‘Old Town Road’ Has Smashed Chart Records, And Lil Nas X Danced On The Toilet To Celebrate
It's officially the longest-held #1 song on the US charts.
Lil Nas X has done it: ‘Old Town Road’ has spent 17 weeks at the #1 spot on the US Billboard 200 charts, breaking a record previously held by both Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’ remix and Mariah Carey’s 1995 song with Boyz II Men, ‘One Sweet Day’. And he’s celebrating.
In case you need a reminder, ‘Old Town Road’ sky-rocketed to number #1 off the back of a viral TikTok challenge, but only spent one week there. A dispute with the Billboard charts over whether the song should be counted on the country charts saw Billy Ray Cyrus lend his voice on a remix as a fuck-you — and the rest is now literally history, with three additional remixes helping keep the song fresh.
Lil Nas took to Instagram to celebrate with a long, emoji-filled caption where he detailed creating the song last October. In it, he details how he was down-and-out living on his sister’s couch, and had to move out soon — facing getting a job, he doubled-down and tried to create his ‘masterpiece’.
“It needed to be funny, it needed to be catchy, it needed to be hip-hop, it needed to be country and it needed to be short,” he wrote.
“Did I know it would become the longest running number 1 song of all-time? NO!!! But i am so thankful that this blessing has been placed upon me. 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 [sic] of this journey. As I said before, it’s just the beginning!”
He also posted a video of himself dancing to the song on the toilet.
— nope (@LilNasX) July 29, 2019
Lil Nas X also paid respect to Mariah Carey, calling her a legend. The feeling is clearly mutual, with Carey previously being one of many volunteers for the next ‘Old Town Road’ remix.
It’s a remarkable achievement for any song, and especially for Lil Nas, considering he was virtually unknown a year ago — and best-known for running a Nicki Minaj stan Twitter.
There’s also something wonderful about the song replacing ‘One Sweet Day’ on the charts. As Myles E. Johnson wrote for Afropunk, Mariah and Boyz II Men’s song is a duet to honour the lives of those lost in the AIDS epidemic, and having a queer black country-rapper’s song replace that “is a fantastic exchange from grief to escape”.
On Friday, Ariana Grande is releasing a new song, ‘Boyfriend’. But if Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish x Justin Bieber, Beyoncé’s The Lion King song and Taylor Swift’s comeback singles couldn’t knock ‘Old Town Road’ down from the top spot, can she? Time will tell.
Meanwhile, Lil Nas and Sony are being sued for US $25 million over an uncleared ‘sample’ on ‘Carry On’, but neither have commented publicly. Nobody can’t tell them nothing. Read Lil Nas’ Instagram post below.