"Old Town Road" is the debut single of American rapper

Lil Nas X Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single " Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popul ...

, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in March 2019. Lil Nas X also recorded a remix with American country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, which was released on April 5, 2019. Both were included in Lil Nas X's second EP, '' 7'' (2019). The song has been widely labeled as " country rap", a genre that had not often reached the mainstream prior to its release. Dutch record producer YoungKio composed the instrumental and made it available for purchase online in 2018. It features a sample of " 34 Ghosts IV" by the American industrial rock band

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the ban ...

. The sample was placed behind

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

-style Roland TR-808 drums and bass. Lil Nas X purchased the instrumental for US$30 and recorded "Old Town Road" in one day. At the time, he had been living with his sister after dropping out of college; his real-world struggles were an influence on some of the lyrics. The song initially gained popularity on the social video sharing app TikTok and eventually entered the '' Billboard'' charts in March 2019. The song reached number 19 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart before the magazine disqualified it from the chart on the grounds that it did not fit the genre, sparking a debate on the definition of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

. Though it was not re-entered onto the overall country charts, both versions of the song collectively peaked at number one on the general ''Billboard'' Hot 100, for a record-breaking nineteen consecutive weeks. One or more versions of "Old Town Road" have topped the national singles charts in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and have charted in the top 10 in various other markets. The song was certified

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

in October 2019 for selling ten million total units in the United States, the fastest song to be certified diamond. At the

62nd Annual Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Al ...

, the remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus was nominated for Record of the Year and won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and

Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

. In October 2019, Nas X's label

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

, won the Music & Sound Recordings Award from SAG-AFTRA "for work that exemplifies equal access" of

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

and "other misrepresented or underrepresented groups." In September 2021, the song set the record as the second highest certified song ever by the

with 16-times platinum status in the United States, meaning it accumulated 16 million equivalent song units. It has sold over 18 million records worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' named it the 490th greatest song of all time in its 2021 list.

Background and recording

Country rap, and its subgenre, country trap, emerged onto the mainstream following the American rapper

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...

's experimental mixtape '' Beautiful Thugger Girls'' (2017). Lil Nas X has cited Young Thug as a pioneer of country trap. In May 2018,

Lil Tracy Jazz Ishmael Butler (born October 3, 1995), professionally known as Lil Tracy, is an American rapper and singer. He was also known under the name Yung Bruh during the beginning of his career. Tracy is best known for his collaborations with the l ...

and

Lil Uzi Vert Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. They are characterized by their facial tattoos, facial piercings, eccentric hairstyles and androgynous fashion, ima ...

ignited the trend with their country rap single "Like a Farmer (Remix)". In 2018, Lil Nas X dropped out of college to pursue a music career even though he was discouraged by his parents. He moved in with his sister, spending time promoting his music on the Internet while having just three hours of sleep each night. Lil Nas X found the beat for "Old Town Road" in October 2018 and began writing after his sister told him he had to move out soon. Lil Nas X felt like he was "out of options" and said that his sister's and parents' frustrations with him inspired the song's chorus, "can't nobody tell me nothing". Within a month of writing it, Lil Nas X chose to alter the song's meaning so that the "old town road" would be a symbol of success. Lil Nas X recorded the song on December 2, 2018, at the CinCoYo Recording Studio in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, and released it the same day on SoundCloud under the title "Old Town Road (I Got the Horses in the Back)". The Dutch record producer YoungKio produced the beat a year before the song's release and uploaded it to his online store for selling beats. He sampled

' track " 34 Ghosts IV", modifying it with studio techniques so that it sounded like an old field recording, then reordering sections in an effort to make the austere original more catchy. He had never heard of Nine Inch Nails before stumbling upon "34 Ghosts IV". Lil Nas X bought the beat from YoungKio for $30, but since purchases on his online store were anonymous, YoungKio did not know the song was purchased by Lil Nas X until he saw it in an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

meme in December 2018. Trent Reznor later said that, shortly after the song began gaining traction, he received a call from Lil Nas X's manager about the sample, asking for clearance to use it, which he granted. He described the song as "undeniably hooky". On December 4, 2018, a day after the original version's release, Lil Nas X tweeted that he wanted Cyrus on the song. Lil Nas X knew of Cyrus because of his role on the Disney Channel television series ''

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart ( Miley Cyrus), ...

