The Taylor Swift song that resurges on streaming charts every August is “august.”
The song’s seasonal appeal comes from both its title and its late-summer story. Its narrator remembers a short, undefined romance with James, using images of sunshine, salt air, and the end of summer.
After its 2020 release, “august” became a recurring seasonal streaming success. Reports on its performance noted a 39 percent increase in United States streams during August 2021 and a much larger daily-stream increase during August 2022.
The song is sometimes grouped with “cardigan” and “betty,” but those tracks do not have the same month-specific title. Together, they form a fictional love triangle; “august” is the track most directly linked to the annual August listening trend.