After flying into the Top 10 (at #7) on this past week’s Mediabase pop radio airplay chart, Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” could move into the Top 5 as soon as this week.
The longtime fan favorite from Swift’s “Lover” album received 1,786 spins on Sunday, which marked the first day of the July 16-22 tracking period. Up a staggering 49% from last Sunday’s count, the tally slots “Cruel Summer” at #4 on Mediabase’s building/real-time chart.
Because the week is so young and because Sunday airplay can be particularly erratic, it is too early to definitively claim that “Cruel Summer” will close the week in the Top 5. Given its advantages over the building #5 and #6 songs, however, its prospects look quite good.
Morgan Wallen’s building #5 song “Last Night” is very close behind and still rising at the format, but its rate-of-gain is much slower than that of “Cruel Summer.” Miley Cyrus’ building #6 “Flowers,” meanwhile, is losing airplay at a non-trivial rate.
“Cruel Summer” only has to stay ahead of one of these songs to officially secure a Top 5 position. Should it do so, it will join Swift’s #1 hit “Karma” in that region of the pop chart.
