Lil Nas X tops US and Irish chart with queer anthem

The openly gay superstar has secured his second chart-topper with his new single, 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)'.

Music . Written by Ian Smith.

A man's face covered in sparkling light

“I might bottom on the low, but I top shit,” Lil Nas X proclaims in his new song, ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’. He can now add this week’s Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and the Official Irish Chart to the list of things he tops as the song debuted at number one in both.

‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ was released on 26th March and already has amassed over 46.9 million US streams and sold 21,000 downloads in the week ending 1st April, according to Billboard. It also attracted 1.1 million radio airplay audience impressions in the week ending 4th April. The video which was released at the same time has over 95 million views on YouTube after 12 days.

“Y’all told a 19 year-old who had just escaped the lowest point of his life that he would never have a hit again. 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!” Nas wrote on Twitter after the news was announced.

‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ was propelled to instant hit status by the very people who wanted to stop it- American conservatives. In the song, Lil Nas X embraces his sexuality and sings freely about the joys of gay sex. In the video he does what many conservatives have been saying is an inevitability and goes to hell where he proceeds to give a lap dance to the devil, which may not have been in their plans. Predictably, their outrage machine went into overdrive online, allowing Lil Nas X to go on a mass trolling spree on Twitter and gain huge amounts of publicity that no money could buy.

The song is his second to reach the US and Irish chart summit. In 2019, he released ‘Old Town Road’ featuring Billy Rae Cyrus which became the longest-running No 1 in US chart history, racking up 19 weeks at the top and in January 2021 it became the highest certified song ever by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), reaching 14-times platinum status in the US – accumulating 14 million in equivalent song units. He has also achieved success with his other singles, ‘Panini, ‘Rodeo’ and ‘Holiday’ which all charted in America and around the world, with ‘Panini’ reaching number five in the Billboard Hot 100.

Not bad for an artist who was written off as a one hit wonder. If God hates gays why do we keep winning?

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