Post Malone “Sunflower” hit #1

Sunflower Post Malone with Swae Lee

Writer(s): Austin Post, Khalif Brown, Carter Lang, Carl Rosen, Billy Walsh, Louis Bell (see lyrics here) Released: October 18, 2018 First Charted: November 3, 2018 Peak: 11 US, 13 DG, 13 ST, 29 A40, 19 RB, 3 UK, 12 CN, 13 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 17.0 US, 2.4 UK, 22.69 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2433.16 video, 3233.72 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Post Malone was born Austin Richard Post in 1995 in Syracuse, New York. The rap singer/songwriter released his first album, Stoney, in 2016. It was certified five times platinum and reached #4 on the Billboard album chart. The 2018 follow-up, Beerbongs & Bentleys, would also achieve platinum status five times over and hit #1 on the album chart. The latter album gave Post Malone two #1 songs with “Rockstar” and “Psycho.” His third album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, wasn’t released until September 2019. In the interim, Post contributed the song “Sunflower” to the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse. It is set in a universe populated by multiple Spider-Men, but the main hero would be the teenager Miles Morales. He duets with rapper Swae Lee, half of the rap duo Rae Sremmurd, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 with 2016’s “Black Beatles.” The two sing about competing for a girl called “Sunflower.” SF Sony Pictures’ head of music and creative affairs Spring Aspers said they “have delivered a song that’s both heroic and emotional…It’s anthemic but also heartfelt – the perfect soundtrack for Miles to discover the Spider-Man inside himself.” WK Billboard’s Gil Kaufman called it “a funky, dreamy ballad” while Spin’s Israel Daramola said “it’s a short and sweet, hazy little pop song.” WK Rolling Stone’s Patrick Doyle called it “hyper-catchy.” WK “Sunflower” not only gave Post his third chart-topper, but spent an astonishing 33 weeks in the top 10, tying the record held at the time by Maroon 5 and Cardi B with “Girls Like You” and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” The song also was certified 17-times platinum in the United States, tying it with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” as the most certified song of all time. It received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Post Malone SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 4/24/2023; last updated 3/31/2024.