While Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” sits at the No. 1 spot on the global Spotify chart, the artist and a few of his fans are claiming the track is disappearing in certain countries and from various streaming services.
It all started Tuesday when a fan tweeted that the track—which topped the Billboard Hot 100 last week— allegedly wasn’t working on their Spotify account, to which Lil Nas X replied that “it’s happening on all streaming services.” He then added that “since call me by your name is no longer working on many streaming services i will be uploading the audio to pornhub at 3pm est.”
Complex was able to play the song on Spotify at 3 p.m. ET with no such issues, but several fans across platforms are still saying they’re having issues with the track. One shared a screenshot of her apparently unsuccessfully attempting to play the song on Apple Music, writing she “was about to laugh at you guys for not being able to listen BUT I CANT ANYMORE EITHER.” Nas is even encouraging fans to screen-record the track to save to their phone galleries, in case it gets taken down for good.
Columbia Records sent a tweet thanking fans for flagging the issue. “It’s unfortunately out of our control but we are doing everything possible to keep the song up on streaming services. We will keep you up to date as we hear more. Thank you for understanding.”
On the other hand, Billboard published a response saying it “can confirm that the song is not being removed.”
In further tweeted remarks, Nas wrote, “not even joking. everybody stream call me by your name hard today because it may no longer be available tomorrow and there’s nothing i can really do about it. thanks for all the support tho!”
It’s tough to tell if Nas is pulling the ultimate prank at the moment, but the musician insists he’s being serious.
Of course, all this comes after “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” topped the Hot 100 last week, with Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” taking the throne this week. The song’s latest competition is set to be Polo G’s “RAPSTAR,” which is eying a No. 1 debut.
