The rapper whose song “Old Town Road” broke the Billboard Hot 100 record was Lil Nas X. The song spent 19 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2019, surpassing the previous 16-week record shared by “One Sweet Day” and “Despacito.”
Lil Nas X first released the song independently in December 2018. A TikTok trend called the “Yeehaw Challenge” propelled it into the mainstream, while a remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus expanded its country-pop crossover appeal. Billboard combined the performance of sufficiently similar versions when counting the song’s chart run.
The track also became part of a major genre debate after Billboard removed it from the Hot Country Songs chart, saying it did not fit the category. That controversy did not affect its Hot 100 success. A later mix-up is crediting the record solely to Billy Ray Cyrus: he appears on the remix, but Lil Nas X is the song’s primary artist and the answer to this question.