\n\tWith Kendrick Lamar<\/a> and SZA<\/a>\u2019s 13-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 \u201cLuther\u201d falling off the Hot 100 dated Oct. 25, 2025<\/a>, there were officially no rap songs in the chart\u2019s top 40 last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n \t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \t<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n\tThe highest-ranking rap song \u2014\u00a0defined as a song deemed eligible for charting on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Hot Rap Songs listing \u2014 on the Oct. 25 Hot 100 was YoungBoy Never Broke Again\u2019s \u201cShot Callin,\u201d at No. 44. Cardi B\u2019s \u201cSafe\u201d (featuring Kehlani) and BigXthaPlug\u2019s \u201cHell at Night\u201d (featuring Ella Langley) also ranked in the 40s, at Nos. 48 and 49, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe last time before that when there were zero rap songs in the top 40 of the Hot 100? You have to go back all the way back to Feb. 2, 1990, when the top-ranking rap song was Biz Markie\u2019s eventual top 10 hit \u201cJust a Friend,\u201d which had just climbed to No. 41 on the chart. The next week, \u201cJust a Friend\u201d jumped to 29, 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRecent rule changes to Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Hot 100 methodology did play a part in the streak coming to an end. For the chart dated Oct. 25, descending songs were deemed recurrent<\/a> and removed from the chart if they had exceeded certain durations on the chart while also falling below certain updated chart thresholds \u2014\u00a0for instance, if they had fallen below No. 25 after spending over 26 weeks on the chart. That particular change resulted in the departure of \u201cLuther,\u201d which had fallen to No. 38 on the previous week\u2019s Hot 100 in its 46th week on the listing.<\/p>\n \n\tHowever, with \u201cLuther\u201d and seven other songs in the Hot 100\u2019s top 40 going recurrent on the Oct. 25 chart following the rule change, there was also extra opportunity for songs below them on the chart to rebound into the top 40, or to reach it for the first time. No rap songs were close enough to the threshold to be able to make that jump. (Also in the way: all 12 songs from Taylor Swift\u2019s new album, The Life of a Showgirl<\/em>, have been lodged in the top 40 the past three weeks, further limiting room for rap hits in the region.)<\/p>\n \n\tThe lack of rap songs in the Hot 100\u2019s top 40 is the latest sign of a recent dip in rap\u2019s commercial dominance. Hip-hop\u2019s overall market share reached a peak in 2020, when it neared 30%. That had slipped to just over 25% in 2023, and has been at 24% so far in 2025, through the week of Oct. 23. In the Hot 100 chart for the equivalent chart week five years ago (dated Oct. 24, 2020), a whopping 16 of the top 40 were rap songs, while in the equivalent chart two years ago (Oct. 28, 2023) there were eight rap songs in the top 40.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIt is worth noting that the rap world is currently in a bit of an in-between moment with some of its biggest names. Drake, the biggest chart mainstay of the past 15 years (and the artist with the most Hot 100 hits of all time), has not yet released his much-anticipated Iceman<\/em> album, while his 2024 foe Lamar is finally somewhat dormant following an 18-month period of cultural and commercial domination. However, the last few months have not been totally without big rap releases: both Cardi B and BigXthaPlug (two of the rappers currently closest to the top 40) have released new albums since August, and even without a new album, Drake has released a steady stream of new singles since announcing the album in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLuther\u201d is also the most recent rap song to appear in the Hot 100\u2019s top 10, last doing so on the chart dated Aug. 2, when it ranked at No. 9, before falling to No. 12 the next week. In the two months and three weeks following that chart, the closest another rap song got to the Hot 100\u2019s top 10 was BigXthaPlug\u2019s \u201cAll the Way\u201d (featuring Bailey Zimmerman), which ranked at No. 22 for the Hot 100 dated Sept. 6, after peaking at No. 4 in April.<\/p>\n\n
![\"Billboard](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2HpFicp.png\")