It’s Taylor’s version of a hit, too. Taylor Swift’s first offering of her rerecorded catalog, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, Billboard’s flagship country chart. It’s Swift’s first No. 1 on the chart in over eight years, her first No. 1 debut, and her eighth Hot Country Songs No. 1 overall following “We Are Never Getting Back Together” in October 2012. (If we’re getting technical, Swift last had a country No. 1 with Tim McGraw’s “Highway Don’t Care,” which hit No. 1 on Country Airplay, the country industry’s other chart of record, in June 2013.) “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” also joins Swift’s original version of “Love Story,” which peaked at No. 1 on the chart in November 2008. Swift had a four-year drought on the country charts after “Highway Don’t Care,” her duet with Tim McGraw, in 2013; her next song to crack Hot Country Songs was reputation’s “New Year’s Day” in December 2017. Since then, a few Swift songs have entered the Hot Country Songs, with Lover’s Chicks collaboration “Soon You’ll Get Better” peaking at No. 10, folklore’s “betty” peaking at No. 6, and evermore’s Haim collaboration “no body, no crime” peaking at No. 2.
With “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” Swift becomes the first artist with Hot Country Songs No. 1’s in each decade of the 21st century along with the second artist to top the chart with two versions of the same song after Dolly Parton did it with “I Will Always Love You” in 1982. “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” is also the top-selling song of the week, propelling it to a No. 11 entry into the Hot 100 — a feat for a song not being expressly promoted to radio.
