"Old Town Road": Rap With A Twang

"OLd Town Road" Tops iTunes

Lil Nas X is riding back stronger than ever. The 19-year-old Atlanta rapper behind the hit single “Old Town Road” was removed from the Hot Country chart last week after Billboard deemed the track not “country” enough. The move immediately spurred accusations of discrimination from fellow rappers, including Tyga and Ski Mask Slump.

According to The Daily Beast, the outcry has only spurred Lil Nas X to further success, however, as the rapper returned with a remix, this time with the support of another country outlaw. “Old Town Road (Remix)” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus dropped Thursday night, and climbed to No. 2 on Apple Music by Friday evening. The original “Old Town Road,” meanwhile, is sitting pretty at No. 1 on the platform. (Billboard won’t release their charts until next week.)

The up-and-down journey of “Old Town Road” started on the social media platform TikTok. A prolific user, Lil Nas X posted his song on the app, which is largely dominated by teenagers making short-form, highly edited videos.

Following the rules of viral success, the song then leaped over to Twitter, Instagram and YouTube before populating streaming platforms like SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple Music. Lil Nas X did it all without being signed to a label, meaning he never officially released a studio song ready for airplay. The song sparked a bidding war, however, and Lil Nas X is now with Columbia Records.

Cyrus, Nas X

Radio stations, wanting to capitalize on the viral hit, ripped the song straight off YouTube. According to New York magazine, the YouTube version—which became the track’s unofficial music video—uses montage footage from the video game Red Redemption 2. With both social media and traditional music avenues on board, the song then hit Billboard’s charts, debuting at No. 36 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop, No. 83 on the Hot 100, and No. 19 on the Hot Country charts.

Then, suddenly, it was taken off the charts. Rolling Stone was the first to report that Billboard had quietly removed the country rap single from the Hot Country chart. Billboard told Columbia Records that his inclusion was accidental and, upon review, did not meet the requirements for country “musical composition.”

“While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version,” Billboard said in a statement. Had they not removed the track, “Old Town Road” would’ve likely topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Lil Nas X has “hope” the remix will bring him back to Billboard’s country charts, but there’s no guarantee. Billboard often considers original and remixed songs as one when it comes to charting.

Another obstacle: Billboard’s charting criteria includes radio performance. A Billboard spokesperson told The Washington Post that “Old Town Road” recieved 63 plays on mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop radio stations but “zero on country equivalents.”