There have been some bumps along “Old Town Road,” but Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X is cruising now.
The genre-bending single spent another week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and now it's broken the single week streaming record.
“Old Town Road” earned the title with 143 million U.S. streams, far surpassing the record set by Drake with “In My Feelings,” which drew 116.2 million streams.
» Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X's removal from country music chart sparks controversy
Both Lil Nas X’s original version of “Old Town Road” and the remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus counted toward the streaming total.
The track also earned the weekly top spot for digital song sales, with 124,000 downloads, rap-up.com reported. It's the biggest weekly total since Drake's "God's Plan" debuted with 127,000 downloads in February 2018.
“Old Town Road” is not only the first No. 1 for Lil Nas X, but also for Cyrus. The country music veteran bests his previous No. 4 Hot 100 peak with “Achy Breaky Heart” in July 1992, according to rap-up.com.
Lil Nas X garnered national attention last week when Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from its Hot Country Songs chart, saying even though the song “incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”
» Billboard removes rapper Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' from country charts
The tune debuted on the Hot 100, the Hot Country Songs and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts at the same time, according to Rolling Stone.
The original version of the tune was remixed with country music veteran Cyrus playing guitar and joining the Lithia Springs High School grad, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, on vocals.
"I loved the song the first time I heard it. Country music fans decide what they like. Not critics or anyone else," Cyrus said in a statement, according to the Washington Post.
» Country remix: Billy Ray Cyrus joins rapper Lil Nas X in 'Old Town Road'
Fans seem to agree with Cyrus. In an AJC online poll, 72% of the 1,300 voters said the song was country even without Cyrus.
You can watch the video here, if you haven’t seen it yet.
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