Jack Antonoff Says He & Taylor Swift ‘Never’ Expected ‘Anti-Hero’ to Hit No. 1 on Hot 100

Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart this week, logging an eighth total week on top. The achievement also marks the superstar’s longest Hot 100 reign, surpassing “Blank Space,” which stayed at the summit for seven weeks in 2014-15.

To celebrate, Swift’s co-writer and producer Jack Antonoff took to his Instagram Stories on Tuesday (Jan. 17) to share a film-style photo of the two pouring drinks. “Remembering right before anti hero came out Taylor saying it’s her favorite song lyrically and that’s why it’s [the] first single,” he wrote under the picture. “But it’s a strange and personal one and we shouldn’t expect it to ever go number 1…. anti hero 8th week at 1 .. insane ..”

Antonoff is credited with co-writing 11 of the 13 songs on the original version of Swift’s most recent studio album, Midnights, and even recorded a remix of “Anti-Hero,” featuring Antonoff’s solo project Bleachers.

In an Instagram post, Swift elaborated on the duo working on the project. “We’d been toying with ideas and had written a few things we loved, but Midnights actually really coalesced and flowed out of us when our partners (both actors) did a film together in Panama,” she wrote. “Jack and I found ourselves back in New York, alone, recording every night, staying up late and exploring old memories and midnights past.”

See below Antonoff’s celebration of eight weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 thanks to “Anti-Hero.”

Rania Aniftos

Billboard