For the first time in 35 years, no rap songs have reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100

With the exit of Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "Luther," the top 40 of the Hot 100 ends a streak that has lasted for decades.

Hip-Hop Reaches a New Low on the Billboard Hot 100

For the first time in 35 years, there are no rap songs on the Billboard Top 40.

On Wednesday (October 29), Billboard announced that, for the first time since 1990, there are no rap songs in the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. As a long-standing hip-hop hit becomes recurrent on the chart, the top 40 of the Hot 100 is devoid of any rap songs, breaking a streak that has persisted for more than 35 years.

Discussions about the decline in hip-hop's commercial success in 2025 persist, and now there is new data illustrating the severity of the situation. Allegedly, not a single rap song made it into the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 last week. The last occurrence of this was in February 1990, when the highest-ranked song was Biz Markie's “Just a Friend." The hit eventually climbed into the top 10.

According to Billboard, the top-ranking rap song at the moment is NBA YoungBoy's MASA track, “Shot Callin," which is at No. 44. This is followed by Cardi B’s Am I The Drama? track “Safe” featuring Kehlani at No. 48, and BigXthaPlug’s I Hope You're Happy track “Hell at Night” featuring Ella Langley at No. 49.

A recent change to Billboard Hot 100 rules is one reason why some songs drop off. Songs that are descending in rank are labeled as recurrent and may be removed from the chart after a specific period, based on their position.

This is not the first indication fans have witnessed of hip-hop's commercial downturn in recent months. This trend is also evident in the lineups of popular music festivals such as Coachella. When the festival released its star-studded list of 2026 performers in September, there was a noticeable absence of hip-hop acts.

Only six of them qualified, including Swae Lee, Clipse, Little Simz, Central Cee, Sexyy Red, and Young Thug. Furthermore, none of them are headliners. Instead, the headlining spots are occupied by pop artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber, along with Colombian singer Karol G.

This represents a 70% decrease from 2022, when an impressive 19 hip-hop artists were part of the Coachella lineup. It's also only the second time since 2017 that fewer than 10 hip-hop artists were included. The 2025 lineup featured 10 hip-hop artists, while 2024 and 2023 included 9 and 17, respectively.