Atlanta-born Lil Nas X‘s (real name Montero Lamar Hill) viral hit “Old Town Road” today (July 29, 2019) made history by breaking the record for most weeks spent at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. Nas X’s single has sat in the No. 1 spot for a total of 17 weeks.
The record of 16 weeks at No. 1 was held by two singles: Mariah Carey‘s 1995 single “One Sweet Day” featuring Boys to Men as well as Luis Fonsi and
Daddy Yankee’s 2017 single “Despacito” featuring Justin Beiber.
Carey congratulated the 20-year-old on Twitter where she wrote, “Sending love & congrats to Lil Nas X on breaking one of the longest running records in music history! We’ve been blessed to hold this record with a song that means a great deal to Boys to Men and myself and has touched so many. Keep living your best life!”
Nas X celebrated the achievement on Twitter and Instagram, where he provided the backstory on the game-changing single. In an emoji-filled post he wrote, “last year in october 🎃 , as a struggling artist 🤦🏾♂️starting to lose faith in what i could be, , i went looking for beats on youtube👨🏾💻. i remember clicking on so many generic sounding beats🥁😞trying to find the right one for me🤔. when suddenly i came across a country-trap 👨🏾🌾🏚sounding masterpiece🤩. i immediately knew i would make something special out of it🤯💭⚡️”
The song was able to maintain momentum thanks in part to well-received remixes featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo, Young Thug and Mason Ramsey and BTS member RM. Billboard counts the original song and its remixes as one when calculating chart position, thus helping the viral single stay on top.
