The Definitive Ranking Of ‘Old Town Road’ Remixes From Yee To Haw
Are you a Mason Ramsey remix, or a BTS remix?
There’s no question that 2019 has been dominated by one artist and one song: Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’.
Since December 2018, the plucky country trap stomper has barely left our heads, or the charts: if it holds on for just one more week, it will break the record for the longest run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not bad for an artist whose only previous claim to fame was running a Nicki Minaj stan account.
Of course, Lil Nas X has done everything in his power to ensure he stays at the top, releasing remix after remix after remix in order to keep his streams at an all time high. Five versions have been released in the last eight months, and we don’t see him stopping anytime soon — Dolly Parton and Mariah Carey have already intimated they’re next in line.
But not all remixes are made equal though, so here’s the definitive ranking of all the current versions of ‘Old Town Road’. We’re sure we’ll have to update it before the year is out.
#5. Diplo Remix
No artist on earth jumps on a trend faster than Thomas Wesley Pentz. When it became apparent that ‘Old Town Road’ was going to stick around, Diplo grabbed a cowboy hat, some flared jeans, and jumped in the studio to crank out this limp remix.
The producer phoned this one in hard — the only good part of its release was that it spawned the hashtag #YeeHouse, which is legitimately great.
#4. The Original
One minute and 53 seconds was all it took to change the world. Listening back to the original mix is like witnessing the Big Bang — a moment so impossible and so impactful that it confounds the senses.
That said, it definitely could have been beefed up a little bit.
#3. RM From BTS
With only a couple of weeks to go until the deadline for the Billboard Hot 100 record, he decided to give it one last (well, we think it’s the last) push towards the finish line. So who did he drag into the studio? Just a member of the biggest boyband on the planet, of course.
Well played, Lil Nas X.
#2. Billy Ray Cyrus
It was the remix that launched ‘Old Town Road’ into the stratosphere — and also exposed Billboard’s highly questionable (see: racist) criteria for determining what is allowed on the country chart.
The original of ‘Old Town Road’ was unceremoniously booted off the country chart after Billboard claimed it did not “merit inclusion” on the country charts. The decision sparked outrage, and into the fray stepped Billy Ray Cyrus, who offered up his voice as a middle finger to the website.
The remix has now spent 16 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 — a well flipped middle finger if there ever was one.
#1. Mason Ramsey & Young Thug
For the entirety of ‘Old Town Road’s run on the Hot 100 charts, one track has been impatiently hovering at #2: ‘bad guy’, by Billie Eillish.
In one of the more blatant chart rushes of recent years, a few weeks ago Eilish attempted to knock out ‘Old Town Road’ by issuing a ‘bad guy’ remix featuring her Coachella mate Justin Bieber. Unfortunately, she was foiled by two things: the first being that the remix was absolutely terrible, and the second being that Lil Nas X predicted her move and outplayed her.
Just a few hours after Eilish, Lil Nas X surprise dropped this remix featuring Walmart yodelling sensation Mason Ramsey and Young Thug. In terms of dastardly chart moves, this was one of the best. Thug’s verse gives it a much needed injection of energy (not an easy feat this far into the ‘Old Town Road’ game), while Ramsey comes through with the best lyric of 2019: “If you ain’t got no giddy up then giddy out my way.”
Jules LeFevre is the Music Editor of Junkee. Her black cowboy hat was her favourite item of clothing as a kid. She is on Twitter.