Before today, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” was the biggest song in music history in terms of RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) certification, sitting at 16-times platinum. Now, though, there’s a new all-time leader: Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” was just certified 17-times platinum, making it the new record-holder.
Also worth noting is that Posty and Quavo’s “Congratulations” is now 14-times platinum, which is tied for fourth on the all-time list. His and Ty Dolla Sign’s “Psycho” was also just certified 10-times platinum, making it his fifth diamond song. That puts Malone in a tie for first all-time with Bruno Mars (unless you count Mars and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” in which case Mars is still up six to five).
Platinum certification isn’t the only place where Post Malone wins out over Lil Nas X. The original “Old Town Road” and the remix have a combined 2.2 billion streams on Spotify, while “Sunflower” has 2.4 billion. Similarly, the “Old Town Road” video and “official movie” have a combined 1.6 billion YouTube views, while the “Sunflower” video comes out ahead at 1.9 billion. “Old Town Road” wins, though, when it comes to the Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Old Town Road” was No. 1 for a record 19 weeks in 2019, while “Sunflower” enjoyed a single week on top that January.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.