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Old Town Road

You might remember it as Yeehaw Challenge

Most viral ever27 of 32

2019·The platform era

The first number one built primarily by a short-video platform.

At a glanceThe facts

Remembered as
Yeehaw Challenge
Spread in
2019
Where it started
soundcloud
Format
Sound
Era
The platform era
Performed by
Lil Nas X
Taken from
A beat by the Dutch producer YoungKio, built on a sample of Nine Inch Nails’ 34 Ghosts IV and bought for 30 US dollars
Record
Nineteen consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, 13 April to 17 August 2019
Origin
No single original
Available
Playable from the source

Why it matteredWhat changed

It was made for thirty dollars, spread as a TikTok challenge, and then stayed at number one in the United States for nineteen weeks, longer than any song before it. On the way it was taken off the country chart, which started an argument about who gets to decide what country music is.

TimelineIn order

  1. Took off

    The Yeehaw Challenge takes off on TikTok at the end of the month, and carries the song onto the Hot 100 at number 83.1

  2. Posted

    Lil Nas X releases the song independently, a day after recording it in Atlanta.1

  3. Corrected

    Having entered Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart at number 19, it is removed. Billboard says it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music.1

  4. Remixed

    A remix with the country singer Billy Ray Cyrus is released.1

  5. Record

    It reaches number one on the Hot 100, where it stays for nineteen weeks, breaking the sixteen-week record held jointly by One Sweet Day and Despacito.1

  6. Record

    It is certified diamond, for ten million units, faster than any song before it.1

What people misrememberSet straight

Commonly remembered asA country beat.

ActuallyYoungKio did not make it as country, and had not heard of Nine Inch Nails before he found the track he sampled.1

More from hereIn this collection

RelatedMore like this

Records this one is explicitly related to — a copy, a remake, a parody, the same meme or the same maker.

Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later

Originally published on SoundCloud. The version shown here is an official copy on YouTube, published by a rights holder.

Where it came fromWhat we know

This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. The example shown is one surviving copy and is not claimed as the first.

View the official copy on YouTube

Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.

Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.

ConnectedFollow it further

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Old Town Road

Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things

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