What you need to know
The 35-year streak of rap songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart has come to an end.
Billboard announced on October 29 that due to a rule change, Kendrick Lamar’s song “Luther” featuring SZA has been removed from its chart tracker.
Previously, Billboard removed songs that fell below #25 after 25 weeks or below #50 after 20 weeks. Billboard currently plans to remove songs considering the following parameters regarding chart descent: No. 5 or lower after 78 weeks. 10th place in 52nd week. 25th place after 26 weeks. 50th after 20 weeks.
“Luther” finished at number 38 in its final week, but failed to reach number 25 after 26 weeks on the chart and was removed in accordance with the new guidelines.
Kendrick Lamar/YouTube
The news comes after a very successful year for the 38-year-old Lamar. GNX’s album featuring “Luther” made history this summer as the longest-running No. 1 album on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart. Additionally, they headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and won Grammy Awards in all five categories for which they were nominated.
Meanwhile, all songs from Taylor Swift’s recent highly successful album The Life of a Showgirl have appeared on the charts.
Other pop stars continue to do well, including Justin Bieber, Olivia Deen and Alex Warren, whose single “Ordinary” stayed on the chart for 37 weeks.
Despite the lack of rap at the top of the charts, there are lower-ranked tracks that could make a comeback within the top 40.
On the October 25 Hot 100, YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Shot Kalin” ranked at number 44, followed by Cardi B’s “Safe” (co-starring Kehlani) and Big Supragu’s “Hell at Night” (co-starring Ella Langley) at number 48 and 49, respectively.
Lester Cohen/Getty; Jason Kempin/Getty
Billboard suggests that the lack of rap songs on the Hot 100 is “the latest sign of rap’s recent decline in commercial dominance.” The magazine reports that hip-hop has been in a gradual decline since reaching its market peak in 2020.
On the chart dated October 24, 2020, there were 16 rap songs in the top 40, half the number from the same week in 2023.
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The last time a rap song remained in the Top 40 slot was during the first week of February 1990, when Biz Markie’s hit “Just a Friend” had just climbed to No. 41. The following week, it jumped to #29.
