Taylor Swift’s 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’ becomes longest US Number One in history
It breaks a record previously held by Don McLean's 'American Pie'
Taylor Swift’s new 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’ has become the longest song ever to reach Number One on the US Billboard charts.
The new version of the 2012 track, released as part of ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ a re-recorded version of her breakout crossover album ‘Red’, takes the crown from Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’, which hit the top of the charts at eight minutes and 37 seconds long in 1972.
The new ‘Red’ comes as part of Swift’s ongoing re-recording project, which was sparked by the sale of her original masters to businessman and manager Scooter Braun, and notched up her fifth UK number one album in less than three years upon its release this month (November 12).
Swift also wrote and directed a short film for the new 10-minute version of the fan favourite track, starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien.
Reacting to the news, as confirmed by Billboard, Swift wrote: “I’m so proud of this song and the memories I have with you guys because of it. You truly chose this one and now you did THIS?! I’m floored. A ten minute song is at the top of the Hot 100.”
Reviewing ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’, Rolling Stone UK said: “Since 2012, Swift has reinvented herself multiple times, most recently with the sublime lockdown indie-folk of ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’. To travel back to the musical mindset of ‘22’ and ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’ should be nigh-on impossible. After all, ‘Red’ was a masterpiece, so why risk tearing it all up?
“But then Swift is only actually interested in tearing up old deals via her righteous mission to reclaim control of her master recordings, sold first to Scooter Braun, then moved on to private equity firm Shamrock Capital. And the most refreshing thing about her re-recordings programme is, that while faceless businessmen have treated these songs as mere numbers on a spreadsheet, Swift handles them with love and respect, however much she has grown since.”
Elsewhere, Swift has shared a new ‘Old Timey Version’ of her 2019 festive track ‘Christmas Tree Farm’, recorded at London’s famous Abbey Road Studios.