''. The country singer Jake Owen was originally approached to co-write and record the first remix of "Old Town Road". The Columbia Records executive, Ron Perry, reached out to Cyrus' wife Tish Cyrus saying that he would love it if Cyrus were to hear "Old Town Road". Cyrus first heard the song over coffee on March 16, 2019, when Tish played it to him. Cyrus explained that he loved the original song the first time he heard it. Cyrus also mentioned that he related to the song the first time he heard it, connecting the "old town road" to the Old Town Bridge in Argillite, Kentucky, that he used to play on as a child. In response to ''Billboard'' removing "Old Town Road" from the Hot Country Songs chart, Cyrus tweeted his support for Lil Nas X and noted that the removal put him in the ranks of great outlaws.

Composition

"Old Town Road" has been variously described by publications as a country rap,
-

-

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

, rock Southern hip hop, or country trap song. Lil Nas X himself said that he regards it as the latter. Produced by YoungKio, "Old Town Road" samples

' track "34 Ghosts IV" from their sixth studio album '' Ghosts I–IV'' (2008). The song prominently features the playing of a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

along with trap-style Roland TR-808 drums and bass throughout. It has been compared to

's 2018 single "Like a Farmer", which was later remixed by

. The song is composed in the key of G minor with a chord progression of Gm-B^add9-F-Cm7. It has an approximate tempo of 68 beats per minute.

Release and promotion

"Old Town Road" was released independently as a single on December 3, 2018, during the rise of the "Yeehaw Agenda" meme, a movement appropriating cowboy fashion and culture. Danny Kang, the manager of the viral country artist Mason Ramsey, suggested to ''

'' that Lil Nas X listed the song under the country music genre on SoundCloud and iTunes as a way to manipulate chart algorithms, as it would be easier to top the country charts than the dominant hip hop/rap charts. Lil Nas X began creating memes to promote "Old Town Road" before it was picked up by TikTok users. The song's first music video is composed entirely of footage and clips from the 2018 Western

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

, ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in 1899 and f ...

''. The song gained traction in late December 2018 after becoming the "Yeehaw Challenge" meme on TikTok, where users created short videos set to the song. The challenge is credited with launching the song to enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 83, the chart on which the song has since peaked at number one. The song's popularity grew so quickly that radio stations had to download the audio from

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

. On March 22, 2019, the success of the song allowed Lil Nas X to sign to

, which now distributes the single. The first official remix of "Old Town Road", featuring the American country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, was released on April 5, 2019, by

. The remix was recorded in support of "Old Town Road" being recognized as a country song. A limited edition 7-inch vinyl single was made available for purchase on May 1, 2019, with the remix on the A-side and the original on the B-side.
- The remix was eventually included with the original on Lil Nas X's second EP, '' 7''. The music video for the remix was released on May 17, 2019. It was directed by Calmatic, and has guest appearances by

Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best comedy ...

, HaHa Davis, Rico Nasty, Diplo, Jozzy, Young Kio and Vince Staples. On March 29, 2019, Lil Nas X danced to "Old Town Road" with the Atlanta Hawks cheerleaders during a basketball game at State Farm Arena. On April 29, 2019, Lil Nas X and Cyrus performed the live debut of "Old Town Road" as part of Diplo's set at the Stagecoach Festival. On June 24, 2019, Lil Nas X and Cyrus performed the song together on a saloon-themed stage for the

2019 BET Awards The 19th BET Awards were held on June 23, 2019 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony celebrated achievements in entertainment and honors music, sports, television, and movies. Cardi B received the most nominations with seve ...

. On January 26, 2020, Lil Nas X performed "Old Town Road" at the

with Diplo, BTS, Mason Ramsey and Billy Ray Cyrus, before finishing his performance with "Rodeo" along with Nas.

Genre controversy

"Old Town Road" achieved a rare feat in '' Billboard'' history when it simultaneously charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

charts in March 2019. However, ''Billboard'' quietly removed "Old Town Road" from its Hot Country chart for "not mbracingenough elements of today's country music". Had it not been disqualified, "Old Town Road" would have been the Hot Country Songs number-one song, in the chart dated April 6, 2019. Lil Nas X said he was "extremely disappointed" by the decision. In an interview, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' reporter Andrew R. Chow brought up ''Billboard''s decision to remove "Old Town Road" from the country chart but to keep it on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, asking Lil Nas X if he considered "Old Town Road" a country song. Lil Nas X replied, "The song is country trap. It's not one, it's not the other. It's both. It should be on both harts" Lil Nas X submitted the song for consideration in rap categories at the

, but the award show's rap committee recategorized it in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, where it ultimately won. The exclusion of "Old Town Road" brought criticism of the evaluation of the work of non-white artists in the country genre, with the ''Rolling Stone'' writer Elias Leight referring to Beyoncé, another black artist, whose song " Daddy Lessons" failed to be considered a country song by

The Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

in 2016. Leight also pointed out other difficulties faced by black artists making cross-genre music, noting that the rapper Juice Wrld's '' Death Race for Love'' (2019) would "probably be the most commercially successful rock album of 2019", but would never appear on rock charts or playlists, another genre, like country, predominated by white artists. In the music journalist

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

's opinion, "Taking 'Old Town Road' off the country chart strikes me as racist pure and simple, because country radio remains racist regardless of the Darius Ruckers and Kane Browns it makes room for." In light of the criticism, ''Billboard'' later stated that the decision to remove "Old Town Road" from the Hot Country Songs chart had nothing to do with Lil Nas X's race. When asked if he believed the decision by ''Billboard'' had any racial undertones, Lil Nas X replied, "I believe whenever you're trying something new, it's always going to get some kind of bad reception." Despite being removed from the main Country Songs chart, "Old Town Road" managed to chart on ''Billboard'''s

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart, entering at number 53 and peaking at number 50. In response, Sony Music Nashville CEO Randy Goodman told ''Billboard'' that his team had started testing the song in some country radio markets, adding "it would be negligent not to look at it".

Commercial performance

In the United States, the original version of "Old Town Road" reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the week ending April 13, 2019; at one minute and 53 seconds in length, it became the shortest number-one single since " I'm Henry VIII, I Am" by

Herman's Hermits Herman's Hermits are an English beat, rock and pop group formed in 1964 in Manchester, originally called Herman and His Hermits and featuring lead singer Peter Noone. Produced by Mickie Most, the Hermits charted with number ones in the UK ...

in 1965 and the fifth-shortest in the history of the chart. In the following week, it and the newly released remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus received a combined 143 million streams, surpassing Drake's " In My Feelings", which in the previous year had amassed 116.2 million in the same period, as the song with the highest single-week streaming figure in the country. This song also became Cyrus's biggest hit in the U.S. since " Achy Breaky Heart" peaked at number four on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

27 years ago. "Old Town Road" continued to exceed 100 million streams in each of the eight following weeks, and in June 2019, was responsible for the three highest weekly U.S. streaming totals in the history of digital music, as well as nine of the eleven highest overall. In October 2019, "Old Town Road" became the fastest single in RIAA history to receive diamond certification in the United States. The certification, which is awarded to singles that attain national combined sales and streams of ten million units, was achieved by the song in its eleventh month of release. The single had sold 1.6 million digital copies in the United States by February 2020. "Old Town Road" topped the Hot 100 for nineteen consecutive weeks from April 13 to August 17, 2019. On August 24, it was finally unseated by Billie Eilish's " Bad Guy" which had waited in the runner-up spot for nine nonconsecutive weeks. "Old Town Road"'s overall run at number one is the longest in chart history, surpassing the previous record of sixteen weeks achieved by both " One Sweet Day" by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the ...

and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Natha ...

(1995–96), and " Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

(2017). In July 2019, "Old Town Road" also became the first number-one single on the ''Rolling Stone'' Top 100 chart when it held the position in the chart's inaugural edition. In accordance with their methodologies, ''Billboard'' and ''Rolling Stone'' each assign a single position to "Old Town Road" on their respective charts by combining the performance figures of every released version of the song determined to be sufficiently similar to the original. The former publication credits the entirety of the song's chart run solely to the remix featuring Cyrus. Elsewhere, the original version of the song topped the national singles charts in at least ten other countries — Australia (thirteen weeks), France and Norway (eight weeks each), Austria (six weeks); Switzerland (five weeks), Denmark, Germany and Ireland (four weeks each), Portugal (three weeks), and the United Kingdom (two weeks) — and charted within the top ten in more than five others. The remix featuring Cyrus achieved a record 19-weeks run at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked within the top five in more than five other markets. Both versions of the song were credited as number-one singles in Belgium, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Track listing

Vinyl release

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel for "Old Town Road" and the four official remixes adapted from Tidal. *

– lead artist, songwriter * YoungKio – producer, songwriter * Trent Reznor – producer, songwriter, background vocals * Atticus Ross – producer, songwriter * Cinco – recording engineer * Billy Ray Cyrus – featured artist, songwriter * Jocelyn "Jozzy" Donald – background vocals, songwriter * Andrew "VoxGod" Bolooki – vocal producer, mix engineer * Joe Grasso – engineer * Eric Lagg – mastering engineer * Diplo – re-mixer *

