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Lil Nas X may be taking a brief break from music, as he previously announced a few weeks ago–but his smash breakout song ‘Old Town Road‘ surely isn’t.
After dominating the Billboard charts for most of the summer, and successfully making and breaking chart records repeatedly–the Billy Ray Cyrus assisted single has now reached diamond status.
via Complex:
On Tuesday night, Columbia Records announced X’s hit “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus was certified diamond by the RIAA, making it the fastest song history to reach the milestone. The diamond certification is bestowed to albums or singles that sell at least 10,000,000 units. Other artists who have achieved this feat include Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Eminem.
Columbia also stated “Old Town Road” was the first to earn the diamond certification in 2019; however, Drake’s 2018 track “God’s Plan” was certified diamond back in September, about 20 months after it hit streaming services. It’s likely Columbia meant the Cyrus-assisted version of “Old Town Road” was the first track released in 2019 to reach diamond status.
Released independently in late 2018, “Old Town Road” became a viral sensation at the beginning of the year, thanks in large part to the “Yeehaw Challenge” meme on TikTok. The song has since been remixed many times, and has featured everyone from Young Thug to Mason Ramsey and BTS. The genre-defying track also prevented music heavyweights from securing No. 1 debuts, as it had occupied the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 consecutive weeks, making it the longest running No. 1 single in the chart’s history.
.@LilNasX‘s “Old Town Road” is the first 2019 song to be certified @RIAA Diamond.
— chart data (@chartdata) October 22, 2019
Congrats to Lil Nas X! The rapper is currently working on his first full-length album due in 2020.
