"Airplanes" is the second official and third overall single from B.o.B's debut studio album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. The track features Hayley Williams and was produced by Alex da Kid with DJ Frank E receiving a co-production credit on the song. The music and chorus were written by Kinetics & One Love. The song was released to urban radio on April 27, 2010.
"Airplanes" reached number one in the United Kingdom, and also in New Zealand, as well as the top three in Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland and the United States. "Airplanes, Part II", the sequel to the song, features rapper Eminem as well as Williams. This collaboration led to a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.
Song information
The original version had verses written by Lupe Fiasco. Later, the song was given to B.o.B by his label. Williams' appearance in the song was explained by herself and B.o.B in different interviews to MTV. Williams said Paramore was on tour when she was given the song and she "liked the part too much" and accepted to appear on it. B.o.B said he has "always been a Hayley fan" and he did not expect a collaboration between them too soon. The duo did not get in the studio together to record the song and had never even met each other in person, according to Williams. B.o.B and Williams first met during the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, when they performed "Airplanes" live for the first time together. The second time the song was performed together live was during Vanderbilt University's Fall 2010 "Commodore Quake" concert in Nashville, TN. During B.o.B.'s performance, Williams came out as a special guest to perform the song.Music video
The video is being nominated for Video of the Year at the BET Awards of 2011, and at VMA Of 2010.
Chart performance
"Airplanes" sold 138,000 digital downloads in its first week and debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart. The sales made the song debut at number twelve on Billboard Hot 100, making it B.o.B's highest debut on the chart and Williams' first entry as a solo act. The song continued to rise in the chart and peaked at number two on its sixth week, losing the top position to Usher's "OMG". "Airplanes" entered in numerous Billboard charts, including the Pop Songs and Rap Songs charts, where the song peaked at number two. "Airplanes" had sold over 4 million digital downloads by December 2010, according to Nielsen Soundscan, becoming a bigger success in the United States than his debut single, "Nothin' On You".Elsewhere, "Airplanes" did a good chart performance on the countries it was released, losing the top position to Katy Perry's "California Gurls" in several countries. The song debuted at number sixty two on the Canadian chart and reached its current peak position of number two on its ninth week on the chart. In the Australian chart the song debuted at number eighteen and peaked at number two within three weeks on the chart and has been in that position for six non-consecutive weeks. It was in New Zealand where the song got its first number one position. After three weeks of its debut (at number three), the song reached number one and stayed in that position for five consecutive weeks. "Airplanes" later received a Platinum certification in New Zealand, due to its successful chart performance.
In Europe, the song has been released in a number countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. "Airplanes" first appearance in a European chart was in Norway and Ireland and the song has reached the Top 10 in both countries. In the United Kingdom, however, the song was even more successful. It debuted at number twenty-three on the UK Singles Chart and within five weeks on the chart, the song managed to reach the number two spot, again losing the top to Perry's "California Gurls". In the same week, "Airplanes" was number one on the UK R&B Chart. In the following week "Airplanes" went to number one from downloads alone of 75,892, becoming B.o.B's second number one hit in the United Kingdom after his debut single Nothin' On You, which had reached the British chart summit almost two months earlier. "Airplanes" has also peaked at number two in the European Hot 100 chart.
The song was #6 on Billboard's Year End Chart.
As of December 13, 2011, the official AtlanticVideos musicvideo on YouTube has over 150,000,000 views. The song was the 21st most downloaded in British chart history.
Sequel
A sequel to the song, titled "Airplanes, Part II", has two new verses by B.o.B and featured vocals by Eminem as well as Hayley Williams, the song also featured a faster beat and chorus by Hayley Williams comparing to the original song. The song was produced by Alex da Kid with additional production added by Eminem. Alex da Kid said that the beat for "Airplanes Part II" was the original beat for the song. In the song, Eminem and B.o.B wonder what would happen if they had not pursued musical careers. B.o.B posted the song on his official Twitter account, claiming he wanted the song to leak from him since the other songs of his album were leaking. When asked how he got to collaborate with Eminem, B.o.B stated:"Paul Rosenberg played him the Cloud 9 mixtape and it kind of gave him an idea of what my music [sounds like]. Eventually he started playing Eminem more of my stuff and was keeping him updated on my progress and eventually he wanted to get in the studio with me, so that was a gift."B.o.B, Eminem, and Keyshia Cole (filling in for Hayley Williams) performed the song at the 2010 BET Awards on June 27, 2010 in a medley with Eminem's "Not Afraid". B.o.B performed the song with Eminem on his Home & Home Tour. "Airplanes, Part II" received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Although it was not made into a single, it is sometimes played on KISS-FM.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
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Certifications
Year-end charts
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Chart procession and succession
| Preceded by "The Club Is Alive" by JLS |
UK Singles Chart number-one single 18 July 2010 – 24 July 2010 |
Succeeded by "We No Speak Americano" by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP |
Cover versions
- Barbadian artist Rihanna covered the song during her North American leg of her Last Girl on Earth Tour.
- Canadian artist Avril Lavigne sang Hayley Williams' verses to introduce "My Happy Ending" during her The Black Star Tour
- The Ready Set covered the song for the compilation album Punk Goes Pop 3, which was released on November 2, 2010.
- Boyce Avenue covered the song for their album New Acoustic Sessions.
- American Post hardcore band We Are Defiance covered the song together with Kellin Quinn (Sleeping with Sirens) and ex-A Day to Remember guitarist Tom Denney.
- American rapper Aron Erlichman (also known as Deuce) sampled Airplanes for his song 'Story of A Snitch' which bashes on him getting kicked out of Hollywood Undead .
- American/Canaidian artist Richy Nix also did his own cover of the song and played it at the crofoot ball room on New Year's Eve