Critical reception for "You Belong with Me" was middling to positive. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, the song received nominations for the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. "You Belong with Me" enjoyed commercial success as well; it became a top ten hit in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. In the United States, the song became Swift's best-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 to date and Swift's second best-selling single. It managed to gain the largest crossover radio audience since Faith Hill's "Breathe" did in 2000. The single was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. The video featured Swift portraying two characters, a nerd (the protagonist) and a popular girl (the antagonist), while American actor Lucas Till portrayed the male lead. The video's plot centers on the protagonist secretively loving the male lead, although he has a girlfriend. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, but during Swift's acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West interrupted, protesting in support of Beyoncé Knowles. The incident caused a reaction in the media, with most people coming to Swift's defense. The song was performed live at numerous venues, including the 2009–10 Fearless Tour, where it was the opening number. It was covered by various artists, including Butch Walker and Selena Gomez & the Scene, and parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Swift became inspired to write "You Belong with Me" after she overheard a male friend of hers speaking to his girlfriend through a phone call. He acted defensive as his girlfriend yelled at him, and said to her, "No, baby...I had to get off the phone really quickly... I tried to call you right back... Of course I love you. More than anything! Baby, I'm so sorry." Out of the sympathy she felt towards him in the situation, Swift developed a concept for a song. In a writing session with co-writer Liz Rose, Swift explained the situation along with her idea and conceived the song's opening line, "You're on the phone with your girlfriend / she's upset / she's going off about something that you said." Together, they developed a story line, which described Swift being in love with the male friend and her having the desire for him to breakup with his current girlfriend for her. Swift described the song's concept as "basically about wanting someone who is with this girl who doesn't appreciate him at all. Basically like 'girl-next-door-itis.' You like this guy who you have for your whole life, and you know him better than she does but somehow the popular girl gets the guy every time." Swift recalled, "It was really fun for us to write the line, 'She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts'." "You Belong with Me" was first released as a promotional single from Fearless on November 4, 2008 as part of Countdown to Fearless, an exclusive campaign by the iTunes Store; the song was then released as the third single from Fearless on April 21, 2009.
"You Belong with Me" is a country pop song with a length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds. According to Kate Kiefer of Paste magazine, it is "a straight-up pop song." The song is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 130 beats per minute. It is written in the key of G♭ major and Swift's vocals span two octaves, from G♭3 to D♭5. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly felt Swift's vocals were light and twangy while the melody was "lilting". It follows the chord progression G♭–D♭–A♭m-C♭. The instrumentation consisted of clucking banjos alongside New Wave electric guitars.
The lyrics to "You Belong with Me" alternate between narrative modes, where she speaks of herself, a male friend whom she has an unrequited crush on, and his girlfriend. Greenblatt described Swift's role as a storyteller, the song being a narrative set to music, which describes concerning about love and boys "just [being] very hard to catch". Craig Rosen of The Hollywood Reporter believes "You Belong with Me"'s plot is "confessional" and regards scenarios themed with high school, while Swift "is the girl next door who's had her heart broken and takes refuge in music". Lucy Davies of the BBC noted, "Swift deals in the prosaic imagery of high school boys". In one verse, Swift contrasts herself with her friend's girlfriend and states, "She wears high heels, I wear sneakers / She's cheer captain, I'm on the bleachers", which Davies interpreted as the song's protagonist feeling envy towards cheerleaders, in particular, the one dating her male friend. In the choruses, Swift attempts "to persuade some boy to come to his senses and submit to her everygirl charms".
"You Belong with Me" received positive to mixed reviews from critics. For instance, Sean Dooley of About.com labeled "You Belong with Me" as one of the "best songs on Fearless", while Johnny Davis of The Observer believed some parts of the song "may needle British ears", although he felt that it was better than single releases by pop singer Hilary Duff. Lucy Davies of the BBC was not impressed by the song's theme being similar to those of other songs on Fearless or on her eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift. She opined that "You Belong with Me"'s "lyrical palette has few colours [...] and it's repetitive". Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine said, "'You Belong with Me' isn't her best-written song by a long shot, but it's hard to fault its construction." Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone commented, "It's hard not to be won over by the guilelessness".
A Times Editor review from The St. Petersburg Times also described it as sounding similar to other hits: "She hankers for a boy who either doesn't love her back or wants to ditch this small town." Josh Love of The Village Voice thought "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness" shined through the lyrics and theme of "You Belong with Me"; Love also mentioned that it was one of Fearless' "great songs". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said Swift's vocals fit the song's melody and instrumentation, which, according to her, is "slick" and "radio-friendly". Rob Sheffield of Blender magazine recommended for readers to download "You Belong with Me", and Jeniffer Webb, also from About.com, predicted that the song would reach different age groups. Webb said, "It continues the artist's tradition of having a little something for everyone, so it's no wonder she has such a large fanbase."
