Lil Nas X lands atop Billboard for a 2nd time
They say success is the sweetest revenge — and Lil Nas X should be experiencing a sugar rush now that his latest song is topping the charts internationally.
The Grammy-winning hip-hop superstar’s latest single, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” is the No. 1 song on the U.S. and U.K. singles chart.
On Monday, Billboard that the song is officially his second Hot 100 No. 1, after his breakthrough smash “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, reigned for a record 19 weeks in 2019.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, according to the publication.
Like with “Old Town Road,” the new track is also Lil Nas X’s second No. 1 on U.K.s Official Singles Chart, which tabulates data on sales of downloads, CD, vinyl, audio streams and video streams. “Montero” is the second single to debut at No. 1 this year on the chart after Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.”
The new chart-topping success proves the naysayers wrong who thought the former TikTok sensation was a one-hit wonder.
Not becoming a casualty of the sophomore jinx, Lil Nas X (inset) celebrated the news with a series of tweets on Monday.
“Y’all told a 19 year old who had just escaped the lowest point announced of his life that he would never have a hit again,” he wrote. “You told him to stop while he’s ahead. He could’ve gave up. But 4 multi-platinum songs and 2 #1’s later, he’s still here. Thank you to my team and my fans!”
Released March 26 via Columbia Records, the sexually charged song — whose title pays a homage to the 2017 queer-themed romantic drama, “Call Me By Your Name” — has been described as “an honest, vulnerable, yet confident telling of who Montero has become.”
Montero Lamar Hill is the 21-year-old Atlanta area native’s birth name.
The corresponding music video, which Lil Nas X-directed with Tanu Muino, is a provocative riff on religious and queer themes; it’s truly the stuff entertainment legends are made of. (Ever hear of Madonna?)
To date, the controversy-inducing visual has amassed more than 92 million views on YouTube.
Pushing the envelope further, the “Satan Shoes” the video inspired (containing what many believed to be a drop of human blood in all 666 pairs) caused Nike to file a lawsuit against the Brooklyn-based creative agency behind the design.
On March 31, Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Komitee granted the sneaker giant a temporary restraining order against MSCHF that prevented any more sales of the controversial kicks. He issued the motion, saying that the sale of the shoes would cause irreparable harm to Nike.