After being pulled from the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, which is was climbing, because Billboard said it “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music,”Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" claims the Number One spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Country fans, industry and artists are split over the issue of whether the song has a place on country radio given all the cross-genre hits, including hip hop-influenced hits like Jason Aldean's "Red Dirt Road" remix featuring rapper Ludacris.
Backstage at the ACM Awards earlier this week, the show's host,Reba McEntire, weighed in on the controversy. While she wasn't familiar with Lil Nas X's song, Reba tells us she was surprised that any song that blurs the lines would be removed from the country chart. "Country music has always been very diversified. One time it'll be very traditional then it'll be very contemporary then it'll all go with the girls then it'll all go with the boys and then everything changes up. It's cyclical, but I think we've had that before. I didn't know this about taking it off the charts. I'm very surprised because I think it's been very open in a way except for the women recording."