At the 52nd Grammy Awards, "You Belong with Me" received nominations for three awards. The song received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year but lost to Beyoncé Knowles' "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008), for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year but lost to Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" (2008), and for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance but lost to Knowles' "Halo" (2009). "You Belong with Me" won Favorite Song at the 2010 Kids Choice Awards and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 45th Academy of Country Music Awards, but lost Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (2009). Upon its release as a promotional single, on the week ending November 22, 2008, "You Belong with Me" debuted at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 because of sales of 172,000 digital downloads, tying her with the Jonas Brothers for most top twenty debuts in 2008, a record which she later beat; the song fell from the Billboard Hot 100 in the following week. Following its single release, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number eighty-seven on the week ending May 16, 2009. "You Belong with Me" moved to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending August 15, 2009, thus making the song Swift's highest-charting effort, surpassing her previous best-charting effort "Love Story", which peaked at number four in January 2009. Driven by non-country radio airplay, the song established the largest crossover radio audience since Faith Hill's "Breathe" (2000). The following week, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is one of thirteen songs from Fearless charted within the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record for the most top forty entries from a single album. It also peaked at number two on Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) and at number-one on both Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary. The single was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments exceeding two million copies. As of February 2011, "You Belong with Me" has sold over 3.6 million copies in the United States, becoming Swift's second best-selling single in the country. In Canada, "You Belong with Me" entered at number eighty-four and peaked at number three. It was also certified double platinum by Music Canada for sales of 160,000 digital downloads. "You Belong with Me" was a success in Australia and New Zealand. On the week ending May 24, 2009, the song entered the Australian Singles Chart at number fifty. On the week ending July 5, 2009, the song reached its peak on the Australian Singles Chart, at number five, a position it maintained on for three non-consecutive weeks. "You Belong with Me" was placed at number eighty-eight on the decade-end Austrian Singles Chart. It was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments exceeding 140,000 copies. On the week ending May 25, 2009, "You Belong with Me" debuted at number twenty-eight on the New Zealand Singles Chart and, after two weeks of ascended positions, it peaked at number five. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for shipments exceeding 15,000 copies.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. The video featured Swift portraying two characters, a nerd (the protagonist) and a popular girl (the antagonist), while American actor Lucas Till portrayed the male lead. The video's plot centers on the protagonist secretively loving the male lead, although he has a girlfriend. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, but during Swift's acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West interrupted, protesting in support of Beyoncé Knowles. The incident caused a reaction in the media, with most people coming to Swift's defense. The song was performed live at numerous venues, including the 2009–10 Fearless Tour, where it was the opening number. It was covered by various artists, including Butch Walker and Selena Gomez & the Scene, and parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Swift became inspired to write "You Belong with Me" after she overheard a male friend of hers speaking to his girlfriend through a phone call. He acted defensive as his girlfriend yelled at him, and said to her, "No, baby...I had to get off the phone really quickly... I tried to call you right back... Of course I love you. More than anything! Baby, I'm so sorry." Out of the sympathy she felt towards him in the situation, Swift developed a concept for a song. In a writing session with co-writer Liz Rose, Swift explained the situation along with her idea and conceived the song's opening line, "You're on the phone with your girlfriend / she's upset / she's going off about something that you said." Together, they developed a story line, which described Swift being in love with the male friend and her having the desire for him to breakup with his current girlfriend for her. Swift described the song's concept as "basically about wanting someone who is with this girl who doesn't appreciate him at all. Basically like 'girl-next-door-itis.' You like this guy who you have for your whole life, and you know him better than she does but somehow the popular girl gets the guy every time." Swift recalled, "It was really fun for us to write the line, 'She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts'." "You Belong with Me" was first released as a promotional single from Fearless on November 4, 2008 as part of Countdown to Fearless, an exclusive campaign by the iTunes Store; the song was then released as the third single from Fearless on April 21, 2009.
"You Belong with Me" is a country pop song with a length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds. According to Kate Kiefer of Paste magazine, it is "a straight-up pop song." The song is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 130 beats per minute. It is written in the key of G♭ major and Swift's vocals span two octaves, from G♭3 to D♭5. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly felt Swift's vocals were light and twangy while the melody was "lilting". It follows the chord progression G♭–D♭–A♭m-C♭. The instrumentation consisted of clucking banjos alongside New Wave electric guitars.
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A Times Editor review from The St. Petersburg Times also described it as sounding similar to other hits: "She hankers for a boy who either doesn't love her back or wants to ditch this small town." Josh Love of The Village Voice thought "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness" shined through the lyrics and theme of "You Belong with Me"; Love also mentioned that it was one of Fearless' "great songs". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said Swift's vocals fit the song's melody and instrumentation, which, according to her, is "slick" and "radio-friendly". Rob Sheffield of Blender magazine recommended for readers to download "You Belong with Me", and Jeniffer Webb, also from About.com, predicted that the song would reach different age groups. Webb said, "It continues the artist's tradition of having a little something for everyone, so it's no wonder she has such a large fanbase."
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