Nine Inch Nails finally scored their very first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, all thanks to rapper Lil Nas X.
Lil Nas X's song 'Old Town Road' has been blowing up recently, granting him his first chart topping single. The song became SO popular that Billy Ray Cyrus even gave his voice to the remix.
What does all of this have to do with Nine Inch Nails? The backing track to 'Old Town Road' is actually a sample of Nine Inch Nails track '34 Ghosts IV." When asked about the sample, YoungKio (producer for Old Town Road) told Billboard that "I thought, ‘Damn. This shit is crazy.’ Normally, when I sample something I chop it, filter it—I turn it into something different. But this sample, I thought if I chopped this and filtered it, it’s going to ruin it. I tried to keep as much of the originality of the sample, but I also wanted to have the trap vibe, so I sped it up. I didn’t really have any country thoughts about it."
In article by Genius, they explain that in 2008 Nine Inch Nails released the track for commercial use, as long as the work was linked back to the original owner of the rights. 'Old Town Road' is available to stream, which means the sample had to be licensed in order for the song to be available on these platforms. Thus, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were both given writing and producing credits to the song.
The highest Nine Inch Nails had been on Billboard's Hot 100 was in 1999 when 'The Day The World Went Away' peaked at no. 17 on the charts.
Check out both tracks below.
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