Lil Nas X song ‘Old Town Road’ makes history a 3rd time

Lil Nas X has made history for the third.

His song “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus has been certified as the biggest song in music history, selling more than 14 million copies.

This astounding record follows two other historic achievement Lil Nas X:

  • “Old Town Road” is the longest consecutive No.1 song at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It spent an amazing 17 weeks at No. 1.
  • Lil Nas X, born Montero Lamar Hill, identifies as gay and came out to fans June 30, 2020. “Old Town Road” is the longest running No.1 hit by an artist who publicly identifies as part of the LGBTQ community.

“Old Town Road” surpassed previous record-holders “Despacito” by Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi, and Justin Bieber, and 1995’s “One Sweet Day” by Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey, which stayed at No. 1 for 16 weeks.

The previous record holder who was in part of the LGBTQ community was Elton John and his song “Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight,” which was No. 1 for 14 weeks.

Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ sets record for gay artist with longest running No.1 hit

Lil Nas X is at work on his debut album for Columbia Records, the same label that released “Old Town Road” and his highly-successful EP “7” in 2019, which features the five times platinum single “Panini” and the platinum song “Rodeo.”

Lil Nas X made his highly awaited return in November with the single “Holiday.” The song has accumulated 250 million combined streams and video views worldwide. On YouTube, it has been watched more than 100 million times. 

“Holiday” also is the first track from his forthcoming debut album. Set on Christmas Eve 2220, the video follows Lil Nas X through his futuristic North Pole workshop where he portrays four different characters.

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

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