Lil Nas X Is About to Beat a World Record!

Lil Nas X released his song, Old Town Road, on December 3, 2018. It went viral. It went really viral. But, unlike the previous viral hit (Gangnam Style, which was for a time the most-viewed video on YouTube), it’s vitality resulted in what just might be a new world record for the longest #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 chart!

Lil Was X is about to beat a world record, and go down in history! Here’s everything you need to know about the song, in chronological order and order of importance!

Sample of NIN

Lil Nas X made what’s arguably the best hip-hop/trap/country genre crossover song in history. It uses many of the elements of each genre to achieve a truly unique sound. It uses the drums and rhythms of typical trap songs combined with lyrics about horses and fields and “cheating on my baby” that are common to country songs. Another element that adds a bit of “country” is the banjo sound, which was actually sampled from a Nine Inch Nails track!

Inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2

The viral song was released right on the tails of the epic PS4 game – Red Dead Redemption 2. The game release itself was an exciting event in the gaming community, so this song came out at just the absolutely perfect time.

Viral on TikTok

As I’ve mentioned, the song is a viral sensation. And, what’s more, it went viral on TikTok of all places! The song came with everything that’s necessary for a meme track: it was released on the “young people” social network du jour, it’s a fire track, and it came with its own dance! Very quickly other TikTokers began making their own videos featuring the song, and well, the rest is history.

Signed to Columbia

The song was originally released independently by Lil Nas X, but when it went viral, he was quickly signed by Columbia records, which officially released the Old Town Road single on December 3, 2018. Now that the song could be officially purchased and streamed, it was eligible for being charted on the Billboard Chart, which it did almost immediately.