‘Old Town Road’ Leads Charge for Longest-Running No. 1 Single
Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus now has the distinction of leading Billboard's all-genre Hot 100 chart for a record-tying 16 weeks. That's not just a long time, it's approaching a record: The country and hip-hop collaboration is only the third song in history to reach this mark.
The other two songs to reach the 16-week mark on this particular chart are Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's 1995 collaboration "One Sweet Day"; and 2017's smash summer hit "Despacitio" by Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber.
After first appearing on the app Tik Tok in 2018, "Old Town Road" became a viral hit due in part to the remix with Cyrus (and the slew of other remixes released since) which propelled the song to the top of the Hot 100 where it has sat since.
The mega-hit has blocked several popular songs from achieving the top position, including "Señorita" by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, "I Don't Care" by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, "Wow" by Post Malone—and, most notably, two Taylor Swift songs: "ME!" which features Panic! At The Disco frontman Brenden Urie; plus her latest release "You Need To Calm Down" which both stalled at the second position.
Not even the new remix to "Bad Guy" by pop It Girl of-the-moment Billie Eilish and Bieber was enough to unseat "Old Town Road" from the top position.
Now that the massive hit has tied the record for most weeks atop this particular chart, will it be able to break the all-time record? Without any huge competition this appears to be very probable. (Swift last helped defend the all-time record by taking the top spot from "Despacitio" with "Look What You Made Me Do.") Without any new releases from major artists this week, "Old Town Road" looks to continue its comfortable ride on top of the charts. This would be the first time in the Hot 100's history that a song spent 17 weeks in the lead position!
The original “Old Town Road” remake featuring just Cyrus has also achieved RIAA diamond status, with more than 10 million units sold to date; and the single has achieved the title of longest-running Hot 100 hip-hop single of all time.
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