Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Leaps To No. 1 On Billboard Charts

(CNN) -- Who needs the country charts when you can top the Billboard 100?

That's just what rapper Lil Nas X has done with his viral hit "Old Town Road."

According to Billboard, the song has jumped from No. 15 to No. 1 on the Billboard 100 chart.

"While Lil Nas X is the first artist to take an initial Hot 100 entry to No. 1 since Bradley Cooper just five weeks earlier, thanks to Cooper's duet "Shallow" with Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X is the first artist unaccompanied by another act to top the Hot 100 on a first try since Cardi B, whose "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)" spent three weeks at No. 1 in October 2017," Billboard's Gary Trust wrote.

The song had earlier been pulled by Billboard from the country charts.

"Upon further review, it was determined that 'Old Town Road' by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard's country charts," Billboard said in a statement to Rolling Stone last week. "When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While 'Old Town Road' incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today's country music to chart in its current version."

That caused an uproar and cries of racism, which Billboard denied.

Lil Nas X is kicked off country chart, leading some to blame racism

It also helped to raise the song's profile and garnered support from the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, who hopped on a remix of the song.

Billy Ray Cyrus sings about diamond rings and Maseratis in Lil Nas X's genre-bending song

The Atlanta rapper celebrated his new No.1, posting a screen grab of the Billboard chart on his official Instagram account.

"JUST THE BEGINNING!!!," he wrote in the caption.

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