Jean-Baptiste Lacroix / AFP / Getty Images
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.
Longest running #1 hits in Billboard Hot 100 history (weeks):
Old Town Road 17
One Sweet Day 16
Despacito
I Will Always Love You 14
I’ll Make Love to You
Macarena
Candle in the Wind 1997
We Belong Together
I Gotta Feeling
Uptown Funk
End of the Road 13
The Boy Is Mine
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 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.”
Noam Galai / Getty Images
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.”
a black and openly gay country/hip-hop artist now has the longest #1 song in HISTORY in the united states, fuck YES @LilNasX
“never been so proud of someone,” one other commented.
And Mariah Carey added her congratulations with an image literally passing the torch to Lil Nas. “We’ve been blessed to hold this record with a song that means a great deal to @BoyzIIMen and myself and has touched so many. Keep living your best life!”
Sending love & congrats to @LilNasX 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 @BoyzIIMen and myself and has touched so many. Keep living your best life! ❤
Congrats on your record-breaking achievement, Lil Nas.
