Taylor Swift Elated as ‘Cruel Summer’ Passes 1 Billion Streams on Spotify: “Love You All So Much for This”

Taylor Swift was elated as she took to social media to express her gratitude to her supporters for helping her set yet another record. The music streaming firm Spotify announced on September 3 on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the song Cruel Summer by the pop singer had received 1 billion plays. The track can be found on Swift's 2019 album Lover. “It’s been no cruel summer for @taylorswift13 this year,” read Spotify’s post, per The Hollywood Reporter. “Congratulations on another track in the #BillionsClub.”

Swift's song Anti-Hero, from her album Midnights, is also included on Spotify's list of 468 tracks with one billion streams. The singer acknowledged the accomplishment on Sunday morning through her Instagram Story. “Summer just got a BILLION TIMES CRUELER,” she wrote. “Love you all so much for this.” The announcement comes just a few days after Swift made headlines when she broke yet another record. The pre-sales for her recently revealed concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, brought in $26 million for AMC Theatres after the first day, setting a record for the the largest single-day advance ticket sales revenue.

Also, last week, Swift overtook The Weeknd as the second artist in Spotify's history to achieve 100 million monthly listens. The announcement follows the July release of Swift's third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor's Version). The album opened at No. 1, with 716,000 album-equivalent sales, topping the Billboard 200. Swift became just the third artist in history to have four albums simultaneously rank on Billboard's Top 10 album charts, thanks to Speak Now (Taylor's Version), which also earned Swift the distinction of being the first woman to do so, as per Variety.

At L.A.'s SoFi Stadium, where she was performing the last leg of her U.S. Eras Tour, Swift declared that her 1989 (Taylor's Version) project will be released this autumn. The release date for the re-recorded album was confirmed through Easter eggs that the artist had left behind, so the news didn't come as much of a surprise to fans. “So now, here we are on the last night of the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour, in the eighth month of the year, and the ninth day,” Swift teased fans. “Notice there’s some new outfits in the show,” she said, hinting at the slew of subtle hints she had been dropping. 

“There’s something that I’ve been planning for a really, really, really, ridiculously embarrassingly long time. And I think instead of just like telling you about it, I think I’ll just sort of show you something I’ve been excited to show you,” Swift told the crowd as 1989’s new album art appeared on the big screen behind her.