Taylor Swift's enduring stardom owes to her unique approach of parceling her music, styles, and aesthetics into eras that coexist simultaneously, rather than following a cultural timeline. Despite being from a five-year-old album, 'Cruel Summer' remains relevant even today, not as a throwback, but as a modern and pertinent piece of pop culture. Taylor Swift featured the song on her record-breaking Eras Tour, and with a belated promotional push, it is now on the verge of breaking a massive record.

‘Cruel Summer’ sparkles on the music streaming giant Spotify, about to make a “first” for Taylor Swift on the platform. 

Back in 2019, Taylor Swift added the song 'Cruel Summer' to her album 'Lover'. It quickly became a hit with fans and was supposed to be released as a single in 2020, but Covid-19 disrupted those plans. Nonetheless, last year, she offered the track at a discounted price for digital sales and released an EP with a remix and a live version, giving fans a chance to enjoy it in the comfort of their homes or cars. Now, in the mere first half of 2024, 'Cruel Summer' is just 100 million streams away from reaching 2 billion streams on Spotify. 

The track is expected to mark Taylor Swift's first song to hit this milestone in under four weeks. Last year, following its entry into Billboard’s Top 10 in July, the popular track reached No. 1, making it Swift’s 10th song to dominate the Hot 100 chart of Billboard too. However, achieving two billion streams would mark a historic “first” for the songstress. Nonetheless, she might be a few months late to be the only one to accomplish this in 2024.

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Kanye West, often seen as one of Taylor Swift’s rivals, has already achieved this streaming milestone on Spotify at the start of the year. 

Kanye West and Taylor Swift’s infamous rivalry is a tale that even those who have not tuned into a single pop song are familiar with. Their feud resurfaces periodically, making it a significant aspect of pop culture discourse. However, in the race to 2 billion Spotify streams, Kanye West may hold a slight advantage over Taylor Swift. This January, the news came out that ‘The College Dropout’ has surpassed 2 billion streams on Spotify. 

This made it Ye’s 8th album to achieve this milestone. Even after twenty years since its release, ‘The College Dropout’ is still receiving over 1.8 million daily streams. And last year, the artist also hit the 2 billion mark for his album ‘Yeezus’, which earned him a shout-out from Travis Scott during his Utopia concert in Rome. Nonetheless, a subtle distinction is that Ye achieved the 2 billion milestone for an album, whereas Swift will get it for a single. Now, it is left to the fans to determine which they deem as the greater feat.

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