"That bridge alone earned a billion" - Internet raves as Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer surpasses 3 billion streams on Spotify

Taylor Swift's 2019 track, Cruel Summer, recently became her first song to hit three billion streams on Spotify. As per kworb.net, the record-breaking single from her album, Lover, is now the 29th-most-streamed song in Spotify history. It is preceded by Ed Sheeran's Photograph (2014).

Produced by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff, Cruel Summer combines various versions of pop and was co-written by St. Vincent. In 2024, Rolling Stone included the song in their list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Republic Records also released a single version of the song on June 20, 2023, which was at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.

The news of the Taylor Swift classic hitting three billion Spotify streams was quick to go viral on social media, leading to Swifties (Taylor Swift fans) waxing lyrical about the songstress. Among them, X user @ItsCine_AIX raved about the bridge, writing:

"Deserved!! That bridge alone earned a billion."

Many fans expressed their pride in the singer, with one asking if the achievement would make Cruel Summer Swift's "career anthem."

"Does hitting 3 billion streams mean Cruel Summer is officially Taylor’s career anthem? Or are Swifties just looping their heartbreak on max volume?" the user wrote. "Wow! Cruel Summer hitting 3 BILLION streams is wild — Swift’s power is unmatched!" another user declared. "A song that was completely ignored in 2019 (when it came out), but 4 years later became a smash hit, surpassing songs like Blank Space or Shake It Off," wrote a fan.

Meanwhile, one user praised her longtime collaborator, Jack Antonoff.

"Everything she works on with Jack Antanoff works," declared the netizen. "Pop perfection, smash global hit, one of her best songs……. oh TAYGOD," commented another. "I remember when everyone thought she slowed down during Lover in 2019, look at her now, slowly become her Top 2 biggest hit of her career," opined a fan.

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When St. Vincent spoke candidly about her experience of writing Cruel Summer with Taylor Swift

Singer-songwriters Beck, Taylor Swift, and St. Vincent perform onstage during Taylor Swift The 1989 World Tour Live In Los Angeles at Staples Center on August 25, 2015. (Image via Getty)

Cruel Summer co-writer, St. Vincent, spoke about her experience of working with Swift in an April 2024 interview with PEOPLE. Born Anne Erin Clark, the 42-year-old musician raved about Swift and revealed that she was shocked by the song's delayed success.

“[Taylor Swift's] just so incredibly intelligent and so hardworking,” she said.

The indie rock star also spoke about the song's delayed taste of success after it took four years to climb to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Talking about the song's success, she said:

“That’s a given. I am so incredibly blown away and amazed by Taylor’s fans because they are just a force of nature. They took a song that was, what? Almost four records ago now, that was not a single off a record.”

Further speaking about the Bad Blood singer's fans, St. Vincent continued:

“They were like, ‘No, this song’s a hit. Then, by force of will, they made that song a worldwide hit.”

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As per kworb.net, Swift is currently the second-most-streamed artist of all time on Spotify, preceded only by Drake. The other juggernauts that make up the top five include Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber. After Swift, Ariana Grande is the highest-streamed female musician at number seven, followed by Rihanna in 11th position.

Edited by Riya Peter