“Old Town Road” sets new record, dethrones One Sweet Day and Despacito.
Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus now holds the record for the longest running No. 1 song in Billboard Hot 100 history.
The record was previously held by Mariah Carey and Boys II Men’s 1995 single “One Sweet Day,” which dominated the charts for an impressive 16 weeks. In 2017 Luis Fonsi’s Despacito with Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber tied with One Sweet Day for most weeks spent atop the Billboard chart.
“Old Town Road” first gained popularity on Tik Tok, a video sharing app that has birthed several viral YouTube challenges. The song ultimately gained notoriety when Billboard booted it out from its country chart for not aligning with their standards of modern day country music. The decision sparked a social media outrage with several celebrities and fans tweeting in support of Nas.
The 20-year answered Billboard’s criticism by adding Country Music legend Billy Ray Cyrus to to the official remix of the record. Nas’ goofy nature and Billy Ray’s slick talk quickly made the song a fan favorite and the rest, as they say is history.
Since then Nas added Young Thug, Mason Ramsey and BTS’s Namjoon to the record.
In May, Lil Nas X shared the star-studded “Old Town Road” music video, with cameos from Chris Rock and Vince Staples. He soon followed it with a 7-track EP featuring Cardi B, Travis Barker, Boi-1Da and more.
