Excited states in the extremely neutron-deficient nucleus Pb180 have been identified for the first time using the JUROGAM II array in conjunction with the RITU recoil separator at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä. This study lies at the limit of what is presently achievable with in-beam spectroscopy, with an estimated cross section of only 10 nb for the Mo92(Zr90,2n)Pb180 reaction. A continuation of the trend observed in Pb182 and Pb184 is seen, where the prolate minimum continues to rise beyond the N=104 midshell with respect to the spherical ground state. Beyond-mean-field calculations are in reasonable correspondence with the trends deduced from experiment. © 2010 The American Physical Society. ; SCOPUS: ar.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published