This genre is too big to fail and the numbers just confirmed it.
Hip-hop faced questions about its relevance at the start of 2024. But by year’s end, the genre topped Chartmetric’s industry analysis, commanding an unrivaled roster of 1.4 million artists across 1,691 categories.
The Numbers Behind the Throne
Raw data reveals hip-hop’s commanding presence in today’s music landscape.
Chartmetric’s tracking of music genres in 2024 shows hip-hop/rap towering over the competition with 1.4 million artists and 11.8 million tracks in this category alone, putting other major genres like pop and Latin music far behind.
The genre’s success isn’t just about having more artists, though. Hip-hop heavyweights are crushing it in the global rankings too.
Take Drake, who’s sitting pretty at number 5 in Chartmetric’s global top 10 rankings by peak score. And let’s not forget about Eminem, who’s holding strong in ninth place.
When you look at different platforms, hip-hop’s strength really shines through. The genre keeps popping up in YouTube’s global weekly charts and radio stations across multiple countries can’t get enough of hip-hop tracks.
What Caused This Trend?
The speculation about hip-hop’s declining influence came to an abrupt halt when Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s rivalry took over 2024. Their high-profile feud had everyone tuning in, sending streaming numbers through the roof and lighting up social media all year long.
The numbers tell quite a story. Lamar came out swinging with “Not Like Us,” and the track flat-out performed better than Drake’s comeback “Family Matters.”
While Drake pulled in an impressive 28 million YouTube views, Lamar’s track racked up over 61 million views and topped the Billboard charts.
This battle seriously boosted both artists’ streaming numbers.
Lamar’s monthly Spotify listeners jumped from 52 million to 78 million, officially passing Drake on July 17th.
Lamar wasn’t done yet, though. He dropped his sixth studio album “GNX” out of nowhere on November 22nd.
The 12-track collection proved his dominance wasn’t just about the beef. By year’s end, it had pulled in over 900 million streams, putting an exclamation point on hip-hop’s massive year.