Post Malone in the hospital suffering from lung cancer
Malone began his musical career in 2011, and gained recognition with his 2015 debut single “White Iverson”,[5] which peaked at number 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. He signed with Republic Records[6] to release his debut studio album Stoney (2016), which peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and spawned the diamond-certified single “Congratulations” (featuring Quavo).[7] His second album, Beerbongs & Bentleys (2018) debuted atop the Billboard 200 and set numerous streamingrecords.[7] It contained the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles “Rockstar” (featuring 21 Savage) and “Psycho” (featuring Ty Dolla Sign), and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 61st Grammy Awards. His third Billboard Hot 100-number one single, “” (with Swae Lee), was released for to the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; it became the highest-certified song in RIAA history as the first to receive double diamond (20-times platinum) certification.
“Sunflower” was also included on Malone’s third album, Hollywood’s Bleeding (2019), which became his second to peak atop the Billboard 200 and received his second nomination for Album of the Year at the 63rd Grammy Awards.[8][9] It spawned the single “Circles”, which became his fourth number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100, and spent 61 weeks on the chart.[10] His fourth and fifth albums, Twelve Carat Toothache (2022) and Austin (2023), both peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and saw continued success; the former spawned the top ten singles “I Like You (A Happier Song)” (featuring Doja Cat) and “One Right Now” (with the Weeknd), while the latter explored pop rock and spawned the top 20 single, “Chemical”. Two of his 2024 singles debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100: his guest appearance on Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight”, and his first country pop song, “I Had Some Help” (featuring Morgan Wallen). The latter served as lead single for his sixth album, F-1 Trillion (2024), which further experimented with the genre and became his third non-consecutive number one album on the Billboard 200.[11]
Malone is among the best-selling music artists, with over 80 million records sold.[12] His accolades include ten Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Award, and nine Grammy Awardnominations.[13] He holds several Billboard chart records: He is the first solo lead artist to top both the Rap Airplay and Adult Contemporary charts, while “Circles” set the record for longest climb to number one (41 weeks) on the Adult Contemporary chart by a solo artist.[14] As of 2024, Malone holds the record for the artist with the most diamond-certified songs, with nine to his name.[15]
Austin Richard Post was born on July 4, 1995,[2] in Syracuse, New York.[16][17] He was raised by his father, Richard Post, and his stepmother, Jodie. His father had been a DJ in his youth and introduced Malone to many different genres of music including hip hop, country, and rock.[18]When Malone was nine years old,[19] he and his family moved to Grapevine, Texas, after his father became the manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys football team.[20][21] Malone began to play the guitar and auditioned for the American band Crown the Empire in 2010, but was rejected after his guitar strings broke during the audition. He credited his initial interest in learning guitar to the video game Guitar Hero.[22]
Malone has expressed his affinity for alternative rock music, and appeared for a DJ set at Emo Nite in Los Angeles, California, in June 2017, playing songs by American alt-rock band My Chemical Romance at the event.[23] According to Malone, his first foray into professional music began when he was in a heavy metal band.[24] He says soon afterwards he transitioned to softer rock as well as hip hop, before beginning to experiment on FL Studio.[25]
Malone’s music is hip hop,[136][137][138] pop,[136][139][140] R&B,[136] trap,[139] pop-rap,[141] pop rock,[142] country,[143][144] indie pop,[145] rap rock,[146] and cloud rap.[147] Malone’s music has been described as a “melting pot of the country, grunge and hip hop”[148] and Malone himself has been described as versatile.[149] His vocal style has been described as “laconic“.[150] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described Malone as “an artist who toes the line between singing and rapping, and hip-hop and spooky electric folk”.[151] Malone himself has called his music “genre-less”.
Malone cites Bob Dylan, in whom he became interested around the age of 15, as an influence on his music, calling him “a genius” and “a god” though his music has been called “about as far away from Rock n’ Roll as you can get”.[152] He called “Subterranean Homesick Blues” the “first rap song”. He has a tattoo of Dylan as well.[20]Malone has cited Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash as key influences too.[153] Malone has also cited 50 Cent, whom he called a legend,[154] Kanye Westand Key! as influences.[155]
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