Mariah Carey has sent her "love and congrats" to Lil Nas X after he beat her record for the longest-running number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The viral cowboy rapper's mega-hit "Old Town Road" jumped ahead of the 49-year-old superstar's 1995 duet with Boyz II Men, which spent 16 weeks at the top of the chart, as he celebrated his 17th week in the No 1 spot.
Mariah tweeted: "Sending love & congrats to @LilNasX on breaking one of the longest running records in music history! We've been blessed to hold this record with a song that means a great deal to @BoyzIIMen and myself and has touched so many. Keep living your best life! ...
"Thank you for acknowledging this song One Sweet Day will always hold a special place in my heart and I want to thank anyone who's ever told me how this song has affected them and their loved ones. (sic)"
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/LilNasX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LilNasXon breaking one of the longest running records in music history! We've been blessed to hold this record with a song that means a great deal to @BoyzIIMen and myself and has touched so many. Keep living your best life! ❤ pic.twitter.com/3YorLCg3lx
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey)
The 20-year-old star replied immediately and hailed the "We Belong Together" hitmaker a "legend and an icon", while he admitted it was surreal getting a message from his idol.
Retweeting Mariah's post, he added: "wowwww thank you so much mariah! you are a legend and an icon and i'm blessed to even have you acknowledging me right now! growing up to your music & now having you talk to me directly is unreal! (sic)"
wowwww thank you so much mariah! you are a legend and an icon and i’m blessed to even have you acknowledging me right now! growing up to your music & now having you talk to me directly is unreal! ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/b9v5JEmFIy
— nope (@LilNasX) July 30, 2019
Lil Nas also penned a poignant post on his Instagram account to mark the milestone.
Punctuated with emojis, he wrote on Instagram: "on december 2nd i went into the studio & recorded OLD TOWN ROAD & put it out the exact same day!! did i know it would become the longest running number 1 song of all time? NO!
"but i am so thankful that this blessing has been placed upon me. this song has changed my life and the way i see the world around me in less than a year. thank you to every single person who has been apart of this journey. as i said before, it's just the beginning! (sic)"
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Lil Nas X(@lilnasx) on Jul 29, 2019 at 11:31am PDT
In 2017, Mariah's feat became tied with "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber.