Lil Nas X Can't Be Told Anything Since 'Old Town Road' Has Been No. 1 For 16 Weeks

It's been sixteen long weeks since Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" – the version with Billy Ray Cyrus – hit the best of the Billboard Hot 100, although you were hearing about it long before then. The jokes, the memes, the witty MTV News headlines that used the song's name and lyrics for quick laughs (which we're super overjoyed, of by the way): it's stretched back since the song first went viral on TikTok and has come to be perhaps the biggest moment in pop culture now. Today, at sixteen weeks, Lil Nas X has come to even more legendary territory. "Old Town Road" ties the record for the longest-running song at NO. 1 in the chart's history that stretches more than sixty years. Yeehaw.


there really are only two other songs that meet this distinction: the megahit "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Beiber, and "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Boys The odds are that "Old Town Road" will continue its reign well into next week. Then, it'll surpass these records, causing us to write something even grander about the song. Lil Nas X, forever the Twitter joker, posted a SpongeBob Squarepants clip to show his commitment to stretching the run to 17 weeks.


Lil Nas X has embraced "Old Town Road" to the fullest, yet that hasn't stopped him from marching along past it. He dropped a new EP, 7, in June, featuring "Rodeo" with Cardi B and his Chowder-referencing tune, "Panini." Earlier this month, he released a Area 51-themed cartoon visual for his latest version of the "Old Town Road (Remix)" with Young Thug, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Mason Ramsey.