‘Old Town Road’ is Number One No More
Billie Eilish‘s “Bad Guy” finally moved into the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after waiting nine nonconsecutive weeks at number two. The alternative track replaces Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” which spent a record-breaking 19 weeks at number one.
Billboard reported the news on Monday, August 19. “OTR” (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) drops down to number three this week while Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello‘s song “Senorita” rises to number two.
Lil Nas, 20, congratulated Billie, 17, on her first number-one single moments after news broke. “Congratulations to billie eilish!!,” he tweeted. “u deserve this!!
The Georgia native made international news when he broke the record for the longest-running Billboard Hot 100 single on Monday, July 29. The honor was previously held by “One Sweet Day” (Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men) and “Despacito” (Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber) at sixteen weeks apiece.
Mariah, 49, personally congratulated Lil Nas on Instagram for his accomplishment. “One Sweet Day” held the record for 21 years before “Despacito” came in with the tie in 2017.
Lil Nas, who came out on the last day of Pride month in June, kept the interest in “OTR” going for months by releasing remixes that featured the likes of Diplo and Young Thug. This helped him keep the song at number one over others like both of Taylor Swift‘s first singles off her new album Lover (“ME!” featuring Brendon Urie and “You Need To Calm Down”).
“OTR”, plus his ever-growing social media persona and interest in who he is, helped land him the cover of coveted magazines like Time and Paper. He has also earned himself multiple nominations at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards on Monday, August 26, including Video of the Year. He’ll be performing his new track “Panini” during the iconic award show.