2026.

The track originally arrived in 2011 as the sixth single from Teenage Dream, an album that had already sent five straight songs to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.,” and “Last Friday Night.” “The One That Got Away” broke that historic streak, stalling at number three despite heavy promotion, and for over a decade it sat as a beloved but comparatively overlooked entry in Perry’s catalogue.

This year changed all of that almost overnight. The song’s themes of regret and lingering what-ifs turned out to be perfectly suited to short-form video storytelling, and creators began using it to soundtrack relationship retrospectives, nostalgic edits, and reflections on missed chances, the exact emotional territory the song was built for in the first place. By summer’s end, TikTok reported the track had soundtracked more than 42 million videos and racked up over 55 billion views, while surpassing 1.8 billion streams on Spotify and spending 21 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Global 200.

Perry leaned into the moment rather than just watching it happen. In April, she released a director’s cut of the original music video featuring new spoken-word narration from Stevie Nicks, reframing the song’s story with an older, more reflective voice. The resurgence also helped power May’s compilation The Ones That Got the Plays, a title that plays directly on the song itself, and pushed the track to entirely new career peaks on Billboard’s global charts, ground it had never touched during its original 2011 run.

MusicPorta says: “The One That Got Away” earns its unlikely second act honestly, its ache over lost love clearly still resonates across generations who weren’t even around for its first release. Sometimes the biggest song of the year isn’t new at all, it just finally found the right audience.

MusicPorta Rating: ★★★★★

“The One That Got Away” is an exciting track with captivating energy, impressive delivery, and a memorable sound. Make sure you listen to this impressive song and add it to your playlist today.

“The One That Got Away” By “Katy Perry” BELOW