Since the late 70s, hip-hop and rap have penetrated popular culture, mainly in America, but also in other countries.
Then, in 1990, a breakthrough came. Hip-hop and rap tracks began to penetrate the Billboard Top 40, and over the next 35 years we saw dozens of these songs reach official hit status. By the end of the decade, hip-hop/rap had supplanted rock as the driving force of the national culture when it came to music. It seemed unstoppable. America will forever be a hip-hop nation.
However, this month there is a surprise. For the first time since 1990, the Billboard Top 40 was devoid of hip-hop and rap.
What's happened? Does this mean it is in decline and on the way out? Well, no. Genres are very much alive and well. Its absence has more to do with the way the charts are compiled now than with the popularity or strength of the songs.
The charts are the music industry's way of keeping score with itself. The higher a song or album rises, the greater the potential for hype. Radio play increases, sales increase, and more people stream the songs. And at the end of the year, record company executives compare themselves to see which singles and albums have the highest ratings.
And before it was so simple. The charts were compiled based on sales and radio airplay. In the streaming age, there's a complex weighting system that tries to convert digital music consumption into old-school sales. One modern metric is track equivalent album (TEA). According to this formula, 10 sales of digital songs from one album equals the sale of one album, thereby merging digital sales with physical sales.
Billboard also has streaming equivalent sales (SEA). This measurement takes into account on-demand playback of a song across Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and all other platforms. If 1,500 songs are streamed from one album, it's considered an old-school album sellout. Radio airplay plus sales, TEA and SEA should give the industry an accurate and complete picture of how a given release is doing.
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Put it all together and we have a chart compilation situation that is very different from what the late broadcaster had, Cassoneused to countdown every weekend. There's a lot of playmaking going on.
When Taylor Swift releases an album like her last one, The life of a dancerSwifties are buying up every physical copy of the record they have. There is a standard vinyl version and seven additional options, each with their own artwork and vinyl colors. No Tay-Tay collection would be complete without them all, and each variant sale is considered a separate sale. Let's talk about how to increase the numbers.
Swifties are also streaming their music in the tens of millions, increasing the number of SEA units for The life of a dancerwhich propelled the album even higher on the charts. And since streaming also plays a major role in the Billboard Hot 100 (which, of course, includes the official Top 40), Swift dominates. For the week ending November 8, the artist had three songs in the Top 10 and 12 in the Top 40, leaving just 28 spots for everyone else.
Other artists are currently benefiting from the current chart rules. HUNTR/X (Huntrix), a fictional girl group from K-Pop Demon Hunters, is a streaming sensation with four songs in the current top 40, leaving 24 spots—23 if you count the song released by Rumi, Jinwoo, EJAE and Andrew Choi, the human voices behind HUNTR/X.
Then there's the Saja Boys, the fictional boy band from K-Pop's Demon Hunters, who occupy two spots of their own.
Add in Morgan Wallen (two songs), Chris Brown (two songs) and Sabrina Carpenter (two songs), and only 17 spots remain. They are divided between pop artists such as Olivia Dean, Alex Warren, Justin BieberBenson Boone, Tate McCray and Kehlani.
Michael Jackson also made his annual appearance with Thriller (No. 32), which is always popular at Halloween. There was only one debut last week and that was I love a girl from Megan Thee Stallion, which is more smooth R&B than anything else.
There is one more factor. Billboard just changed its rules regarding eligible songs. Luther Kendrick Lamar, and SZA was kicked out of the Top 40 after 46 weeks, including 13 weeks at number one. Why? Because it did not settle at number 25 or higher after its 26th week on the chart. Boom. Left. The song is now considered a “repeat” – a radio term for a big hit that is still popular after a long period of time, but is no longer relevant. No LutherThere is no hip-hop/rap on the Hot 100.
Are your eyes already dim? If yes, then I don't blame you. I do this for a living and it's hard for me to stay awake.
Keep all this in mind the next time someone tells you that Taylor Swift is bigger than The Beatles. When they were around, Billboard ran its charts very differently. Comparing The Beatles' chart performance to Tay-Tay's is foolish because the rules are completely different. It's not all apples and oranges. These are apples and mushrooms.
Does this mean hip-hop/rap is going away? Hardly. It's a math quirk used to compile charts, combined with the Taylor Swift and KPop Demon Hunters phenomenon.
YoungBoy never broke again; BigXthaPlug And Ella Langley rap tracks are booming right now. They will likely move up as Tay-Tay and Demon Hunters receive less airplay and hip-hop/rap returns to the top 40.
Anyone who grew up listening to Top 40 radio in the 60s, 70s and 80s was exposed to a wide variety of sounds and genres. Not so much anymore, right? The Billboard charts may matter less than ever.
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