Taylor Swift’s ‘Cruel Summer’ hits No. 1 on the Hot 100 4 years after its release

Taylor Swift arrives at the world premiere of the concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at AMC The Grove 14 in Los Angeles.
Taylor Swift arrives at the world premiere of the concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at AMC The Grove 14 in Los Angeles. | Chris Pizzello, Invision, Associated Press
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Taylor Swift reached No. 1 again. This time, it’s for a song she released four years earlier. “Cruel Summer” topped the Billboard charts this week — a song she had on “Lover,” which was released in 2019.

“We just wanted to say thank you so much for making ‘Cruel Summer’ a hot 100 No. 1,” Swift said in a video she posted on social media. “And it’s not even summer anymore. It’s deep fall. I’m wearing a sweater.”

Swift’s producer and friend Jack Antonoff explained in the video that when they released the album he thought it would be “our secret best song.”

What pushed Taylor Swift’s ‘Cruel Summer’ to No. 1?

“Cruel Summer” is the first full song Swift performs during her Eras Tour concert, and the energy and passion fans have for the song has been proven by the nearly 19 million streams of the 2019 bop in the last week alone, The New York Times reported.

The song broke into the top 10 in July, and Swift released the live version from the show Thursday, pushing the catchy pop song to No. 1, per the Times.

This also marks the first No. 1 song from Swift’s “Lover” album, Billboard reported. She joins 10 other artists or groups to have 10 No. 1 hits since the Hot 100 started tracking charts on Aug. 4, 1958.

Here are the top 10 acts that have the most Hot 100 No. 1s, according to Billboard:

  1. The Beatles — 20 hits.

  2. Mariah Carey — 19 hits.

  3. Rihanna — 14 hits.

  4. Drake — 13 hits.

  5. Michael Jackson — 13 hits.

  6. Madonna — 12 hits.

  7. The Supremes — 12 hits.

  8. Whitney Houston — 11 hits.

  9. Janet Jacson — 10 hits.

  10. Stevie Wonder — 10 hits.

  11. Taylor Swift — 10 hits.