THE "OLD TOWN" PHENOMENON

What's bigger than new material from global superstars? A cultural phenomenon.

Lil Nas X's anthem, "Old Town Road" is on pace to to be the #1 song in the country for the seventh week in a row. This week, Nas' track will fend off a debut from a power collab, Ed Sheeran f/Justin Bieber's I Don't Care." The week before it was a new Shawn Mendes single, and at the end of April is held its own against the queen of debut releases, Taylor Swift.

The new tracks from the global superstars are performing strongly. They're just up against a viral, cross-cultural, genre-transcending smash.

The most recent prior example of a song becoming an undeniable cultural movement is 2017's "Despacito (Remix)." Luis Fonsi's already huge song went into overdrive with the addition of Justin Bieber singing in Spanish for the remix, which carried the smash for 16 consecutive weeks as the #1 song in the country.

And "Old Town Road" is showing no sign of slowing down. The video is due to drop on Friday, while more and more viral renditions keep popping up. Although Lil Nas withstood the initial heavy artillery from Team Swift, but the Sheeran/Bieber camp has a big game plan coming in hopes of unseating the viral sensation (they too will be dropping a video shortly). Oddsmakers say Apple Music will be the difference-maker here.

Per the updated YTD Top 5 songs below, "Old Town Road" has now surpassed Ariana Grande's "7 rings" as the biggest song of 2019 so far.