Culture

Lil Nas X’s bottoming banger is the most listened to song in the world – even in oppressively homophobic Saudi Arabia

Lil Nas X in Montero (Call Me By Your Name)

Lil Nas X in his Satanic smash “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”. (YouTube/ Lil Nas X)

Lil Nas X is literally on top of the world right now after his bottoming banger “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” soared straight to number one on the global charts.

The song about gay sex debuted at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 charts last week – but it didn’t stop there.

“Montero” hit the top of the Billboard Global 200, which ranks the world’s top tracks based on data from more than 200 territories, on Monday (12 April) with more than 109.3 million streams, knocking Justin Bieber’s “Peaches” down to number two.

Lil Nas X was euphoric at the news.

“WE DID IT GUYS!” he tweeted in all caps. “NUMBER ONE SONG IN THE WORLD! LET’S GO BABY!”

The satanic smash is the first song to log over 100 million global streams in over two months, and the first by one solo male and no accompanying artists to do so within a single week.

But the song’s most surprising achievement might be its success in the conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where gay sex is punishable by death under Sharia law.

According to Apple Music, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is leading Saudi Arabia’s top 100 charts as the country’s most played song.

The strict Islamic nation has one of the worst LGBT+ rights records in the world and classes homosexuality as a form of extremism – but it seems they really, really love Lil Nas X.

Lil Nas X was as shocked to hear it as we are.

Saudi Arabia’s Twitter usage rates are amongst the highest in the world and the country has the most YouTube views per capita, according to research from 2013.

That could account for some of the song’s popularity in the Middle Eastern country – or maybe the sight of Lil Nas X grinding on the devil is just so iconic it crosses all cultural barriers.

Either way, the star is riding this blasphemy train straight to the bank.

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