A week after Lil Nas X, a nineteen-year-old musician from Atlanta, had his song 鈥淥ld Town Road鈥� thrown off the Country Billboard charts for not being 鈥渃ountry enough,鈥� he has emerged triumphant after his remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus went viral on Twitter, YouTube and music streaming services.
The remix of 鈥淥ld Town Road鈥� already has over 340,000 views on Lil Nas X鈥檚 after being published overnight and is the only song on Spotify鈥檚 Top 5 in the U.S. not by Billie Eilish, according to Rolling Stone.
Billboard had initially accepted the original track 鈥� touted by Columbia as a 鈥渃ountry-inspired rap track鈥� 鈥� and then changed their minds last week, saying in a statement that the song 鈥渄oes not embrace enough elements of today鈥檚 country music to chart in its current version.鈥�
The original track has over 23 million views on YouTube alone after going viral on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
The removal of Lil Nas X鈥檚 original version caused backlash, with fans and public alike noting that black artists have continually struggled to break through onto the country charts. Beyoncé鈥檚 鈥淒addy Lessons,鈥� from her album Lemonade was rejected by the Grammy Country Committee in 2016.
support to Lil Nas X prior to the remix release on Thursday, reminiscing about when he was thrown off the charts, telling Lil Nas X - 鈥渙nly outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!鈥�
