Lil Wayne tops Nielsen's annual ringtone countdown

Hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" was the top-selling mastertone of 2008 according to Nielsen RingScan, a service of information and media firm The Nielsen Company. Sales of "Lollipop" topped the 2.36 million mark, compared to just 1.62 million for 2008 runner-up T.I.'s "Whatever You Like." Flo Rida's "Low" was the year's third top-selling mastertone at 1.60 million, followed by Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" (1.13 million) and Usher's "Love in This Club" (1.01 million). Nielsen RingScan reports that the top 100 mastertone ringers sold 43.8 million in 2008, accounting for 26 percent of all ringtone sales for the year, down from 30 percent in 2007.

Among polyphonic ringtones, 2008's bestseller was Grupo Móntez de Durango's "Adios Amor Te Vas," with sales of 85,000--Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros. theme came in second at 68,000, followed in descending order by Henry Mancini's theme for The Pink Panther, 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" and Afroman's "Because I Got High." In all, polyphonic ringtones accounted for just 5 percent of all ringtone sales in 2008, down from 9 percent the previous year.

For more on 2008's ringtone sales:
- read this release [1]

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BMI: Ringtones [3] waning, ringbacks rising