PABillie Eilish has finally knocked Lil Nas X off the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after spending nine weeks at number two.
Old Town Road, a song which has been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify alone, was number one for an unprecedented 19 weeks – beating the previous record of 16 weeks held by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber for their 2017 hit Despacito.
Now though, the 17-year-old singer has made her number one debut with Bad Guy, making Billie the first artist born this century to hit the number one spot.
.@billieeilish is the first artist born in the 2000s to have a No. 1 song on the #Hot100. She was born on Dec. 18, 2001.
— Billboard Charts (@billboardcharts) August 19, 2019
As per BuzzFeed News, the singer’s previous attempts at knocking Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus off the top spot were unsuccessful, although it was thought her Bad Guy remix with Justin Bieber released in July would help the song’s cause.
It didn’t, but a new vertical video released by Billie last Thursday (August 15) and a cassette-single version of the song being sold on her website appear to have done what the remix failed to do, and gave the song the push it needed to secure the top spot.
If she had spent another week at number two, Eilish would have tied the record for the longest time a song had held the number two spot without ever topping it – currently held by Missy Elliott’s Work It and Foreigner’s Waiting for a Girl Like You.
Elsewhere in the charts, Lil Nas X has dropped to number three, behind Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s Señorita. But if you think the artist is mad about it, you’ve got another thing coming.
congratulations to billie eilish!! u deserve this!!
— nope (@LilNasX) August 19, 2019
Congratulating Billie on her achievement on social media, the American rapper told her she ‘deserved’ the top spot before joking about his label, Columbia, dropping him in favour of the young star.
Since debuting in March this year, Eilish’s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, has been praised by music critics and has become a huge commercial success – topping charts in numerous countries including the UK, US and Australia.
Two singles, You Should See Me in a Crown and When the Party’s Over, were released prior to the album’s announcement, while its third single, Bury a Friend, was released in its pre-order. Bad Guy was then released following the album, along with Wish You Were Gay.
Congratulations Billie!
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).