Who is Lil Nas X? The story behind the rapper's viral smash Old Town Road

The internet star-turned-rapper's debut single Old Town Road is going from viral hit to Number 1 contender.

Lil Nas X's viral hit Old Town Road looks set to takeover the charts in the UK and across the world this week.

The song is on track to enter the Top 5 on this week's Official UK Singles Chart after entering last week's Top 40 at Number 39 - and climbs to Number 1 on the latest Official Trending Chart.

Who is Lil Nas X?

Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X - or Montero Hill to his mates - first found fame as an internet personality on Twitter through his Nicki Minaj fan account @NasMaraj and more recently @FactsAboutNM and @viewsfromnas. He then began making music, releasing Old Town Road last December. The song is an unusual blend of modern hip hop and banjo-led country music.

How did Old Town Road become a viral smash?

The track went viral in early 2019 thanks to the 'Yeehaw Challenge' meme on video social media app TikTok. People film themselves transforming into cowboys and cowgirls after drinking a bottle of 'yee juice', mostly set to Lil Nas X's song. It's popularity led it to entering America's Billboard chart, where it has so far peaked at Number 15. Watch a compilation of some of the best takes on the challenge below:

Why Old Town Road in the Official UK Chart now?

The Yeehaw Challenge (#yeehaw) has gone global, leading more and more people to stream and download the song. Another big contributing factor is a new remix of the song featuring country legend Billy Ray Cyrus, which was released on April 5.

Controversy surrounding the song has also given it more exposure: after debuting at Number 19 on Billboard's country songs chart, Old Town Road was removed from the chart as it was deemed insufficiently country. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Billboard said the song "does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version."

Billy responded to removal on Twitter, posting: “I was thinking, what’s not country about it? What’s the rudimentary element of a country and western song? Then I thought, it’s honest, humble, and has an infectious hook, and a banjo. What the hell more do ya need?"

Controversy aside, Lil Nas X is the first internet star to gain this level of success through TikTok. "TikTok helped me change my life,” the rapper said on TikTok’s blog. "TikTok brought my song to several different audiences at once."

This week's Official Trending Chart Top 20

POS	CLIMB	TITLE	ARTIST	LW	CURRENT	DIFF	PREV PEAK
1	⬆️⬆️	OLD TOWN ROAD	LIL NAS X	39	4	35	39
2		TALK	KHALID	16	8	8	12
3		BOASTY	WILEY/STEFFLON DON/SEAN PAUL	11	11	0	11
4		HERE WITH ME	MARSHMELLO FT CHVRCHES	15	12	3	14
5		SO AM I	AVA MAX	20	17	3	18
6	⬆️⬆️	MONOPOLY	ARIANA GRANDE & VICTORIA MONET	40	18	22	40
7		RACING CARS	RUTI	NE	22	0
8		KILL THIS LOVE	BLACKPINK	NE	26	0
9	⬆️	ALL DAY AND NIGHT	JAX JONES/MARTIN SOLVEIG/BEER	41	27	14
10		COOL	JONAS BROTHERS	NE	31	0
11	⬆️⬆️	MY BAD	KHALID	59	37	22
12		LET ME DOWN SLOWLY	ALEC BENJAMIN	46	45	1
13		I'LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN	MOLLY HOCKING	NE	47	0
14		LAST HURRAH	BEBE REXHA	52	51	1
15		ONLY WANT YOU	RITA ORA	64	58	6
16		WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU	JONAS BLUE FT THERESA REX	70	61	9
17		NOBODY	MARTIN JENSEN & JAMES ARTHUR	66	62	4
18		RACKS IN THE MIDDLE	NIPSEY HUSSLE/RODDY RICCH	NE	71	0
19		PARADISE	BAZZI	NE	93	0
20		WHITE LIES	M-22	NE	110	0

Key

⬆️ - Indicates a climb of 10 places
LW - Last week's Official Singles Chart position
CURRENT - Current position on today's Official Singles Chart sales flash
DIFF - Number of places climbed since the previous week on the Official Singles Chart

Listen to a playlist of this week's Official Trending Chart Top 20 on Spotify below. Click here to listen on Deezer.