Taylor Swift - Lover visualizer art | UMG/TS/Republic
When Taylor Swift released her “Lover” album in 2019, track “Cruel Summer” instantly captured the attention — and love — of fans and critics. Many felt it made for a perfect radio single and were disappointed when such a formal push never came to fruition.
The absence of a formal push did not, however, prevent the song from enduring as one of the album’s most popular tracks. Its popularity reached a high point as Swift’s “The Eras” tour brought her discography back into the limelight this year.
Said point grew so high that radio began playing the song, and a long-awaited radio push finally materialized.
This week, that push could result in a #1 position on the Mediabase airplay chart.
“Cruel Summer” received 6,421 spins during the first three days of the July 23-29 tracking period. Up 15% from the same-time-last week count, the tally slots “Cruel Summer” at #1 on Mediabase’s building/real-time chart.
Because the week is young and “Cruel Summer” only maintains a two-spin lead over the building #2 song (Swift’s own “Karma”), it is too early to definitively declare the song this week’s winner. Its strong upward momentum, however, makes a #1 finish very likely (“Karma,” by comparison, is down in week-to-week spins).
And even “Cruel Summer” did end up falling short this week, it would almost certainly get there on next week’s chart.
The official chart will go to print on Sunday, July 30.