Taylor Swift adds another accolade to her ever-growing list of achievements as “Cruel Summer” reaches the top of the Billboard Global 200 Songs Chart.
Videos by American Songwriter
Swift originally released “Cruel Summer” on her 2019 album Lover. At the time, the pop star planned to release the song as a single along with “Lover,” “The Man,” “Me,” and “You Need to Calm Down.” However, she held it back at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.
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Years later, “Cruel Summer” saw a resurgence in popularity when Swift performed it on her Eras Tour. As a result, the track began climbing the charts. Last week, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 Songs chart. This week, it reached the pinnacle of the publication’s Global 200 Songs chart.
According to Billboard, “Cruel Summer” gained 17% in global streams with 61.4 million official streams. Additionally, the song sold 10,000 copies worldwide over the last week.
“Cruel Summer” marks Swift’s third No. 1 on the worldwide chart. The other two tracks debuted at the top of the chart. “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” was her first to reach the top of the Global 200 chart in 2021. Then, “Anti-Hero” debuted at the top of the chart in November 2023.
Swift is now tied with Olivia Rodrigo for women with the most No. 1 singles on the Global 200 chart.
Last week, Swift and Jack Antonoff took to social media to celebrate “Cruel Summer” topping the Billboard Hot 100. In the video, Swift said, “We just wanted to say thank you so much for making ‘Cruel Summer’ Hot 100 No. 1 and it’s not even the summer anymore. It’s deep fall. I’m wearing a sweater. We love you guys!”
In the video, Antonoff added that the duo knew that “Cruel Summer” was the best song on Lover. Now, it seems that everyone else is getting on board with their long-held opinion.
The song topping the Hot 100 chart gave Swift another major accolade. She is now the first female artist to land ten singles at the top of the chart and 10 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
