Post Malone and Swae Lee’s ‘Spider-Man’ collab just hit the top of the Billboard charts
There are some indisputable facts regarding this year’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. First, of the six Spider-Man movies since 2002, Spider-Verse is the best. In a year where Black Panther is vying a Best Picture Oscar and Infinity War is practically printing money, Spider-Verse is still the superior superhero movie of the three. The animated, Miles Morales-starring film has already been thrust into debate as a candidate for the greatest comic book movie of all-time, while it’s still in theaters. And the soundtrack’s most recognizable song — which is featured heavily in the movie — is a beneficiary of that momentum.
Now, Post Malone and Swae Lee‘s “Sunflower” is the Number One song in the country. After weeks in the Billboard Hot 100’s top ten, the bright, sweet and melodic ode to love, sunflowers and other clichés dethroned Halsey’s “Without Me.” “Sunflower” also technically becomes Swae Lee’s first Number One as a solo artist — it’s the second if you count Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” though he isn’t officially credited on it.
Despite the star-power, there is a case that the song’s commercial success is largely indebted to its prominence in the movie. The audience is first introduced to Miles Morales as he mumbles his way through Swae Lee’s verse while drawing at his desk. In December, Lee described to Rolling Stone why his voice is becoming more popular across the pop spectrum: “My voice is becoming a household voice, something people are familiar with. It always has this feeling of either turn-up or missing someone. That’s what people say about it.”
He also described working with Malone on “Sunflower.” “We was in the studio this one night in L.A. just going crazy all night. Cooking up, drinking corkscrews, drinking beers. We made six, seven songs,” Lee continued. “The Spider-Man people came and heard it and they picked that one. And I saw the movie already, and it’s crazy, because Spider-Man is actually singing the song in the movie.”
