Are we living through a rap drought? The Billboard charts suggest we are

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — It feels like the Billboard charts could use a good rap beef right about now.

That’s because, according to the publication, for the first time since 1990, there is no hip hop in the Top 40 of the Billboard 100 chart.

“With Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s 13-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 ‘Luther’ falling off the Hot 100 dated Oct. 25, 2025, there were officially no rap songs in the chart’s top 40 last week,” Billboard reported.

The last time that happened was the week of February 2, 1990, “when the top-ranking rap song was Biz Markie’s eventual top 10 hit ‘Just a Friend,’ which had just climbed to No. 41 on the chart.”

The following week, that song shot to the number 29 slot, “starting a Hot 100 streak of rap songs in the top 40 that would last for the next 35 years, eight months and three weeks.”

There are, however, rap songs currently down lower on the Hot 100 list.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Shot Callin,” came in at number 44 followed by Cardi B’s “Safe” (featuring Kehlani) and BigXthaPlug’s “Hell at Night” (featuring Ella Langley) at 48 and 49, respectively.

So is hip hop declining or nah?

Billboard reports that “the lack of rap songs in the Hot 100’s top 40 is the latest sign of a recent dip in rap’s commercial dominance,” while also pointing out that they made a rule change that contributed to the recent Lamar and SZA collab dropping out of the top.

“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,” the publication explained. “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.”

Lamar’s latest album, 2024’s “GNX,” was bolstered by his now legendary beef with fellow rapper and former collaborator, Drake.

The hip-hop superstar won five Grammys in February, two of them in major categories for his hit “Not Like Us,” a diss track of Drake.

Drake filed suit against his own record label, UMG Recordings, Inc. The Canadian rapper and actor’s claim was that the label participated in defaming him by publishing and promoting the song.

Lamar was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, and it was recently dismissed by a federal judge. This week, though, the beef goes on, because Drake’s attorneys made it known they would file an appeal.

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