No Rap Songs Are in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 40 for the First Time Since 1990

[Ziggiy]

This is due to Billboard’s recent rule change.

Also Taylor Swift is dominating the charts, as she usually does. All the songs from her album are dominating the top 12.

 

[Nuuko]

Seems like Hip hop is only popping when Kendrick drops music. Unfortunately, Kendrick hasn't released new music in 2025.

 

[papa pimp]

Nah it's a combo of streaming and Billboards own fukkery. They are letting legit popular songs fall off the charts because they are older than a year old under the pretense that it will allow new songs to join. In reality all it does is allow album drops to dominate the boards for a few weeks with no real impact.

I didn't know this. That is incredibly lame.

 

[Revolutionary]

'Luther' being the last major hit is amazing. Kendrick was really carrying this shyt on his back. You got some posters saying that we ain't out here lookin at new artists and I'm sayin I would look at more new artists if they were producing good music

Been like that for 15 years. Whenever kendrick drops, the world stop. Even when there were other hits, the focus in rap was still on Kendrick.

Dude been carrying the culture

 

[Revolutionary]

Kendrick really carried the whole year with only 12 tracks... the canadian dropped 100 songs and couldn't even move a noodle

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

dance music, R&B, house music, >>>>

not trying to be preached to in rap music<<<<<

 

[DMGAINGREEN]

Say what you want about Diddy but bro really brought Hip Hop to a wider audience back in 1997 , that year Hip Hop officially became the number one gerne .. fast forward now this shyt in the abyss

 

[DMGAINGREEN]

Been like that for 15 years. Whenever kendrick drops, the world stop. Even when there were other hits, the focus in rap was still on Kendrick.

Dude been carrying the culture

Kendrick is an industry plant masquerading as a pro black savior and was used as a pawn .. him and his fans don’t even realize it lol

 

[Revolutionary]

Kendrick is an industry plant masquerading as a pro black savior and was used as a pawn .. him and his fans don’t even realize it lol

Hes not an industry plant, not even close, but people with very limited knowledge like you don't know crap about organic and authentic music and hype lol.
He also never claimed to be a pro black savior, and was never promoted as such. But keep doing you lol

 

[JustCKing]

The music industry as a whole is dead and was on its last legs in 2014. Billboard is moving goal posts to try to adapt and at the same time cover for the fact that the music industry is a fossil at this point. Why? Social media driven by Tiktok took over.

Music is no longer being bought anyway aside from Taylor Swift and Beyonce. Everything else is streamed and that is why they tried to combine streaming numbers with physical sales because nobody is buying music.

I don't care how many streams a song or artist gets, that whole methodology of X amount of streams is equivalent to an album sale never made logical sense. Convert everything over to streaming and stop saying an artist sold x amount of copies of a new album because its a lie.

 

[tysigna]

The feeling is exactly the same in the street.

Streets only care about mainstream rap music when Kendrick is around the corner. The culture doesn't give a fukk about industry plants like Drake.

 

[duncanthetall]

I mean the big acts haven’t dropped anything in a minute. While the “popular” stuff in rap really has zero crossover potential. Sorry but nobody but young folks are listening to YB. Good for him and he gonna get his money, but he ain’t branching out much further than he will from this point.

 

[Hum Alistair]

'Luther' being the last major hit is amazing. Kendrick was really carrying this shyt on his back. You got some posters saying that we ain't out here lookin at new artists and I'm sayin I would look at more new artists if they were producing good music

in 2025 people don't just want good rapping, they want good rapping and incredible music and it seems like only a handful of artists can provide that.
On a mainstream level, I believe Kendrick is the only one meeting these criteria, he been the only one since the early 2010s.

 

[M4T]

Rappers aren't crossing over anymore.The biggest rapper in 2024 (Kendrick Lamar) wasn't even a household name before the Superbowl.

 

[verhonggen]

There has been less releases though. All the relevant artists are silent. And I don't think we'll get new releases in the coming week considering the rumors of a new Kendrick project (deluxe)