Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Ties Mariah Carey's Billboard Record with 16-Week Run

It is 16 weeks on and hitmaker, Lil Nas X is still riding his horse, but this time it is on the Billboard charts and he is set to make history soon.

As at 23rd of July, Old Town Road, which was initially a solo song before Lil Nas X featured Billy Ray Cyrus on the track hit a record matching milestone.

The song has topped the Billboard Hot 100 all-genre chart for an outstanding 16 weeks, thus equaling the success of Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit song, “One Sweet Day” and “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber in 2017.

For the past six decades of the Billboard charts, no track has ever topped the chart for more than 16 weeks on the Hot 100 chart for all-genre classification.

It is apparent that the 20-year-old is hoping the to set the new record and go into the 17th week with his song still standing on top of the charts. On Monday, he posted a video on his social media page which showed popular cartoon character, “Squidward Tentacles” from ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ saying:

“Please stream ‘Old Town Road”’

The image was followed with a caption which attributed the cartoon image to Lil Nas X’s wish to break the milestone record. In his words:

“Me on the internet this whole week tryna break the billboard record.”

Previous pacesetters, Mariah Carey and trio, Fonsi, Daddy, and Justin Bieber were about to beat the 16-week bench before being stopped in their tracks. In 1996, Celine Dion’s hit song “Because You Loved Me” put an end to Mariah Carey’s, One Sweet Day, 16-week run. While Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” did the same for Fonsi’s Despacito in 2017.

BILLY RAY CYRUS SPEAKS ON THE SONG

Billy, who was featured on the song following its original solo version by Lil Nas X, thanked God for letting him be part of such a successful piece.

“I’m giving God the glory for allowing me the gift to be part of such a special song. It’s a unique moment in our time where people from all over the world and all walks of life find they have more in common than they do different…”

he stated on Monday.

The controversy which has accompanied the song on whether it is ‘country’ enough or not and saw it removed from the country charts by Billboard has only propelled it according to reports.

“The song has been a uniter not a divider,” Billy said.