Hip-hop is one of the world's most popular genres, a style of music that's been on the rise since its inception in the 1970s. In fact, back in 2017, hip-hop and R&B collectively surpassed rock music as the most popular music genres in the United States, and their dominance on streaming platforms has seemingly held fast ever since.
This makes it all the more surprising that 2023 is the first year since 1993 that hip-hop has yet to yield a No 1 song or album in the first half of the year. Billboard reports that as we reach 2023's midpoint, not a single hip-hop artist has topped the Billboard Hot 100 or the Billboard 200 albums chart, while only six hip-hop singles have broken into the top ten.
