"Lollipop" is the first single from Lil Wayne's sixth studio album, Tha Carter III. The track features the late R&B artist Static Major and is produced by Deezle and Jim Jonsin. The song was released digitally on March 13, 2008. The song is Lil Wayne's & Static Major's most successful to date, spending 5 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Static Major died two weeks before the release of the song, making the song the eighth to hit #1 after the death of the credited artist. There are various versions of the song. The single was certified 5× Platinum by the RIAA for shipping five million units in the United States and was ranked the #7 Hip-Hop song of 2008 by MTV. The song reached #1 on the 2008 issue of Notarized by BET. The song was ranked at #5 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008. With 9.1 million copies sold as of January 2009, 'Lollipop' was named 2008's best-selling digital single worldwide by IFPI.
Music video[]
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The music video was directed by Gil Green and filmed in Las Vegas at Gavin Maloof's residence in the Southern Highlands Golf Club. The video premiered via BET's Access Granted on March 12, 2008. It also reached No. 1 on TRL in April on MTV
In the clip is featured Big Blue Limousine of the International XT.
The video is the most-viewed video on Music Choice's video on demand service.
Chart performance[]
The song won a Grammy Award in February 2009 for Best Rap Song.
"Lollipop" jumped 76 spots from number 85 to 9 on the March 28, 2008 issue of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lil' Wayne's highest charting single as a lead artist, along with being his first top ten hit on the chart as a lead artist. His previous highest chart position as a lead artist was with "Go DJ", which peaked at number 14 in 2004. The following week it reached a new peak of number 7 on the Hot 100. The single reached a new peak of number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 17, 2008, making it his highest charting single as both a lead artist or as a featured performer. (Lil Wayne was a featured artist for Destiny's Child's #3 (Hot 100) hit, "Soldier".) For the week of May 3, 2008, "Lollipop" reached the number-one spot on the Hot 100, his first number one on the chart. It is also Wayne's first number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and the Hot Rap Tracks chart. On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, it is the first rap song to reach number one since Ludacris' "Money Maker" in 2006. After one week, it slipped away from top spot, but returned three weeks later, making it the song with the longest break in between peaks in the Hot 100 since Usher's "U Got It Bad."
The week after the release, Wayne and Mariah Carey became the #1 most added and greatest gainer at both radio formats with a total of 138 adds. "Lollipop" has become a crossover hit on mainstream radio, as it became his first top 40 hit as a lead artist, entering at #36, and has so far peaked at #5. It is his first top ten on the Pop 100, where it has reached number two. It returned to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second time on May 22, 2008.
The song has become a top ten success in Canada, peaking at number 10 as of May 29, 2008, and his most successful song in the UK, where it reached number 26 on downloads alone. It reached number 3 on the New Zealand charts and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.
In 2008, Lollipop was the best selling ringtone in the United States with over 2,3 million copies sold and the second best selling digital song with over 3,1 million copies.
To date Lollipop sold 4,176,000 digital copies in the USA.
Remixes and covers[]
The official remix features Static Major & Kanye West. There is an extended version of the remix that has Wayne talking over the original bridge and singing an altered hook, with Kanye singing adlibs, along with a guitar rift near the end. Other remixes feature Young Jeezy, Gorilla Zoe, Ace Hood, Kurupt, V.I.C., Nicki Minaj, Wiz Khalifa, Tekitek, Rasheeda & Khia, who made a popular female version of the song. Another remix was made commemorating the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics. It features the instrumental used in the main song.
David Banner's song "Shawty Say" samples the opening part of the Lil Wayne's second verse for its chorus.
Framing Hanley cover[]
The alternative/modern rock band Framing Hanley covered the song as a bonus track on their album The Moment. It uses a slight bit of talkbox, but replaces almost all the other sound with electric guitar, and features a hard rock version of the lyrics sung by the band. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping 500,000 units in the United States.