Cruel Summer' Is Taylor Swift's Latest Smash To Accomplish A Major Billboard Chart Feat

Taylor Swift’s current single “Cruel Summer” rises to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart this week. The tune ascends to the highest rung on the ranking of the most successful tunes at AC radio stations across the country years after it was first released on her Lover album. As the track reaches the top spot, it joins a very exclusive club of some of the singer’s biggest wins on all of the weekly pop radio charts.

“Cruel Summer” is now Swift’s sixth song that has managed to hit No. 1 on all three of Billboard’s pop radio charts, according to the chart company and media outlet. The company publishes a trio of rankings every week to show what tracks are performing the best at the different kinds of pop radio in the United States.


As of this frame, “Cruel Summer” has now taken a turn at No. 1 on the Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, and Adult Contemporary charts. There is often a lot of overlap between the three lists, but they actually focus on different stations and different audiences–and Swift has been able to conquer them all with this one song, but in very different ways.


“Cruel Summer” currently rules two of the three pop radio charts this frame. As it rises to the summit on the Adult Contemporary tally for the first time, it rules the Adult Pop Airplay list for its milestone twentieth frame. On that ranking, it ties with The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as the third-longest-running leader of all time.


The same cut reached the peak spot on the Pop Airplay chart back in August 2023. Since then, it’s lived at No. 1 for 10 weeks. It ranks as her longest-running champion so far, though it ceded control over the roster more than a month ago to Tate McRae’s “Greedy.”

According to Billboard, Swift has now seen six different singles accomplish this relatively rare trifecta. She has previously seen her smashes “Anti-Hero,” “Delicate,” “Style,” “Blank Space,” and “Shake It Off” manage this feat. Impressively, three of those hits–her first three to do so–are all from the original iteration of her 1989 album.

“Cruel Summer” is the latest in a long line of winners from Swift on all three pop radio charts. She’s thus far accrued a dozen No. 1s on the Pop Airplay ranking, 11 on the Adult Pop Airplay list, and nine on the Adult Contemporary tally.