After one of the most interesting track rollouts and certainly the most impressive pole slide to the depths of hell ever recorded on film, Lil Nas X just scored his second No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 Monday with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).”
The chart champion, who flaunts the title of most consecutive weeks at No. 1 thanks to “Old Town Road” and its historic 19-week run in 2019, is finally back on top, dethroning Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” in the process.
Nas’ latest chart victory comes as its music video—featuring the musician throwing some ass on Satan—and his Nike Satan kicks set the internet on fire all week. Nas has surely handled any and all conservative commentary masterfully, from calling certain pundits “shitty pants” to inspiring TikTok trends featuring his now iconic pole slide. But beyond any clapbacks, the song’s meaning is an important one to Nas, so surely seeing the track top the charts is a major win for him.
In a note to his 14-year-old self during the song’s release, Nas wrote “I know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.”
“You see this is very scary for me, people will be angry, they will say I’m pushing an agenda,” he continued. “But the truth is, I am. The agenda to make people stay the fuck out of other people’s lives and stop dictating who they should be.”
Outside of “Old Town Road” and now “Montero,” Nas has had three other entries on the chart: “Panini,” which hit No. 5 in 2019, “Rodeo,” which peaked at No. 22, and “Holiday,” which peaked at No. 37 last November.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Nas wrote that he was told he would “never have a hit again,” as he thanked his fans and team.
“Y’all told a 19 year old who had just escaped the lowest point in his life 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 platiunum songs and 2 #1’s later, he’s still here.”
Nas has now spent 20 weeks at No. 1, as “Montero” earned him 46.9 million U.S. streams and sold 21,000 first-week downloads, according to MRC Data.
Last week, Complex’s Joe La Puma linked with Nas for the latest episode of Sneaker Stories, where the two talked about Nas’ first pair of Jordans and the his latest controversial kick collab with MSCHF.
“People already demonize who I am and put me in a painting of, ‘OK, he’s evil, he’s doing this, he’s doing that,’” Nas said. “So it’s like, you know what? You know what? I’ll take that, I’ll be that, and I’m going to make the best of it.”
