
Peak
48
Weeks
2
Score
188
Chart Year
2014
This is the first track on 1989, an album that finds Swift tossing away the Nashville elements of her previous three records in favor of a new city and new pop sound. "I wanted to start the album with this song because New York has been an important landscape and location for the story of my life in the past couple of years," Swift explained. The song finds Swift singing the praises of the Big Apple. "I dreamt about moving to New York, I obsessed about moving to New York and then I did it," she said. "The inspiration I found in that city is kind of hard to describe and hard to compare it to any other force of inspiration I've ever experienced in my life. It's like an electric city." The synth-laden track reflects the electric city. "I approached moving there with such wide eyed optimism and sort of saw it as a place of endless potential and possibilities," Swift explained, "and you can kind of hear that reflected in this music and this first song especially." Swift wrote the song with Ryan Tedder. The OneRepublic frontman also produced the track with Noel Zancanella, who has penned hits for Ellie Goulding, Demi Lovato and Maroon 5. Taylor Swift donated her portion of proceeds from the song's single release to New York City public schools.
Walkin' through a crowd, the village is aglow Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats Everybody here wanted somethin' more Searchin' for a sound we hadn't heard before And it said Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat, beat forevermore The lights are so bright, but they never blind me, me Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors Took our broken hearts, put them in a drawer Everybody here was someone else before And you can want who you want Boys and boys and girls and girls Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat, beat forevermore The lights are so bright, but they never blind me, me Welcome to New York (New York), it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York Like any great love, it keeps you guessing Like any real love, it's ever-changing Like any true love, it drives you crazy But you know you wouldn't change anything, anything, anything Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York Welcome to New York, it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York, welcome to New York It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat The lights are so bright, but they never blind me Welcome to New York (new soundtrack), it's been waitin' for you Welcome to New York (the lights are so bright but they never blind me) Welcome to New York (so bright, they never blind me) Welcome to New York Welcome to New York
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 8, 2014 | 48 | 78 |
| 2 | Nov 15, 2014 | 69 | 57 |