US streams of Taylor Swift’s “august” rose 39 percent during August 2021.
The increase illustrates the song’s unusual seasonal pattern. Although it was released in July 2020, listeners began returning to it every year when August arrived, encouraged by the title, its late-summer imagery, and social-media posts built around the song.
Billboard described “august” as a seasonal streaming perennial, comparing the recurring pattern to the way certain holiday songs return annually. The song’s subject matter reinforces that cycle: it portrays a fleeting summer romance and repeatedly evokes sun, salt air, and the passage of the month.
The 39 percent figure refers specifically to US streams in August 2021. It does not mean the song rose 39 percent on every chart or worldwide. Later August revivals were measured separately, including a much larger daily-stream increase in 2022.