Exclusive:Taylor Swift’s ‘Cruel Summer’ Reaches Another Major Milestone

Taylor Swift is preparing to take over the Billboard charts next week. Her new album The Tortured Poets Department is off to a historic start, and both the full-length and the tunes featured on it are bound to dominate the music rankings in America in only a few days. Ahead of what will surely be almost a complete takeover, one of Swift’s biggest singles is still going strong, and now it’s reached a special milestone.

“Cruel Summer” is a non-mover at No. 13 on the Hot 100 this week. That’s Swift’s lucky number, and it’s right that the tune is sitting in that position during this important frame.

Swift’s electro-pop smash has now lived on the Hot 100 for 50 weeks. “Cruel Summer” is now tied as her second-longest-charting hit on the ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.S. with two other cuts.

“Cruel Summer” is one of three tracks from Swift that have spent exactly 50 weeks on the Hot 100. At present, it’s on the same level as both “You Belong With Me” and “Shake It Off,” which managed the same impressive showing.

Only one tune by Swift has held on for longer than 50 weeks. “Anti-Hero” racked up 53 stays somewhere on the Hot 100 before finally slipping away. It remains the singer’s only title to live on the ranking for a full year–at least for now.

When songs from The Tortured Poets Department invade the Hot 100 next week, the deluge of wins may push plenty of other hits off the ranking. “Cruel Summer” could be removed from the chart, based on some of Billboard’s rules that deal with a tune’s length of time on the tally, so it seems that the song’s story may soon be coming to a close.