Hip-Hop Has Not Had a No. 1 Song or Album All Year

We’re nearly halfway through 2023, and the hip-hop genre has had one of its quietest years in the mainstream since its inception. Although the hip-hop community is supposed to be celebrating its 50-year anniversary all year long, the charts continue to crash the party.

This week, Billboard reported that hip-hop has not had a single album or song reach the top of its Billboard 200 or Hot 100 charts so far this year. This drought of over five months has officially become the genre’s longest departure from No. 1 in more than 30 years. But, why is that so?

If you’ve kept your eyes on the Billboard 200 this year, country, pop, and R&B have had a stranglehold over the top spot. The first couple of months of the year mostly saw SZA’s December album SOS sit atop the chart. Then, when Morgan Wallen put out his third studio album One Thing at a Time in early March, he stayed at No. 1 for 12 total weeks, as he shared some time with Taylor Swift’s 2022 album Midnights which received a few deluxe releases in May. The dominance of Wallen’s album, though, eventually became the most time a country album has been atop the Billboard 200 in 30 years.

One reason that a hip-hop artist was not able to find its way to No. 1 for even a week is likely because its most prominent artists have not put out any albums thus far in 2023. Although 2022 saw LPs from Drake twice, Kendrick Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion, Nas, Gunna, and more, hardly any of these upper-echelon talents have dropped a project this year.

As for the Hot 100, hip-hop has had a few contenders land inside the Top 3, but none have been able to break through to the peak. Among the songs that have been close, though, are Lil Durk’s “All My Life” with J. Cole (No. 2 peak), Taylor Swift’s “Karma” with Ice Spice (No. 2 peak), Drake’s “Search & Rescue” (No. 2 peak), PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2” with Ice Spice (No. 3 peak), and Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana” remix with Nicki Minaj (No. 4 peak).

But, there is still hope that the drought could be ended soon. For the rest of 2023, the genre anticipates brand new albums from stars like Travis Scott, Future, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Kid Cudi, Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert, Quavo, Offset, Playboi Carti, and more. While a good chunk of these have a great chance at hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 2000, they will also surely produce a good amount of candidates to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage