In the 1970s and 1980s, hip-hop was a language of dissent. Now, hip-hop songs (shown in red) dominate the Billboard Hot 100.
When and how did hip-hop become so mainstream?
Click the outlined circles in the top chart to learn more about the genre's rise.
Red circles show New York
Hip-hop originated in the South Bronx in the 1970s. Urban renewal programs decades before set the stage for dissatisfied young people with few avenues through which to channel their energy.
Disillusionment and feelings about terrible conditions were expressed through dissent-laden hip-hop. Early hip-hop like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's 1982 "The Message" describes these conditions while Public Enemy’s 1990 "Fight the Power" is an example of the lyrical protest itself.
From 1989 to 1993 there was a steep increase in Hot 100 hip-hop songs, shown in the top graph and mirrored in the red New York section below it.
Red circles show Atlanta
Atlanta began its climb in earnest in 2000, the year OutKast’s "Ms. Jackson" charted on the Hot 100. In 2005, the city had more hip-hop songs on the Hot 100 than New York for the first time.
Atlanta's climb continues today. In 2017, Atlanta produced 37 Hot 100 hip-hop songs (New York produced the second most: 25).
Future, Gucci Mane, and 21 Savage were the artists of the majority of these hits, but one-hit wonders like Rich the Kid and 6lack bolstered Atlanta's 2017 numbers as well.
Red circles show Toronto
The rise of Toronto's hip-hop scene shows the rise of one artist in particular: Drake. The city first popped up in 2009 when his EP So Far Gone was released.
This goes to show that a city’s reach shouldn’t be overstated; Drake was responsible for all but one of the Toronto hip-hop songs of 2017. If not for him, Toronto would barely be visible on the bottom chart.
Red circles show Los Angeles
The 1990s saw the West Coast (particularly Los Angeles) enter the commercially successful hip-hop scene.
Police brutality was already an oft-addressed subject in Los Angels hip-hop (N.W.A.’s 1988 "Fuck Tha Police," for example), but became an even more popular topic following the LAPD beating of Rodney King and subsequent trial of the involved officers.
Dissent in this period took the form of politically- and socially-conscious hip-hop. 2Pac referenced then-governor of California Pete Wilson by name in "To Live and Die In L.A." and Rodney King in "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto."
Red circles show New York
While much was made of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry in the 1990s (for example, Biggie Smalls' 1994 "Who Shot Ya?" taunt to 2Pac versus the latter's 1996 "Hit 'Em Up" response track), New York hip-hop was more present on the Hot 100 than that of any other city pretty much from the genre's inception until 2005.
In 2002 NY hip-hop songs had more cumulative weeks on the hot 100 than any other city in any other year. Over a third of Hot 100 hip-hop songs that year were made in New York, among them singles from Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2 and Ja Rule's The Last Temptation.
Red circles show all cities but New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Toronto
It’s unclear which begets which, but the spreading of hip-hop origins moves in tandem with the popularization of the genre. Starting around 2008, there is a rise in Hot 100 hip-hop songs in general (shown in the top chart), particularly among cities not historically known for hip-hop.
The fact that rappers from a beach town in Florida (Pompano Beach) had more Hot 100 hip-hop songs in 2017 than New York artists did the previous year illustrates this.
Dissent is spreading, and the internet has enabled subcultures to develop anywhere—not just places with high density like 1980s New York. Artists from New York and Atlanta will continue to release commercially successful hip-hop, but it will be difficult for any one city to dominate for years at a time like it used to.
Blue circles show rock music
Dissent was a popular theme in 1970s and 1980s rock music. The Vietnam War was a big point of discontent and disaffection with America among musicians and the public alike.
Rock in this period saw subtle—and overt—political and social commentary from artists like Bruce Springsteen, whose Born in the USA was released in 1984 (its title song is a great example of the aforementioned themes).
However, after ten years of increasing presence on the Hot 100, rock music began to decline in popularity in the mid-1980s.
Red circles show hip-hop songs
240 of the 494 songs that charted on the Hot 100 in 2017 were hip-hop songs. That's the highest number of Hot 100 songs from one genre since the Hot 100 chart began in 1958.
Is hip-hop more popular now than in the 1990s because, like in the 1970s and 1980s, dissent is in vogue?
Or could it be that the sound of hip-hop has changed; that it’s more “pop” now?
The origins of commercially successful hip-hop songs can shed some light on the genre’s rising Hot 100 success. Click the outlined circles on the bottom chart to learn more.