Taylor Swift released “august” on July 24, 2020, as part of Folklore.
The song arrived with the album rather than as a separately promoted lead single. Swift announced Folklore only hours before its release, making the project a surprise album during the pandemic. That unexpected launch contributed to the album’s strong cultural impact and encouraged listeners to explore its interconnected fictional narratives.
Although the title refers to a month, the track was released before August began. Its later annual resurgence comes from the song’s seasonal imagery and its lyric about August slipping away, not from an August 2020 release date.
The date is sometimes confused with August 1, when yearly fan posts and videos commonly begin circulating. Those posts are part of the song’s later internet life; they are not the original release event.