Lil Nas X's Net Worth May Surprise You

Less than a year before "Old Town Road" went viral, Lil Nas X still went by the name Montero Lamar Hill and slept on his sister's floor, as reported by Time. Rolling Stone reports that he released "Old Town Road" as a meme, right when cowboy memes were flooding the internet. However, Lil Nas X didn't leave it all to chance. Manager Danny Kang told Rolling Stone that the young artist was careful about how he published the single. "On SoundCloud, he listed it as a country record. On iTunes, he listed it as a country record. He was going to these spaces, gaining a little bit of traction on their country charts, and there's a way to manipulate the algorithm to push your track to the top."

Lil Nas X certainly did something right, because the single became a cultural phenomenon. Following his success on TikTok, the singer-rapper signed with Columbia Records in March 2019 and released a debut EP, titled "7," as told by TheThings. The EP performed reasonably well and "Old Town Road" was still rising in the Billboard charts, indicating that this wouldn't be the last of Lil Nas X's success. Indeed, his latest single, "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)," became his second No. 1 hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April, via Billboard. It comes as no surprise, then, that "Montero" helped increase Lil Nas X's net worth to $7 million.