Originally released on her 2019 album Lover, Taylor Swift’s fan favorite “Cruel Summer” is now being promoted to U.S. pop radio.
As reported by @USRadioUpdater (and confirmed independently by Billboard), Republic Records will begin officially promoting the song to pop radio stations as of Tuesday, June 20.
Per building data via Mediabase, which provides data to Luminate for Billboard’s airplay charts, the song is aiming for a debut on Billboard’s Pop Airplay survey (with next week’s June 24-dated chart reflecting airplay in the June 9-15 tracking week; the tally measures weekly plays on over 150 mainstream top 40 stations).
Among prominent Pop Airplay reporters already playing “Cruel Summer” – and which gave the song spins in 2019 – are WWPW and WWWQ Atlanta, KHKS Dallas and KMVQ San Francisco.
As Billboard previously reported, “Cruel Summer” returned to the Billboard Hot 100 dated June 3, after it spent two weeks on the chart in September 2019, reaching No. 29. On the June 17 Hot 100, it ranks at No. 47, with 9.6 million official streams, 2.6 million radio airplay audience impressions – up 71% – and 1,500 downloads sold in the United States June 2-8, according to Luminate.
“Cruel Summer,” which Swift wrote with Jack Antonoff and produced with Antonoff and St. Vincent, has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, as the pop star has been performing it on her current 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. The concert is divided into 10 acts, encompassing nine of her LPs. The Lover era kicks off the show, as she performs, in order, the set’s “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” “Cruel Summer,” “The Man,” “You Need to Calm Down,” “Lover” and “The Archer.”
Lover is likewise resurging, having ranked in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 each week since April – after the Eras Tour began March 17. Before that, the album had last placed in the region in August 2020.
Since its release, “Cruel Summer” has drawn 383.1 million official on-demand streams and 17.8 million in airplay audience and sold 37,000 in the U.S.
Meanwhile, according to Republic, “Karma,” Swift’s current single from her 2022 album Midnights, remains the primary focus of the label’s promotional efforts regarding Swift. The song jumps 8-6 on the June 17-dated Pop Airplay chart, up 17% in plays. It became her 21st Pop Airplay top 10, and the third from Midnights, after “Lavender Haze” (No. 5, April) and “Anti-Hero,” her 10th No. 1 (three weeks on top, December-January).
“Karma” bounded to No. 2 on the June 10-dated Hot 100, sparked by its new remix with Ice Spice, becoming Swift’s milestone 25th top five hit, the fifth-best total in the chart’s history.
