Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” Has Broken One Of The Longest-Standing Records In Music History

07/29/2019

Lil Nas X on Monday conquered one of the longest-held records in pop music history.

With “Old Town Road” securing an astounding 17th week on the Billboard Hot 100, the rapper has officially broken the record first set by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” which ran for an impressive 16 weeks.

That iconic collaboration began its run atop the chart beginning in December 1995 until March 1996.

In 2017, Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” tied with “One Sweet Day” for most weeks at No. 1, however, it didn’t break the record as the song was unseated by Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Ahead of the news being made official, Lil Nas X posted this image on Twitter, as he was probably anticipating the big achievement.

In a later post, Lil Nas said, “This song has changed my life. and the way i see the world around me in less than a year.”

“Thank you to every single person who has been apart of this journey as i said before, it’s just the beginning.”

“Old Town Road” got off to a rocky start earlier this year, steeped in controversy regarding whether or not it was more of a country song or a hip-hop song.

Billboard removed the song from its Country chart and in a statement said, “It does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”

Responding to Billboard, Lil Nas X went back to the drawing board and added country musician Billy Ray Cyrus to the track. It later catapulted to No. 1, where it’s been since mid-April and served as Cyrus’s second No. 1 song since 1990’s “Achy Breaky Heart.”

More remixes came after that one, including a version with Young Thug and viral sensation Mason Ramsey, as well as another featuring RM of the K-pop group BTS.

In late June, aka Pride Month, the rising star made the decision to come out as gay over social media. His announcement was met with tremendous support from fans and allies who commended his decision.

And now people are celebrating Lil Nas’ latest accomplish: his record-breaking song.

“We did it cowboys,” one fan said.

“A black and openly gay country/hip-hop artist now has the longest #1 song in HISTORY,” another said, adding, “fuck YES.”

“never been so proud of someone,” one other commented.

Congrats on your record-breaking achievement, Lil Nas.

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