Sunflower (Post Malone And Swae Lee Song)
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"Sunflower" is a song by American rappers
Post Malone Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including hip-hop, Pop music, pop, Contemporary R&B, R&B, Tra ...
and
Swae Lee Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Lee first saw mainstream recognition as one half of the Mississ ...
. It was released on October 18, 2018, as a single from the soundtrack to the 2018 animated film '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', and was later included on Post Malone's third studio album '' Hollywood's Bleeding'' (2019). An official remix features American singers
Nicky Jam Nick Rivera Caminero (born March 17, 1981), known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer. He is best known for hits such as " X", " Travesuras", " El Perdón", " Hasta el Amanecer", and " El Amante"; the latter three are from his 20 ...
and
Prince Royce Geoffrey Royce Rojas (born May 11, 1989), known professionally as Prince Royce, is an American singer. At an early age, Royce took an interest in music, and in his teenage years began experimenting with music and writing poetry. By age nineteen ...
. "Sunflower" received acclaim from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
. It became Malone's third and Lee's first song as a soloist to peak the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song ranked in the top ten of the chart for 33 weeks, at the time sharing the record for the most such weeks with "
Girls Like You "Girls Like You" is a song recorded by American band Maroon 5 from their sixth studio album ''Red Pill Blues'' (2017). The track was written by lead singer Adam Levine, Starrah, Gian Stone, Cirkut, and Jason Evigan, with the latter two servi ...
" by
Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...
featuring
Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...
and "
Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the lead single, double lead singles from his third studio album ''÷ (album), ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The Dancehall pop, ...
" by
Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
(Post Malone then broke this record with his 2019 single "
Circles A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. The length of a line segment connecting t ...
"). "Sunflower" also reached number one in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, and New Zealand, as well as the top ten in 12 additional countries. It has received double diamond (20-times platinum)
certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) in the US, as well as diamond in Canada, Australia, and Mexico. By December 2023, it was set to become the first song to receive the certification in the United States—signifying 20 million units in sales; the certification was finalized in February 2024. The song was the fourth-best-selling R&B song of the 2010s decade in the US. On the ''Billboard'' Global 200 singles chart, the song peaked at number 20 upon the issue date of June 24, 2023. "Sunflower" was nominated for
Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...
and
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance The Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 63rd Grammy Awards category rules, "this categ ...
at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Ali ...
.


Background

Malone confirmed his involvement with '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' on October 2, 2018, on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...
'', in which he announced that he wrote "Sunflower", which he also performs, and played a snippet of the song. On October 15,
Swae Lee Khalif Malik Ibn Shaman Brown (born June 7, 1993), known professionally as Swae Lee, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Known for his wide vocal range and genre-bending, Lee first saw mainstream recognition as one half of the Mississ ...
revealed that he would also be on the song with Malone, and released another snippet of the song. Lee said that he was "very excited" for people to listen to the song. On October 19, 2018, "Sunflower" was released as a single. Spring Aspers, head of music and creative affairs at
Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...
, said that "Post and Swae have delivered a song that’s both heroic and emotional, which is exactly what a Spider-Man story needs. It’s anthemic, but also heartfelt — the perfect soundtrack for
Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English f ...
to discover the
Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
inside himself". Swae Lee called "Sunflower" one of his favorite collaborations in 2018, when he stated it was "because it’s a movie placement n Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse The main character sings "Sunflower" and uses my vocals to calm him down in a certain situation—like my music was therapeutic for him". Malone and Lee previously collaborated on the song "Spoil My Night" for Malone's 2018 album ''
Beerbongs & Bentleys ''Beerbongs & Bentleys'' is the second studio album by the American rapper Post Malone. It was released by Republic Records on April 27, 2018. The album features guest appearances from Swae Lee, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla Sign, Nicki Minaj, G-Eazy, and ...
''.


Music video

On October 19, 2018, a
lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...
of the song was released. The video is composed of computer-animated footage from the film. The lyrics are presented in the comic book style of the film, edited into the context of various scenes, such as graffiti scrawled by Miles Morales. Since its release, as of 2024, the lyric video has received over 2.5 billion views on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. On January 10, 2019, an official music video of the song was released, which is
live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
. The video contains an exclusive look at the
recording session A studio recording, or a recording session is any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance. Studio cast recordings In the case o ...
for the song showing the film logo behind Malone and Lee and a live performance. By 2023, the video had over 78 million views on YouTube.


Critical reception

In ''Billboard'', Gil Kaufman called it "a funky, dreamy ballad" after listening to a preview of the song. Israel Daramola from ''Spin'' called "Sunflower" a "glitchy, soulful record" that "will appeal to fans of the more melodic songs made by Post and Swae Lee, as they commit to full crooning throughout. It’s a short and sweet, hazy little pop song that makes sense for a kid’s film or possibly an MTV show about California teens". Patrick Doyle of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' characterized the "hyper-catchy" song as "a diary of a rocky relationship, which walks the line between
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
and dream-pop".


Commercial performance

"Sunflower" debuted at number nine on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. After spending three weeks in the top five, it reached number one on the chart issue dated January 19, 2019, rising from number three the previous week. It became Post Malone's third and Swae Lee's first song as a soloist to top the chart. "Sunflower" is the first song from a soundtrack to reach the top of the Hot 100 since
Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...
's "
Can't Stop the Feeling! "Can't Stop the Feeling!" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It was released on May 6, 2016, as the lead single of the soundtrack to the film ''Trolls'' (2016), in which Timberlake voiced the character "Branch" ...
" from the ''Trolls'' soundtrack (2016). Additionally, "Sunflower" is the highest-charting song from a ''
Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
'' franchise soundtrack, passing
Chad Kroeger Chad Robert Kroeger (, Turton; born November 15, 1974) is a Canadian musician who is best known for being the lead singer, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and founding member of the rock band Nickelback. In addition to his work with Nic ...
's "
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
", featuring
Josey Scott Joseph Scott Sappington (born May 3, 1972) is an American musician, best known as the former lead vocalist of the rock band Saliva. In addition to Saliva, Scott co-wrote and performed "Hero" (which was used as one of the theme songs to the 200 ...
, from ''
Music from and Inspired by Spider-Man ''Spider-Man: Music from and Inspired by'' is a 2002 soundtrack album for the film ''Spider-Man''. Although it contains a portion of the film score by Danny Elfman, a more complete album of Elfman's work was released as ''Spider-Man: Original ...
'', which reached number three in 2002. "Sunflower" also marks the first Hot 100 number one by two co-billed male leads with no other accompanying acts since
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...
and
Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
's "
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is a song with music written by English musician Elton John and lyrics by songwriter Bernie Taupin. It was originally recorded by John for his eighth studio album, ''Caribou (album), Caribou'' (1974), and was ...
" (1992). Due to the large airplay lead of " Without Me" by Halsey, "Sunflower" descended to number two the following week. It continuously shuffled within the top five the following four months, going so far as to return to the runner-up spot in March and April. The song spent 33 non-consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100, tying both
Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
's "
Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the lead single, double lead singles from his third studio album ''÷ (album), ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The Dancehall pop, ...
" and
Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...
's "
Girls Like You "Girls Like You" is a song recorded by American band Maroon 5 from their sixth studio album ''Red Pill Blues'' (2017). The track was written by lead singer Adam Levine, Starrah, Gian Stone, Cirkut, and Jason Evigan, with the latter two servi ...
", featuring
Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...
, for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives. Malone's "
Circles A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is called the radius. The length of a line segment connecting t ...
" broke the mentioned record in 2020, spending 38 consecutive weeks in the top 10. "Sunflower" topped the
Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...
for two consecutive weeks. According to the
IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...
, "Sunflower" was the fourth most successful song of 2019, selling 13.4 million global equivalents-units. In the US, according to
Nielsen Soundscan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...
, it was the second-best performing R&B/hip-hop song of 2019, with 6.3 million equivalent units, including 668,000 digital downloads, and the fourth-best performing song on radio on that format.


Awards and nominations


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


All-time charts


Certifications


Release history


Other versions

*A remix of the song, featuring new lyrics performed by
Nicky Jam Nick Rivera Caminero (born March 17, 1981), known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer. He is best known for hits such as " X", " Travesuras", " El Perdón", " Hasta el Amanecer", and " El Amante"; the latter three are from his 20 ...
and
Prince Royce Geoffrey Royce Rojas (born May 11, 1989), known professionally as Prince Royce, is an American singer. At an early age, Royce took an interest in music, and in his teenage years began experimenting with music and writing poetry. By age nineteen ...
, was released on February 22, 2019, as a bonus track in a deluxe version of the soundtrack of ''Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse''. *American indie pop band
Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...
covered "Sunflower" on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
's
Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cott ...
, in reference to their single of the same name from '' Father of the Bride'' (2019). *Indian duo DJs Tech Panda & Kanzani and an Indian singer "Badal" remade the track to Indian musical traditions with Hindi vocals, It was officially released by Maddison Gate and was featured in the official covers for the sequel film, '' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse''.


See also

*
List of best-selling singles in Australia This is a list of highest-certified singles in Australia according to the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Since 1983, ARIA certifies a single Platinum for shipment of 70,000 copies across Australia. Single figures can include "qu ...
* List of highest-certified digital singles in the United States * List of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles of 2019 *
List of Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles of 2019 This is a list of the Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles of 2019. The Canadian Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing singles of Canada. Its data, published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and compiled by Nielsen Sound ...
* List of number-one singles of 2019 (Australia) *
List of number-one songs of 2018 (Malaysia) Below is a list of songs that topped the RIM Charts in 2018 according to the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia. Chart history References External linksRecording Industry Association of Malaysia
{{MalaysianNumberOnes 2018 in Mal ...


References


Notes


Citations

{{Authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs 2010s ballads Post Malone songs Swae Lee songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles Contemporary R&B ballads Dream pop songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Malaysia Number-one singles in New Zealand Pop ballads Republic Records singles Songs written by Louis Bell Songs written by Post Malone Songs written by Swae Lee Songs written for animated films Songs from Spider-Man films Male vocal duets Song recordings produced by Louis Bell Songs about flowers Spider-Verse (franchise) music