Taylor Swift’s “august” first appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020.
The song debuted after Folklore was released on July 24, 2020. It entered the chart at number 23 on the chart dated August 8 and remained there for two consecutive weeks. Its initial chart appearance therefore occurred in the same year as the album’s surprise release.
The annual August trend came later, as listeners repeatedly returned to the song during the month named in its title. Streaming increases in later years helped renew attention, but they do not change the song’s original chart year.
A common mistake is to date the song to 2021 because that was when reporting highlighted a notable August streaming increase. The recording itself and its first Billboard Hot 100 appearance both belong to 2020.