Rap is not down because the lack of billboard entries, Its down because line of progression has been disrupted.

[Cladyclad]

Billboard does not determine what's going on in rap. It never has and never will. It determines what rappers an rap songs casual white people are gravitating too.

How many of the legendary songs in rap have ever charted?

A fukk ton since the mid 90s

 

[satam55]

IMO the reason Billboard couldn't properly measure how big Boosie & Webbie were becuz their charting is based from a national POV, while Boosie & Webbie were only big regionally.

Seeing how we're in the streaming era everything is online. You'd think it be easier for Billboard/Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music/etc. to make regional charts

It’s because charting is based on how many white casual hiphop fans are interested in your music

Even if you’re popular nationally with just black rap fans you won’t impact billboard (Boosie, Debbie, keef and YB)

Now it’s damn near impossible to get national black fans to hear your music

It’s also why Artist like Beyoncé and CB don’t dominate billboard even as superstars. They don’t have a lot of white listeners

Co-sign. Billboard charts like the "Hot Rap Songs", "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs", & "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" charts used to be based off singles & albums sold specifically at Hip-Hop/Black/urban music stores around the country. Billboard stopped doing that in the 2000's becuz of iTunes & albums/singles being sold digitally. So you can make the argument that those urban Billboard charts from the 90's & 80's were more accurate of what songs & albums nikkas were actually fuccing with nationally.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Co-sign. Billboard charts like the "Hot Rap Songs", "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs", & "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" charts used to be based off singles & albums sold specifically at Hip-Hop/Black/urban music stores around the country. Billboard stopped doing that in the 2000's becuz of iTunes & albums/singles being sold digitally. So you can make the argument that those urban Billboard charts from the 90's & 80's were more accurate of what songs & albums nikkas were actually fuccing with nationally.

Now its based on consumption but the problem is only the artist that have built fanbases for over long period of time get the most streams. New artist can't breakthrough.

The old way was better for breaking new artist.

 

[CrimsonTider]

A fukk ton since the mid 90s

My point is, songs that like "Wipe me down" never got near a pop chart and that song has been played at every single homecoming this year.

 

[Cladyclad]

My point is, songs that like "Wipe me down" never got near a pop chart and that song has been played at every single homecoming this year.

Peaking at 38th in the late 2000s is a hit

But your point stands

 

[Lonj]

My point is, songs that like "Wipe me down" never got near a pop chart and that song has been played at every single homecoming this year.

Huh? Wipe me down peaked at #38 on the hot 100 it was a crossover hit. Most them homecoming songs charted ("Shut up" for example), some charted high. Hip hop just ain't charting like that anymore outside of certain artists for whatever reason.

 

[trillanova]

Black artists need to regress from billboard/award chasing & amassing a white and international audience anyway. It’s time for reevaluation and recalibration of the various artforms we produce. It’s the only way we can move forward and regain our competency as actual artists and musicians.

The people who run the industry want the absolute worst representation of black artists so chasing their accolades only weakens us in the longrun.

 

[M4T]

I don’t think the ways kids discover music has changed, I just don’t think those artist they’re listening too can become mainstream in this current environment

A larger point is that rap not doing well on the pop charts is how rap has worked for most of its life

Yea but underground rap was supposed to counter culture like punk rock, underground or regional rappers aren't trying to stay underground they just can't make a hit ,so their music sucks too

 

[CrimsonTider]

Huh? Wipe me down peaked at #38 on the hot 100 it was a crossover hit. Most them homecoming songs charted ("Shut up" for example), some charted high. Hip hop just ain't charting like that anymore outside of certain artists for whatever reason.

The reason is because young white people are listening to rap like that anymore.

peaking at #38 does not popular measure how culturally relevant that song was and continues to be.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Yea but underground rap was supposed to counter culture like punk rock, underground or regional rappers aren't trying to stay underground they just can't make a hit ,so their music sucks too

How are the hits suppose to be known if they don't become a TikTok trend?

 

[M4T]

How are the hits suppose to be known if they don't become a TikTok trend?

UMG has been going against tiktok because tiktok basically said they're gonna stop making songs trend for the labels and let the algorithm make songs trend organically instead. None of these new artists were going viral organically. Now you see old 50 cent and 2pac songs trending on tiktok. It turns out even gen z doesn't like these garbage artist either

 

[Playaz Eyez]

You telling me guys like Loe Shimmy, YTB fatt,Moneleo and Bankrollni are making good music?

It’s just damn near impossible for new rappers music to pop nationally

Only Monaleo is from those listed. The rest of them suck. Ironically, I figured those would be artists you like

 

[Playaz Eyez]

Yeah rappers don't do posse cuts anymore which sucks, like you said Khaled usually had those on lock back in the day but that shyt is over with. Those posse cuts had an element of fun to them because you had different styles of guys coming together on one track. I was talking to a friend of mine about this same thing.

No one wants to hear posse cuts from dudes that can’t rap. What six guys do you want to hear “spitting” from YSL??? You want to hear NAV and Baka in between some other nondescript OVO verses? Jackboys??? Griselda and Griselda affiliates are the only ones really doing that now, and that’s an entirely different demo when we’re talking about young mainstream presence.

 

[Sk3ptical]

Definitely CB. The weeknd low key leeched off of black culture to get hot. Weend has lost a lot of his casual white fans too

weeknd is black tho

 

[Sk3ptical]

---

every genre has its ending as far as being the big dog in popularity.

Funny because rap still number one.

-hip-Hop is the number one most popular music genre in 2025, with a 30.7% market share, followed by Rock and Pop, which each hold a 14.7% share. Other top genres include Latin, with a 8.2% share, and Country, which is experiencing a significant surge in popularity.