Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ Overtakes Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ At No.1
Billie Eilish’s single ‘Bad Guy’ has finally broken Lil Nas X’s hot streak, after ‘Old Town Road’ spent a record-breaking 19 weeks at the No.1 spot.
Billie Eilish’s smash single ‘Bad Guy’ has finally broken Lil Nas X’s hot streak, after ‘Old Town Road’ spent a record-breaking 19 weeks at the No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
This marks the first No.1 for Eilish, as ‘Bad Guy’ rises from the No. 2 spot, overtaking the longest-leading Hot 100 of all-time in Billboard history.
Lil Nas X’s rise to fame has been a uniquely 21st century phenomenon. While the track first premiered way back in December of 2018, it’s become a ubiquitous presence for the past six months, with countless remixes, cover versions and chart controversies.
Thanks to its popularity on the social video platform TikTok, the “country-trap” tune quickly became the song of the summer and this year’s ‘Gangnam Style’-viral success story.
After Billboard decided to remove it from their Hot Country Songs chart, country stalwart Billy Ray Cyrus jumped on a remix version of the track, lending the song another boost of popularity and credibility among the Nashville crowd.
After appearing on the remix, Cyrus weighed in on Billboard’s decision to remove the song, writing on Twitter: “Been watching everything going on with OTR [‘Old Town Road’]. When I got thrown off the charts, Waylon Jennings said to me ‘Take this as a compliment’ means you’re doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!”
Like Lil Nas X, Eilish is also very much a modern pop star of the internet age. ‘Bad Guy’ is the latest single from her debut full-length album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? which debuted atop the Billboard 200.
The singer also released a remix version of ‘Bad Guy’ with her pop idol Justin Bieber back in July, but even that couldn’t thwart the runaway success of ‘Old Town Road’.
Upon hearing the news, the 20-year-old Georgian rapper congratulated Eilish on social media writing, “Congratulations to Billie Eilish!! U deserve this!”.
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? can be bought here.
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