Some of Mariah Carey‘s fans weren’t happy about Lil Nas X breaking her Billboard Hot 100 record.
His song “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus surpassed her and Boyz II Men‘s record for the longest-running number one single in Billboard Hot 100 history on Monday, July 29.
Their track “One Sweet Day” spent sixteen weeks atop the chart in 1995 and 1996 while “OTR” just broke theirs with seventeen weeks.
Mariah, 49, and Boyz II Men have shared the 16-week record with Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee‘s (featuring Justin Bieber) “Despacito” since the summer of 2017. The pop legend and R&B group held it before that for almost twelve years.
The “Fantasy” singer congratulated Lil Nas, 20, on Instagram Monday after news broke about his accomplishment.
“Sending love & congrats to @lilnasx on breaking one of the longest running records in music history!” she wrote. “We’ve been blessed to hold this record with a song that means a great deal to @BoyzIIMen and myself and has touched so many.”
“Keep living your best life!” she continued. “One Sweet Day will always hold a special place in my heart and I want to thank anyone who’s ever told me how this song has affected them and their loved ones.”
Not everyone was happy with Mariah being dethroned and let their feelings be heard in the comments section of her Instagram post.
“This just hurts my heart,” one wrote. “Okay but only one was accomplished with PURE SALES… don’t be so humble when the record was really something back when you set the standard mama,” another one chimed in.
Getting to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 is far different now compared to when “One Sweet Day” was on the charts. It wasn’t too long ago when songs relied on sales and airplay only in order for them to maneuver to the top whereas aspects like streaming and YouTube views now play a part in who takes the top spot.
Mariah’s fans continued to bring that up, writing “Truly the end of an era. Streaming has ruined music.”
“He doesnt deserve it bc he keeps releasing remixes to break that record,” another wrote. Lil Nas, 20, released several remixes of “OTR” since its original release that featured artists like Diplo and Young Thug.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0hgLnilJxj/
Lil Nas showed love for Mariah’s words on Instagram, calling her a “LEGEND,” which, let’s be honest here, isn’t even arguable.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0gsS24F_9r/
He also reflected on his journey to getting to this point in an emoji-filled Instagram post that he shared after Billboard posted about his exciting news.
Do you think Lil Nas deserves to have this record or should it still be Mariah’s?