Nine Inch Nails have managed to grab their first-ever Country Music Association nomination, thanks to the wild success of ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X.

If you’ve been anywhere near a radio throughout 2018, the chances are close to perfect that you’ve heard ‘Old Town Road’.

First released by Lil Nas X late in 2018, the track shot to popularity earlier this year and was soon met with controversy after it was removed from the Billboard Country Charts.

Recently, the track managed to break the record for most weeks spent atop the Billboard singles chart, smashing the record set by Mariah Carey (and later matched by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee) and remaining at #1 for a total of 19 weeks.

Now, the song has found Lil Nas X nominated for his first CMA award, along with Nine Inch Nails in the process.

Check out ’34 Ghost IV’ by Nine Inch Nails:

When ‘Old Town Road’ hit #1 back in April, a bit of musical history was made when Nine Inch Nails also received their first #1 by being credited on the song.

So how did this happen? Well, the backbone of ‘Old Town Road’ in fact a rather prominent sample of Nine Inch Nails’ 2008 track ’34 Ghost IV’ in.

While the band’s record, Ghosts I–IV, was rather successful upon its release, gaining a couple of Grammy nominations in the process, it didn’t exactly spawn any singles due to its instrumental nature.

With ’34 Ghost IV’ being sampled on the chart-topping track, it meant that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross scored their first writing credit for a #1 song.

Now, this has extended over to the CMA awards, where the song has been nominated for Musical Event of The Year.

Up for an award alongside the likes of Maren Morris, Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks & Blake Shelton, and Brantley Gilbert & Lindsay Ell, the Billy Ray Cyrus remix of the track has scored its first-ever nod.

With the award going to both the artists and producers, this means that the listed producers of “YoungKio, Michael Trent Reznor, Atticus Matthew Ross” are also up for the honour, undoubtedly opening the door for win that fans at Woodstock 94 would likely never have expected to see take place.

Check out ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X: