5 Billy Ray Cyrus hops on a remix of “Old Town Road” after the song is removed from Billboard’s country charts. “Means you’re doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!” tweets Cyrus a few days earlier, referencing his ’90s country-pop hit “Achy Breaky Heart.” 6 Posts a photo of himself working on new music: “I live in the studio now.” 9 Turns 20 years old, the same day it’s announced that “OTR” hits No. 1 on the Hot 100. Asked how he celebrated, he told Billboard, “I’d just became famous and rich. That’s a celebration in itself.” 11 “OTR” breaks the one-week U.S. streaming record, with 143 million U.S. streams in the week ending April 11. 19 Celebrates 1 million Instagram followers, noting in a post that 10 months earlier, he had only 1,205. 22 Goes horseback riding with Cyrus. 28 Live-debuts “OTR” remix with Cyrus during Diplo’s Stagecoach Festival set and drops second official remix, with Diplo, the same day. “OTR” music video director Calmatic later says Lil Nas X came back “a whole new person.”
1 Releases limited-edition 7-inch “OTR” vinyl. 5 Attends Kanye West’s Sunday Service, where Kim Kardashian-West snaps a photo of him and West -- later, he reaches out to Kardashian-West on Twitter to track down the pic. 7 Makes TV debut on Desus & Mero. 12 Brings Cyrus onstage at Rolling Loud Festival Miami to perform “OTR.” 13 Signs with Creative Artists Agency for worldwide representation. 16 Hangs with Usher. 17 Releases the Western-inspired “Old Town Road” music video, with appearances from Cyrus, Chris Rock, Rico Nasty, Diplo, Vince Staples and more. “The video showcased how universally relatable this song is,” says Calmatic. “Everyone from the cowboys in the mountains of Montana to kids dancing in South Central Los Angeles felt authentically represented.” 21 Teams up with Postmates to deliver a “Maserati sports car” to Cyrus, referencing the country icon’s verse in the remix. 23 Moves into a new apartment, bringing no less than 21 cowboy hats. 25 Is brought onstage by Anderson .Paak at the Boston Calling Festival to perform “OTR.” 26 Hangs with Doja Cat. 27 Performs ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. 29 After an Ohio elementary school teacher tags him in a Twitter video of her students dancing to “OTR,” he surprises them with a performance at the school’s talent show. “When Lil Nas walked into that gymnasium and hundreds of kids were going bananas, that was the moment I realized just how big he was going to be,” says Maverick Management’s Adam Leber, who co-manages Lil Nas X. “The level of insanity from those kids was reminiscent of superstars like Britney or Miley.”
2 Hangs with Blueface. 3 Reposts Instagram video of Cardi B dancing to “OTR,” which she captioned, “#1 song in the world.” 8 Surprises crowd at CMA Fest to perform with Cyrus and Keith Urban. Writes on Instagram, “I keep running into legends.” 16 Wishes a happy Father’s Day to his dad, who, he says on Instagram, “continued to fully support me after i randomly left school to do music last year.” 19 Releases merchandise. 21 Releases his 7 EP, which includes the Cardi B team-up “Rodeo” and his second single, “Panini.” The project later debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. 23 Meets Rihanna. “star struck,” he says on Instagram. 24 He and Cyrus ride horses to the entrance of the BET Awards in L.A. and perform “OTR” on a saloon-themed stage. 25 Presents the Silent Rodeo Experience, a choreographed puppet show, live set and meet-and-greet, in L.A. 30 Comes out as gay on the last day of Pride Month, making him the only artist to have done so while having a No. 1 record. “some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more,” he writes on Twitter.
1 Shares a video on Instagram from his “first real studio session,” saying he was “lowkey nervous asf about how it was gonna go.” 3 Makes a panini with Gordon Ramsay after connecting on Twitter. 5 Is brought onstage by Cardi B during her headlining set at the Wireless Festival in London. “It was lit -- keep doing your thing, the stars is the limit,” she tweets about their shared set. 11 Reaches 1 million YouTube subscribers. 12 Releases the third official remix of “OTR,” with Young Thug and Mason Ramsey. 16 Releases an Area 51-themed video for the “OTR” remix with Young Thug and Ramsey. 18 Encourages fans to help him break the Hot 100 record for most weeks at No. 1. “EVERY PLAY COUNTS!!” he writes on Instagram. 24 Releases the fourth and final official remix, “Old Town Road (Seoul Town Road Remix),” featuring BTS’ RM. 26 Visits Twitter’s New York headquarters, taking the reins from CEO Jack Dorsey for the day. “Lil Nas X’s command of Twitter, meme culture and connecting with fans stood out to us from the beginning,” says Twitter head of music partnerships Kevin O’Donnell, who helped plan the stunt. 31 Celebrates 1 million U.K. sales of “OTR,” writing on Instagram: “THANK U UK! i love u!!”
