As the halfway point of 2023 approaches,
hip-hophas yet to grace the top of either the
Billboard Hot 100 or the
Billboard 200 albums chart.
Hip-hop has been curiously absent from the top of
Billboard’smarquee album and singles charts. While each of the four albums released in 2023 that have hit No. 1 —
The Name Chapter: Temptation (
Tomorrow X Together),
Mañana Será Bonito (
Karol G) and
One Thing at a Time (
Morgan Wallen), and
5-STAR (
Stray Kids) — have clear hip-hop influences, none are by traditional rappers, the longest we’ve gone into a calendar year without a rap album at No. 1 since 1993. Hip-hop hasn’t fared much better on the Hot 100 this year; just six hip-hop singles have cracked the chart’s top ten.
Here are five reasons why hip-hop has yet to produce a No. 1 album or single this year.
1. A Not-So-Starry Night
It’s a lot more difficult for any genre to reach the top spot when their most popular and reliable artists are not releasing projects.
2. Views From the Top
It is well-known that hip-hop has reigned as the biggest commercial genre in the United States since 2018. Current tallies for this year show that the genre remains the country’s biggest music: In fact, R&B and hip-hop is up 6.3% in overall units this year compared to 2022. Nonetheless, it is slowly losing its dominance in terms of market share.
3. Old Opps & New Opps
Part of the reason hip-hop has struggled to truly cement a new class of superstars is that some of the genre’s most promising talents have fallen victim to gun violence, incarceration, drug abuse, or excessive police surveillance.
4. Chart Stagnation
To cut hip-hop a bit of slack, the genre’s absence at the top of the charts this year is also due, in part, to how relatively stagnant the charts have been.
5. A Gradual Return to the Club Scene
If there is any genre that is well-equipped to adapt to change, it is hip-hop — and the genre already seems to be angling itself toward its next pivot….Most of hip-hop’s biggest records in recent years deprioritized the dancefloor, but that is already changing.
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