Lil Wayne's most gigantic hits, most sweltering downloads: It's been three years since Lil Wayne topped Billboard's Hot 100 with the candy-coated sex talk of the Grammy-winning "Lollipop." And that was just the first of four platinum singles from "Tha Carter III," a triple-platinum triumph that remains his biggest-selling album.
But despite that recent eight-month trip to Rikers Island, Weezy hasn't lost his mojo yet. "Tha Carter IV" is due in May with leadoff single "Six Foot, Seven Foot," approaching its 2 millionth download. Here's a look back, then, at Lil Wayne's hottest-selling hits, based on digital downloads (as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan).
1. "Lollipop," featuring Static Major (2008; 4.155 million)
It's hard to imagine what he could have done to get the masses more excited for "Tha Carter III" than hit the streets with "Lollipop," which had already spent three (non-consecutive) weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 by the time the new album arrived. Static Major had died by then, of an autoimmune disorder, but his vocal hook is crucial to the song's appeal, if not as crucial as the sexual innuendos any 10-year-old would understand well enough to giggle. An electro-flavored hip-hop track, it won Best Rap Song at the Grammys in 2009.
2. "A Milli" (2008; 2.034 million)
The second-biggest single from the biggest album of 2008, "A Milli" is the type of song that gets most industry insiders going on about how they don't hear a single, with that nagging vocal loop that runs through the entire track. But it's the things that make it seem so inaccessible that ultimately reel you in. It peaked at No. 6 on Billboard's Hot 100, and MTV named it the No. 1 hip-hop song of the 2008. Blender declared it the No. 1 song overall of 2008, and the Grammys awarded it Best Rap Solo Performance.