– featured artist, songwriter * Mason Ramsey – featured artist, songwriter * Jake Owen – background vocals, songwriter * Ernest K. Smith – songwriter * A Bainz – recording engineer * Shaan Singh – recording engineer * Alex Tumay – vocal producer * Joey Moi – vocal producer * RM – featured artist, songwriter

Awards and nominations

Listed below are awards and nominations for both "Old Town Road" and "Old Town Road (Remix)" featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Old Town Road Old Town Road (feat. RM of BTS)

Other remixes and versions

The single's second official remix, "Old Town Road (Diplo Remix)", was released on April 29, 2019, with additional production by the American DJ Diplo. The country music website, ''The Boot'', described it as a "remix of remix" as it still retained vocals from Billy Ray Cyrus. The remix was premiered at Diplo's set for the country music Stagecoach Festival alongside the first-ever live performance of "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X and Cyrus. Just before Lil Nas X and Cyrus' surprise on-stage appearance at Stagecoach 2019, Diplo claimed. "Let me tell you, Old Town Road" isa country song." The Diplo remix peaked at number 24 on the RMNZ New Zealand Hot Singles chart. The remix is included on Diplo's second studio album, '' Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley, Chapter 1: Snake Oil'' (2020). A third official remix, titled "Old Town Road (Remix)", was released on July 12, 2019. It retains Cyrus' guest appearance and adds the American rapper

and the American singer Mason Ramsey. The remix was released in an effort to keep "Old Town Road" at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as the song was two weeks away from tying for the all-time Hot 100 record held by " One Sweet Day" by

and

and " Despacito" by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee; it has since broken that record. In an interview with ''Billboard'' in March 2019, the producer YoungKio said that he would want Young Thug for a remix of "Old Town Road", saying, "I've listened to every single song of his, and I think he's qualified to do this remix. I've listened to ''Beautiful Thugger Girls'', and he has some country vibes on there." Young Thug has been previously credited with bringing country trap into the mainstream with his experimental mixtape, '' Beautiful Thugger Girls'' (2017). Lil Nas X called him a pioneer of bridging the gap between country and trap. The single's fourth official remix, "Old Town Road (

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

Town Road Remix)", featuring the South Korean rapper RM of BTS was released on July 24, 2019. It is the only official remix to not feature Cyrus. Lil Nas X announced shortly afterwards that "Seoul Town Road" would be the final remix. It reached number eight on the RMNZ

New Zealand Hot Singles Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Record ...

chart. The American country singer Jake Owen and the American rapper Lil Wayne both recorded verses for planned remixes that were unofficially released. Owen's remix was shared on '' The Bobby Bones Show'' in May 2019 and his verse was later replaced by Ramsey. Lil Wayne's remix was leaked on July 25, 2019, and he performed it live at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Mus ...

the next month. The American rapper Cupcakke released her leaked remix of "Old Town Road", titled "Old Town Hoe", on April 17, 2019. The remix reinterprets the lyric "I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more" in a sexually explicit way. A music video was released in May 2019 and has Cupcakke and her backup dancers riding toy horses and handling phallic objects, including lollipops, water bottles and

corn on the cob Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked ear of sweet corn ( maize) eaten directly off the cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender. Ears of corn are steamed, boiled, or ...

. Lil Nas X responded favorably to the remix. The actor-comedian Omi Vaidya parodied the song with "Oak Tree Road", a song about Asian Indian culture in the US.

Postmodern Jukebox Postmodern Jukebox, also widely known by the initialism PMJ, is a rotating musical collective founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. PMJ is known for reworking popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early 2 ...

also covered the song, doing it in the style of a

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Miche Braden Miche Braden (born November 14, 1953) is a jazz singer and theatrical performer known for her on-stage portrayals of Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the J ...

sang the lead vocals. The song was featured in an episode of '' The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder'', fittingly titled "Old Towne Road", with Lil Nas X guest starring as one of the voices. Rather than Billy Ray Cyrus' section of the song, the character of Bobby Proud, voiced by Cedric the Entertainer, joins in with newly written lyrics.

Notes

References

{{CMA Musical Event of the Year 2018 songs 2018 debut singles 2019 singles Lil Nas X songs Songs written by Lil Nas X Billy Ray Cyrus songs Songs written by Billy Ray Cyrus Young Thug songs Mason Ramsey songs Songs written by Trent Reznor Songs written by Atticus Ross Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Columbia Records singles Country rap songs Novelty songs Race-related controversies in music Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in France Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Portugal 2019 controversies in the United States Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs about horses Internet memes introduced in 2018 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Viral videos 2010s fads and trends 2019 controversies Male vocal duets