All US Number 1s From 2021 Ranked Worst To Best
12. Montero - Lil Nas X
In 2019, an aspiring rapper by the name Lil Nas X ended up having the longest-running chart-topper in US history, logging a whopping 19 weeks atop the Hot 100 with the country/hip-hop smash, Old Town Road. Pressure was high for Lil Nas, who was branded a one-hit wonder even as his song was still number one.
When the time came for his debut studio album, it was almost as if the reckoning was upon him. Would his career be tarnished by his previous novelty hit? Or his public coming-out? Lil Nas X played up the public's perception of him by offering us Montero (Call Me By Your Name); a song that held back on nothing, from his desires to his insecurities, his provocative ways, and his true self overall. But what solidified him as a real artiste was the music video, which challenged homophobia, particularly religion-based, by having a scantily-clad Nas in high heels sliding down a stripper's pole into hell and giving Satan a lap dance, before assuming his place.
The video was a pop culture moment that had everyone and their mother talking; sadly, the song itself pales in comparison, and overtime it was revealed as the weakest single off an otherwise glorious debut album. Which proved Lil Nas X is in it to stick around, haters be damned to hell.