Rap shut out from Billboard's Top 40 for the first time in 35 years

While this could’ve opened up the playing field for other rap songs to rise, there are other factors at play. For instance, all 12 songs from Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl have stuck in the ...

Rap falls off the Billboard Top 40 for the first time in 35 years — here’s what’s behind the drop

The news may indicate a dip in rap’s dominance in mainstream music, but the music publication has also changed its ...

For the first time in 35 years, the Billboard Top 40 has no hip-hop or rap songs. Here’s why

Hip-hop and rap have been driving culture in the U.S. for almost four decades now, especially in America. So why are these ...

How did rap fall out of the Billboard top 40?

Hip-hop radio veterans Mastermind and Jay Smooth, along with music industry academic Michelle Santosuosso, discuss what this ...
Stereogum

There Are No Rap Songs In The Top 40 For The First Time In 35 Years

Yesterday, Billboard deputy editor and Stereogum buddy Andrew Unterberger published a piece with some confusing implications: On last week's Billboard Hot 100, there were no rap songs in the top 40.