Tayor Swift is “Red”-hot again on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. Her new single, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” on Pixar/Walt Disney/Republic/MCA Nashville, blasts in at No. 8 on the June 20-dated list with 19.4 million audience impressions in the week ending June 11, following its June 5 release, according to Luminate.
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The harmonica-laden tender song about enduring friendship from Toy Story 5 launches as Swift’s 19th Country Airplay top 10 — and her first since “Red” reached No. 7 in December 2013, ahead of her pivot to pop with her 2014 album, 1989. Among her top 10 haul, beginning with “Tim McGraw” in December 2006, she has notched seven No. 1s.
“I Knew It, I Knew You” makes history as the first song by a woman to debut in the Country Airplay top 10, dating to the chart’s January 1990 start. Just one other title has begun in the tier: Garth Brooks’ “More Than a Memory” premiered at No. 1 in September 2007. (“Stations broke with longstanding programming philosophies,” Billboard noted that week, as Brooks was emerging from a several-year career hiatus.)
Swift — who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame June 11 — adds her 40th Country Airplay entry and first since her Chris Stapleton collaboration “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” which hit No. 23 in November 2021.
“I think Taylor is arguably the biggest music star in the world. [“I Knew It, I Knew You” is] part of one of the biggest films of the summer. It fits sonically and in style to what else is on country radio. All three of those things make it the easiest programming decision of the year,” Brent Michaels, PD/on-air personality at KRJK-FM and KUZZ-AM/FM Bakersfield, Calif., previously told Billboard. “If Taylor is creating music that fits alongside the other biggest hitmakers in country, we’re crazy to not go along for the ride. She moves the needle with every project.”
“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time,” Swift shared June 1 on Instagram. “Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a @toystory kid from the age of 5 til now … is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”
Langley Leads the Chart Again
Atop Country Airplay, Ella Langley’s “Be Her” scores a third week at No. 1 (34.8 million, up 9%). Among her four leaders, she matches her longest command, following the run of “Choosin’ Texas” in February-March.
The latter ranks at No. 6 on the latest list and “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” with Morgan Wallen, holds at its No. 10 high. A week after becoming the first woman to claim three concurrent top 10s on Country Airplay, she becomes the first artist overall to achieve the feat in multiple weeks; Wallen tripled up for a week in April 2023.
All charts dated June 20 will update Tuesday, June 16, on Billboard.com.
