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Billboard Hot 100: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” Becomes #1 Song In America

“Old Town Road” soars to #1 thanks to big gains in streams, sales and airplay.

Many expect Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” to claim #1 on next week’s Billboard Hot 100, which will account for the new Billy Ray Cyrus remix in addition to the original version.

He will not have to wait that long to celebrate his #1. Based on mammoth interest in the original version, “Old Town Road” jumps fourteen places to #1 on this week’s Hot 100.

The Hot 100 ranks songs based on sales, streams and radio airplay, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” posts impressive gains in all three categories. It soars to #1 on the Streaming Songs subchart, #3 on the Digital Song Sales subchart and enjoys another week-over-week gain at radio.

Since the Billy Ray Cyrus remix debuted on Friday and Billboard’s Hot 100 relies on a Friday-Thursday tracking period, this week’s position does not account for any of the remix’s sales and streams (it does account for the slight amount of airplay that went to the remix on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The remix will factor into next week’s chart, surely giving “Old Town Road” a strong chance of keeping its crown.

“Old Town Road” dethrones Ariana Grande’s “7 rings,” which falls to #3 this week. Post Malone & Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” rises to #2, thus landing between “Old Town Road” and “7 rings.”

Post Malone’s “Wow.” falls to #4, and Halsey’s “Without Me” slips to #5.

Brian Cantor

Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. He has been a leading reporter in the music, movie, television and sporting spaces since 2002. Brian's reporting has been cited by major websites like BuzzFeed, Billboard, the New Yorker and The Fader -- and shared by celebrities like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. Contact Brian at brian.cantor[at]headlineplanet.com.

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Brian Cantor