The Real Story Behind Hip-Hop’s “Decline”

The media commentary on hip-hop’s decline is stronger than ever. Especially since it took six months for a rap album to top the Billboard 200 in 2023, and no rap song has topped the Hot 100 yet..

Is hip-hop slipping? Or is there more to this story? is slipping or others are merely catching up?

To break it all down, I’m joined by The Wall Street Journal’s Neil Shah, who has written about this extensively.

0:16 Our take on hip-hop’s “decline”
3:22 Upcoming albums that may top the charts
6:43 How Billboard charts work
15:40 Hip-hop over indexed when streaming took off
20:57 Was hip-hop held back in the past?
26:17 Implications of chart performance
29:45 Gaming the system with album bundles
31:38 Are album equivalent units the best way to measure success?
33:40 Hip Hop’s market share in 5 years
41:34 Music recycling IP vs. developing new one

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