Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" has made history. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) announced this week that the Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse single has become the first song in history to go double-diamond, meaning it is now 20x platinum with more than 20 million streams or downloads.
"Post Malone and Swae Lee have officially raised the bar on what creative partnerships and infectious collaborations have the power to accomplish. ‘Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)’ has now been streamed or downloaded more than 20 million times in the U.S. alone, and they’ve earned the custom hardware to prove it," RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier said. "Congratulations Post, Swae Lee and Mercury/Republic Records for making history with the very first 2x Diamond single!”
"Sunflower" was released in 2018 as part of the soundtrack to Sony's animated superhero film and was later included on Post Malone's third studio album "Hollywood's Bleeding" in 2019. Into the Spider-Verse's soundtrack was notable for its ability to span multiple genres, including Hip Hop, Latin and Pop and capture what a teen like Miles is listening to across the United States.
“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 to discover the Spider-Man inside himself,” said Spring Aspers, Head of Music, Creative Affairs Worldwide for Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group, back in in 2018 when the song debuted.
In an interview with Billboard at the time, Swae Lee called "Sunflower" his favorite collaboration.
Receiving universal acclaim from critics, the single eventually hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It remained ranked in the top ten of the chart for 33 weeks which at the time was a record it shared with "Girls Like You" by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B and "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran. Malone's 2019 single "Circles" would later break this record.
"Sunflower"'s success is the latest achievement for Malone, who last year was crowned with the most diamond singles of any artist in history. In addition to "Sunflower," he has seven other songs that have reached diamond status: “White Iverson,” “Congratulations” (featuring Quavo), “I Fall Apart,” “Rockstar” (featuring 21 Savage), “Psycho” (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) “Better Now” and “Circles.”
Fans can catch Malone — the 8x Diamond-certified GRAMMY® Award-nominated artist — this weekend when he performs "America the Beautiful" ahead of kick off for Super bowl LVIII on February 11.