Taylor Swift “Fortnight” debuted at #1

Fortnight Taylor Swift with Post Malone

Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Austin Post (see lyrics here) Released: April 19, 2024 First Charted: May 5, 2024 Peak: 12 BB, 11 DG, 11 ST, 16 AC, 11 A40, 11 UK, 11 CN, 12 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK, 1.05 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 151.40 video, 782.44 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Taylor Swift was born in 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She released her first album in 2006 while still a teenager. While she started as a country singer, she quickly crossed over to pop. She reached a commercial zenith with her 1989 album in 2014 and then seemed to be dropping off slightly with her next few albums, which included two indie-folk style albums in 2020. In 2022, she roared back with the hugely successful Midnights, propelled by “Anti-Hero,” her biggest #1 hit to date, and locking down the entire top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 the week the album was released. Her Eras Tour launched in 2023 and over a year-and-a-half became the highest-grossing tour of all time, grossing more than $1 billion. In the middle of the tour, she released her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department. The lead single, “Fortnight,” is “an ‘80s-inspired downtempo electropop tune” SF reminiscent of power ballads by Roxette, Cutting Crew, and Phil Collins. WK The narrator is in an unhappy marriage and happens to live next door to her also-married ex-lover. “Fortnight” is a British term meaning two weeks, which references the doomed couple’s “fleeting romantic relationship that lasted only two weeks.” SF The song paired her with Post Malone (who assumes the voice of the ex-lover/neighbor). When it debuted at #1 it became her twelfth chart-topper and his fifth. It set the record for the highest single-day streams on Spotify WK and garnered Grammy nominations for Song and Record of the Year. It also won MTV’s Video of the Year award. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/3/1014.

 

Taylor Swift debuts at #1 with “Anti-Hero”

Anti-Hero Taylor Swift

Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff (see lyrics here) Released: October 21, 2022 First Charted:October 29, 2022 Peak: 18 US, 15 BA, 15 DG, 12 ST, 5 AC, 17 A40, 16 UK, 15 CN, 16 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.8 UK, 4.77 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 259.47 video, 1680.55 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: November 5, 2022 will go down as one of the most significant dates in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Taylor Swift’s tenth album, Midnights, hit the charts and, in a trend that has become the norm for major artists during the streaming era, all of the album’s songs debuted on the Hot 100 that week. However, Swift accomplished a chart feat that had never been done before – she locked down the entire top 10. The chart domination was led by “Anti-Hero,” the album’s first official single, debuting at #1. It was her fifth time to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100. She previously accomplished the feat with “Shake It Off,” “Cardigan,” “Willow,” and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).” This was her ninth trip to the pinnacle overall. The songs on the Midnights album were inspired by Swift’s nightmares and insecurities. As she said, “one of the themes…is how you’re feeling in the middle of the night…You go through these very polarizing emotions…and your brain just spirals.” SF “Anti-Hero” specifically deals with her “issues with depersonalization and self-hatred” WK as she explores self-loathing, depression, and anxiety in the lyrics. As she said, the song is a “guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself.” WK The video reenacts a nightmare she had in which she is killed by her future daughter-in-law and the family fights over her will. The video won the People’s Choice Award for Music Video of 2022. Despite the downer of a topic, the snyth-pop song, co-written with Jack Antonoff from Fun. and the Bleachers, is driven by a “catchy rhythm.” WK Billboard magazine said it is the best song from the album. WK DIY magazine said it is arguably the best lead single of Swift’s career. WK Swift said it “is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.” SF It set the opening-day streaming record on Spotify and reached #1 in more than a dozen countries, including the United States and United Kingdom. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Taylor Swift SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/11/2023; last updated 10/14/2024.

Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” debuted a #1

Montero (Call Me by Your Name) Lil Nas X

Writer(s): Montero Hill, Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi (see lyrics here) Released: March 26, 2021 First Charted: April 10, 2021 Peak: 11 BB, 11 DG, 12 ST, 12 RR, 17 A40, 15 UK, 11 CN, 12 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.2 UK, 10.65 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1035.72 video, 1966.46 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Montero Lamar Hill, professionally known as Lil Nas X, was born in Georgia in 1999. He rose to fame in 2019 when his song “Old Town Road” spent 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, the longest-running #1 in the history of the chart. His double-platinum, #2 EP 7 followed, giving him another top-ten hit with “Panini.” He released his first album, Montero, in 2021. It reached #2 and went platinum. The first single, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” was one of two #1 songs from the album (the other was “Industry Baby”) and one of three top-tens (“That’s What I Want,” #8). The title of the song was inspired by the 2017 movie Call Me by Your Name, which Lil Nas X said was one of the first gay films he watched, explain, “I thought the theme was so dope, like calling somebody by your own name is love, keeping the love between you two.” BI The artist came out as gay in 2019 while “Old Town Road” was launching him to stardom. He said “Montero” was about a man who he fell in love with who was, as Lil Nas X saw it, still unhappy because he was living in the closet. BI The song also dealt with the pressures Lil Nas X faced “as a member of the LGBTQ+ community” and with fame. BI He said it was “the most real and the most vulnerable he’d ever been on a song.” BI The song and video received praise from some liberal commentators but backlash from conservative figures. The “sexually charged music video…depicts Lil Nas X in a number of biblically-inspired scenes, including the artist riding a stripper pole to Hell, and giving a lap dance to Satan.” WK Resources: BI Business Insider (3/31/2021). “Lil Nas X revealed the meaning behind ‘Montero (Call Me by Your Name)’ in a new YouTube video” by Moises Mendez II WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/16/2024; last updated 10/13/2024.