Billy Ray Cyrus Hits the Charts With Rap Version of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’

22 years after he rocketed to fame with 'Achy Breaky Heart,' Billy Ray Cyrus has returned to the Billboard charts with a rap re-make of the song that made him famous.

Billboard reports that the new track, which features Cyrus performing an updated hip-hop version of his signature song with rapper Buck 22, debuted at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending Feb. 16. The song also bowed at No. 11 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, and No. 16 on the Streaming Songs chart.

The track came about when Buck 22 approached Cyrus.

“I asked if he would mind if I could take a crack at remaking ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ and he looked at me for a moment, and said ‘lots of people have tried already, but go for it,’ the rapper says. “He didn’t have a clue that I had already gone into the lab and cooked up a demo of what I thought would be a fun EDM/hip-hop styled version, which at the time only had a sample from the original of his voice. He liked what he heard and, weeks later, arrived at the session to record this track.”

According to Billboard, the chart success of 'Achy Breaky 2' has been driven primarily by viral interest in the song's video, which features scantily-clad aliens twerking in somewhat of a spoof of Billy Ray's superstar daughter, Miley Cyrus. That video has received a total of close to 2.9 million YouTube views. The modified rules by which Billboard now ranks its charts account for social media views and streaming as one element of overall chart success.

Cyrus' career-making original recording of 'Achy Breaky Heart' held the No. 1 position on the Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks in 1992, and also rose all the way to No. 4 on the Hot 100. The song's video helped touch off the line dancing craze of the '90s. Cyrus has charted a career total of 30 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart, most recently in 2011.