Mariah Carey has congratulated Lil Nas X for overtaking her hit 'One Sweet Day' as the longest running number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

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 No1 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)"

The 20-year-old star replied immediately and hailed the 'We Belong Together' hitmaker a "legend and an icon", whilst 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)"

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)"

In 2017, Mariah's feat became tied with 'Despacito' by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber.