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    OPINION:

    5 REASONS WHY HIP-HOP HAS NO TOP 40 SONG ON THE BILLBOARD 100

    Kevin BourneBy No Comments9 Mins Read
    Hip-hop has no top 40 song on the Billboard 100
    Courtesy of Universal Music Group

    For the first time since 1990, hip-hop doesn’t have a top 40 song on the Billboard 100 chart. SHIFTER’s Kevin Bourne offers four reasons why.

    The hip-hop world is reeling from the news that for the first time since 1990, hip-hop does not have a Top 40 song on the Billboard 100 chart. after Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” left the chart. Some may see this as just a little blip, but for others it’s a sign of impending doom.

    Now, hip-hop has seen the signs that something was wrong. In 2023, the big news was that it took hip-hop over a year to get a #1 record on the Billboard 100. It happened eventually courtesy of Doja Cat’s “Paint The Town Red”, but this new headline is a new all-time low.

    Now, there’s a few reasons why this may be happening.

    Billboard Rule Change

    Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” left the Billboard 100 chart because of a new rule change.

    On October 29th, Billboard Magazine note, “For the chart dated Oct. 25, descending songs were deemed recurrent and removed from the chart if they had exceeded certain durations on the chart while also falling below certain updated chart thresholds — for instance, if they had fallen below No. 25 after spending over 26 weeks on the chart. That particular change resulted in the departure of “Luther,” which had fallen to No. 38 on the previous week’s Hot 100 in its 46th week on the listing.”

    So while under the old rules, “Luther” would’ve remained on the chart, at #38, it was already on its way out of the top 40 anyway.

    The Drake Effect

    For some, it’s the Drake Effect. Two years ago, hip-hop was shaken when a group of men from every single coast—the north, the south, the east, the west, and the Midwest—came together in Game of Thrones type fashion to take down the King of the North. Since then, Drake hasn’t worked with any of these artists again after stating in his music that the Drake stimulus package was indeed over. If we’re being honest, things haven’t been the same since. As Drake fans, it was tantamount to “biting the hand that feeds you” after Drake gave them hit after hit.

    Adding to this the decline of superstars like Kanye West, and we can see why hip-hop is on the decline, but there’s more to it than that.

    Lack of creativity

    For a long time, OGs in hip-hop, also known as “old heads,” have been bemoaning the lack of creativity and individuality in hip-hop today compared to the 80’s and 90’s where rappers had to have their own style. The wave of mumble rap and melodic hip-hop drew criticism from older generations who accused the newer generation of killing the hip-hop. Well, statistically, hip-hop isn’t dead, but it’s definitely on life support as a mainstream genre.

    Some of the best hip-hop being made right now comes from the 40 and 50+ cohort who are having a bit of a resurgence. Artists like Clipse, Mobb Deep, Alchemist, Ghostface Killah, and Freddie Gibbs have put out some of the best albums of 2025, and in recent years, Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Killer Mike have produced some of the best music of their careers. And while some see the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef as having hurt hip-hop, it also put the spotlight back on battling and lyricism.

    This week, after becoming famous for sounding like Atlanta artist Future and dropping his megahit “Panda”, Brooklyn rapper Desiigner recently went viral for dropping a boom-bap freestyle on his socials where he showed that he can rap after all. Maybe hip-hop just needs to go back to its roots. Or maybe Timbaland is onto something. Maybe the key to unlocking new creativity in hip-hop can be found in new technologies like AI.

    Still, when it comes to younger artists, who have more of an influence on mainstream music, there is less originality than in previous generations in hip-hop. Let’s be honest, a lot of it is boring and formulaic, and the artists who are lyrical are seen as corny.

    Either way, when something is not working, it’s a sign that something needs to change.

     

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    Oversaturation in the market

    This isn’t just true for hip-hop, but with streaming, there’s an oversaturation of music. Too much music that sounds the same is a recipe for disaster. People despise the idea of having “gatekeepers” in the music industry, but now you see why they played an important role. They ensured that only quality music reached the ears of listeners and A&R’s helped artists to develop and find their sound, sometimes for years, until they were ready.

    Streaming and music creation software has cut out the middle man and made it easier for artists to make music, and for consumer to gain access to music, but at what cost?

    Decline in popularity among white Americans

    This brings us to the next reason—the potential decline of hip-hop among weight Americans. I say “potential” because there’s no definitive way to know outside of polling white people to find out. But since the beginning of popular music in the 1950s, pop music goes where suburban white kids go. This was true with rock ‘n roll. Think about the Dick Clark, American Bandstand era. This was also true with swing, rhythm & blues (including blue-eyed soul), all the way through to grunge, electronic music, and hip-hop. Genres tend to start out underground until suburban white kids grab a hold of it. Then the industry follows soon after.

    In recent decades, hip-hop concert and merch sales were dominated by suburban white kids, but hip-hop concert tickets sales are on the decline. This decline is often attributed to ticket pricing, and streaming and online popularity not translating to live performance draw.

    Decline of the South

    Social media will have you believe that the South is still the mecca of hip-hop after usurping New York and the West Coast, but that’s not the case. A simple eye and ear test will let you know that the South’s run as the center of the hip-hop universe, influencing the sound, style, and slang of hip-hop is over. Whether it’s because of the decline of YSL post-trial, the murder of Takeoff, or just their once young artists getting older and failing to replenish their ranks, the South has gone cold.

    Think about it, this is the first time ever in hip-hop where there’s been no dominant coast leading the charge in hip-hop; that’s been the next frontier for hip-hop. For decades, it was the East Coast that was driving hip-hop forward. Then, in the era of Death Row, there was the West Coast that was leading hip-hop. And then for years, it was the South.

    After the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef, the thought was that perhaps the West Coast would rise to prominence once again, like a phoenix from the ashes, but that never happened. Some Drake fans have even taken to social media to accuse Kendrick Lamar of going after Drake for the top spot, but not being able to sustain it. So for the first time in decades, there is no dominant coast in hip-hop. And we know that Black America would never want it to be Canada, or the UK, for that matter? I’m sure there are people who would rather have hip-hop die than to see that happen. So with the East Coast, the West Coast, and the South, having each had their moment in the sun, what will be the next frontier for hip-hop? There is no other genre of music that is more tied to and influenced by geography than hip-hop.

    Is hip-hop dead after all?

    There are cycles in culture. Cultures start as subcultures, then after 20 years they become pop culture, before becoming high culture, like jazz. Maybe this is hip-hop going through the natural cycle of things.

    Or maybe this is a blessing in disguise. After years of gentrification and colonization, maybe this presents an opportunity to remove the industry and commerce from hip-hop so it can return to the subculture and artform many of us fell in love with in the first place.

    Or perhaps, as Dead Prez said, this whole thing is really bigger than hip-hop. Perhaps this marks a decline in Black culture within America in the face of a Trump Administration bent on suppressing Black history and culture. Or perhaps it’s is really a reflection of the declining influence of America on a whole of which hip-hop is just a small part? Either way, if hip-hop is going to survive as we know it, something’s gotta change.

    What are people saying?

    Kevin Bourne is SHIFTER’s Toronto-based editor and Senior Entertainment Reporter focusing on Black music and film & TV. He was named one of 340 international voters for the Golden Globe Awards and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.

     

     

     

     

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