Who says you can’t go home again?
It’s been 13 years since Taylor Swift reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. But her absence in the top tier will likely end Friday (June 11), when “I Knew It, I Knew You” appears headed for a Top 10 debut.
The charming tune from Toy Story drew 41.8 million in all-format radio airplay audience June 5-10, with 17.4 million from reporters to Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, per Luminate building data. (Highlights of the June 20-dated chart will post Friday, June 12, on Billboard.com.)
Swift positioned the harmonica-laden tune as a country song from the start and country stations — and listeners have welcomed her and the tender song about enduring friendship back with open arms. MCA has actively pushed the song to country radio.
For country radio programmers, adding the song was a no-brainer.
“I think Taylor is arguably the biggest music star in the world. It’s a part of one of the biggest films of the summer. It fits sonically and in style to what else is on country radio. All three of those things make it the easiest programming decision of the year,” says Brent Michaels, PD/on-air personality for country outlets KUZZ AM/FM and KRJK-FM in Bakersfield, Calif. “If Taylor is creating music that fits alongside the other biggest hit makers in country, we’re crazy to not go along for the ride. She moves the needle with every project.”
Sarah Kay, PD/morning show host at WQMX in Akron, Ohio, says of the song’s popularity: “I think it is all about nostalgia: Toy Story, Taylor in country music.”
Kay also cites the song’s quality and authenticity and Swift’s expressed love for Toy Story since the first movie came out in 1995 when she was five. “That was a full circle moment for her,” Kay says. “I mean at the premiere she carried [around] her VHS copy of the movie and had the cast sign it! Come on!”
Tim Roberts, Audacy vp/country format captain of programming, also salutes the authenticity of the song. “Taylor has always been driven by great songs. When she wrote this song specifically for the movie and inspired by Jessie from Toy Story (a true cowgirl), I think the vibe felt country, so it makes sense,” he says.
Swift posted a video of her five-year-old self dancing around dressed as Jessie, the cowgirl rag doll from the film, when she announced the single on Instagram on June 5, noting, “Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time. Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a @toystory kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”
It is, of course, also a full-circle moment for country radio and fans. Swift got her start at 16 as a country artist, evolving into the biggest star in the format before moving into pop music in 2014 with her fifth studio album, 1989. Before her departure, she landed 18 Top 10 songs on the Country Airplay chart, ending with “Red.”
Though she had not reached the Top 10 on Country Airplay for more than a dozen years, Swift has appeared on the chart several times since, most recently with “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” with Chris Stapleton in 2021-2022.
A number of stations continued to play Swift on a song-by-song basis since 2014. “We also added and played ‘Betty,’ ‘No Body, No Crime,’ and ‘I Bet You Think About Me,’” Michaels says. “If Taylor has music that we think fits our station, we’re absolutely going to play it.”
Fan reaction has been, well, swift… for the most part. “They absolutely love it,” Roberts says.
“I wondered what some of my biggest Swiftie friends would think of it because this song was created differently — independently for a movie instead of part of a bigger conceptual album — but they all love it,” Michaels says. “I’m a Swiftie and I love it too!”
Kay says it took her listeners a little more time to come around. “Before they heard the song, [reaction] was mixed. Taylor in country divides our listeners just by the fact that she went pop. It is silly. When we first played it, the reviews were mixed. As we kept playing it, the responses got better, so only time will tell.”
Ft. Wayne, Indiana WBTU PR/afternoon host Randy Alomar also programs Top 40 station WJFX and appreciates the more acoustic country mix made specifically for country radio. “If you listen to them both you can hear the difference,” he says. “I was happy that there were two versions. The country one involves more string instruments than the pop version.”
Kay adds, “The song has all the country instruments, and I love that Taylor is naturally featuring her heavy storytelling lyrics, but it has that acoustic vibe that always hits in country.”
The song was an immediate hit at streaming, as well. On Spotify, “I Knew It” registered as the most streamed country song in a single day by a female artist. On Apple Music, it became the biggest country track of 2026 in one day. For Amazon Music, the song had the biggest streaming day for any song so far in 2026.
Country PDs would love more Swift country-oriented material, but for now are embracing her, perhaps momentary, return. As Kay says, “She started here and you can always come home. There is an entire generation of her fans that have no idea she was even a country singer. This is a welcome homecoming.”
Alomar has an even bolder, if perhaps fantastical, prediction: “I hope that she creates another country album and puts that out,” he says. “This is just one song, but at some point in her 30s, I think she’ll leave the pop world behind.”
