Many didn't even win the contest
At 10 minutes and 13 seconds, Swift's hit smashed a record that had been held by Don McLean's 'American Pie' for almost 50 years. His 1971 release topped the chart in January 1972, and is 8.42 minutes long.
A 45-second hit song created by a fictional character? Step forward Pikotaro, aka Japanese comedian Daimaou Kosako, who scored a viral hit with this 2016 release. A chart topper in Japan, it entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 77, becoming the shortest song to chart.
Lil Nas X couldn't top the short and sweet 1960 doo-wop classic 'Stay,' which clocks in at 1.36 minutes.
At 8.57 minutes, Guns N' Roses' epic power ballad became the longest song to make the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 on its release in 1992. It reached number three.
Although he was some way off the number one spot, Meatloaf's 7.55-minute epic from 1978 made the Billboard top 40. The single was shortened from the album version, which ran to 8.28 minutes.
In 2019, Lil Nas X released one of the shortest Billboard chart toppers of all time with his genre-defying hit 'Old Town Road,' which clocked in at 113 seconds, or 1.88 minutes.
But 'Old Town Road' was the shortest Billboard chart topper since 1965, when British band Herman's Hermits scored a number one with this cockney classic, which comes in at 1.50 minutes.
English teen idol Adam Faith scored one of the shortest hit records in history with this 1.38-minute track. 'What Do You Want?' sailed to the top of the UK charts in 1959 and stayed put for three weeks.
Legendary hip-swinger Elvis Presley kept things short and sweet with this US chart-topper from 1957. At 1.46 minutes, it stayed at the top for seven weeks.
The Beatles' third single was their first UK number one, setting the charts alight at just 1.56 minutes long in 1963. It made the US pop charts the following year, as the flip side to 'Please Please Me.'
British grindcore act Napalm Death infamously hold the Guinness World Record for shortest song ever. At 1.3 seconds long, it didn't trouble the charts but it did enter the record books.
At 1.06 minutes, the 2020 post-humous release of Nat King Cole's festive crooner is one of the shortest tracks to enter the Billboard 100 in the top 50. It reached number 43.
It might be only 55 seconds long, but Ye managed to make number 63 on the Billboard chart with his 2019 track 'Jesus is Lord,' proving he can score a hit with any song length.
Only slightly longer at 1.19 minutes, Beyoncé and James Blake's 2016 track made number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is the shortest track on her hit album 'Lemonade.'
Hip-hop star Kendrick Lamar's 8.16-minute track is the fifth-longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100. It made number 90 in 2016.
Fellow rapper Kid Cudi kept things even more brief. At 37 seconds, his 2020 single 'Beautiful Trip' became the shortest track to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, beating Pikotaro into second place when it snuck in at number 100.
Bowie's Grammy-winning 'Blackstar' was, at 9.57 minutes, the longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at the time of its release in 2015, when it made number 78.
Chart-busting superstar Taylor Swift set a new Billboard chart record in November 2021, when her 10-minute version of 'All Too Well' became the longest song to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Baz Luhrmann's 2007 spoken word hit topped the UK charts, and reached number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. His advice-giving epic clocked in at 7.10 minutes, although a radio edit cut it down to 5.05.
Ariana Grande didn't waste time putting her thoughts to music when it came to ex-boyfriend Pete Davidson. Her 2018 track from Billboard-chart topping album 'Sweetener' ran to 1.13 minutes, and scraped into the Hot 100 as a single.
British musical gamechangers New Order made history with 1983's 'Blue Monday', which is famously the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. The track ran to 7.29 minutes, and several subsequent remixes have charted in the UK, US, and across the globe.
The band's 1968 single 'Hey Jude' topped charts around the world at the height of Beatlemania. At 7.11 minutes, it was an unusually long song to make number one in the US, the UK, and many other countries.
Taylor Swift made musical history when the 10-minute version of her hit 'All Too Well' soared to the top of the US charts, making it the longest song ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. Harking back to the days when pop songs had to fit onto a 45-revolution-per-minute, seven-inch vinyl that held roughly three minutes' worth of music, most records still clock in at roughly the same length. But artists have played around with the established format over the decades, with the introduction of formats such as 12-inch singles and CDs allowing for longer tracks to find commercial success, and the advent of the streaming era meaning tracks can be as long or short as musicians want. But which are the longest and shortest singles ever? Click through this gallery to find out.
Bowie's swansong held the record until rock band Tool broke it in 2019 with their 10.21-minute track 'Fear Inoculum,' which charted at number 93.
With a young Alex Chilton on vocals, American rock band The Box Tops had a US chart-topper with their catchy 1.58-minute single, released in 1967.
Kanye's 2010 single 'Runaway' runs to 9.08 minutes long. It's bee ranked as one of the best songs of the 2010s, and an abridged single version reached number 12 on the Billboard chart.
Queen's operatic rock anthem made number one in the UK and number nine in the US, and the 5.55-minute 1975 single is now a stone cold classic.
The Doors' legendary track 'Light My Fire' runs to 7.06 minutes in its album format. A single version shaved it down to 2.52 minutes, reaching number two in the US. But it's the original, full-length version that Doors fans know and love best.
Taken from the 1984 album of the same name, hit single 'Purple Rain' runs to an epic 8.41 minutes. Issued as a full-length 12-inch and abridged seven-inch single, it's ranked 18th in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and made it to number two on the Billboard chart.
In an era when singles typically clocked in under three minutes, Blondie's hit single 'Rapture' was an outlier. Recorded in 1980, it came in at 6.31 minutes and topped the Billboard chart in 1981.
The same year Don McLean's 'American Pie' entered the record books, The Temptations scored a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper with their version of 'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone,' which runs to 6.54 minutes.
Sources: (Vox) (Pitchfork) (Forbes)
See also: The stories behind some of the world's most iconic songs
30 of the longest and shortest singles of all time
Taylor Swift has smashed Billboard chart records
MUSIC Songs
Taylor Swift made musical history when the 10-minute version of her hit 'All Too Well' soared to the top of the US charts, making it the longest song ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. Harking back to the days when pop songs had to fit onto a 45-revolution-per-minute, seven-inch vinyl that held roughly three minutes' worth of music, most records still clock in at roughly the same length. But artists have played around with the established format over the decades, with the introduction of formats such as 12-inch singles and CDs allowing for longer tracks to find commercial success, and the advent of the streaming era meaning tracks can be as long or short as musicians want. But which are the longest and shortest singles ever? Click through this gallery to find out.