Lil Nas X’s ‘old town road’ sets new Billboard record for most weeks at No.1

American rapper, Lil Nas X has broken Mariah Carey’s 23-year-old record for most weeks at No 1 with his viral country-trap song Old Town Road.

The breakthrough MCee smashed the record this week when the track spent its 17th week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart – the only song to do so since Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s duet One Sweet Day set the record in 1996.

“I’m on the toilet right now, but I want to say thank you to every single person who has made this moment possible for me. We just broke the record for the longest-running No 1 song of all-time,” said Lil Nas X, sporting a cowboy hat as he played Old Town Road in the background. “Let’s go!”

The song was first released on the short-form video app TikTok in February, sparking a meme in which creators drink “Yee Yee Juice” and change into western garb as the song kicks off.

“It’s been incredible to watch Old Town Road grow from its start on TikTok in February – as the backbone of an accessible and engaging meme that generated millions of creations and billions of views – to a record-breaking smash hit that has all walks of life listening on repeat,” TikTok’s general manager Vanessa Pappas told Billboard on Monday.

Old Town Road was originally recorded as a solo song until Lil Nas X added country star Billy Ray Cyrus, who lent his voice to a remix of the track after it was pulled from the country charts.

The song, which has achieved most of its success through audio streaming, also saw remixes featuring Diplo, Young Thug, Mason Ramsey and BTS. To its advantage, Billboard counts the original song and the remixes as one when calculating chart position, thus helping Old Town Road stay on top.

However, Marah Carey who was holding the record before Lil Nas X, took to Twitter to congratulate the rapper she wrote; ‘Sending love & congrats to @LilNasX on breaking one of the longest-running records in music history!’