After Christmas, It’s Still a ‘Cruel Summer’ for Taylor Swift on Radio

With Christmas classics having been put back into radio stations’ storage until December, regularly scheduled programming has resumed, with a familiar title atop Billboard’s Radio Songs chart.

Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” continues at No. 1 on the Radio Songs ranking (dated Jan. 6, 2024) for a 10th total week on top – becoming her first hit to reign for double-digit weeks. The song drew 64.6 million in all-format airplay audience, up 5%, Dec. 22-28, according to Luminate.

(Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was the top-charting seasonal hit on Radio Songs over the latest holiday season, reaching No. 17 a week ago, when 12 such songs decorated the 50-position list.)

Here’s an updated look at Swift’s eight Radio Songs No. 1s, ranked by most weeks spent at the summit.

Title, Weeks at No. 1, Year(s):

“Cruel Summer,” which first hit No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart dated Oct. 7, 2023, was originally released on Swift’s 2019 Republic Records album Lover. The label began promoting the song as a single last June, after Swift began performing it on her The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from Lover, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(“Cruel Summer,” thus, and reflecting its mass appeal, remains atop Radio Songs in winter, after it hit No. 1 in the fall, after becoming a single last spring.)

The song also adds a new milestone on the Adult Pop Airplay chart, where it logs a 17th week at No. 1 – tying Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” for the longest command for a song by a woman (since the survey began in Billboard’s pages in March 1996; overall, the tracks share the sixth-longest rule, with Santana’s “Smooth,” featuring Rob Thomas, having run up a record 25-week reign in 1999-2000).

Among other chart honors for “Cruel Summer,” it became the landmark 10th of Swift’s 11 career No. 1s on the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, reigning for four weeks, and her record-breaking 12th No. 1, and her longest-leading (10 weeks), on Pop Airplay.

The song ranks at No. 19 on the latest Hot 100 with top Airplay and Sales Gainer honors. In addition to its radio resurgence, it jumped by 41% to 3,000 sold in the tracking week.

All charts dated Jan. 6 will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Jan. 3.