Rap Songs Fail to Appear in Billboard’s Top 40 For the First Time in 35 Years

Courtesy: Billboard

By: Olivia Armistead

History was made the week of Halloween after no rap songs appeared in the top 40 on Billboard’s Hot 100 List. 

The news comes after Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s 13-week number 1 hit song “luther” fell off the Hot 100 on October 25, according to Billboard. 

The San Francisco Chronicle stated that the highest ranking rap song titled “Shot Callin” by rapper Youngboy Never Broke Again landed at number 44, rapper Cardi B’s song “Safe” came in at number 48, and rapper BigXthaPlug’s song “Hell At Night” followed right below that at number 49. 

The last time this event occurred was February 2, 1990, when legendary hip hop artist Biz Markie’s song “Just A Friend” was the top-ranking rap song coming in at number 41 on the charts, per Billboard.

One week later, it soared to number 29, which started the streak of rap songs being in the top 40 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 35 years. According to reports from Black Enterprise, the streak's ending has to do with Billboard changing its rules regarding chart placement. If the outlet categorizes songs making their decline on the charts as recurrent, they are completely removed from the charts. 

This recent change has young aspiring musicians analyzing the future of rap music and the state of it now. 

“Hip hop in its current state isn’t impactful. Over the past few decades, music has been on a decline in quality, and that includes hip hop,” said Israel Doby, head of A&R of Hampton University’s ACE music program. “Hip hop went from amplifying our voices for the Black community, to providing a platform for anybody to spout anything [...] the voices of Black people have become marketable, expendable, and mutable, and as of right now, nobody wants to hear us.”

“I think the reason why rap music isn’t charting as high this year, even though it is still influential in pop culture, is because we have leaned toward an idol sort of image,” added Elodie Lapointe, a music audio production major attending Hampton University. “Rap had a rawness to it; it’s a little bit less synthetic. But nowadays, that’s not what’s being chased. I believe this is a temporary shift in music trends because the only thing missing from the equation is collapse. The second we collapse, everything changes.”