Rap and Hip Hop reach new highs in 2019 achieving record shares for both singles and albums according to Official Charts Company data released by the BPI. The analysis compiled from both purchases and streams show that singles of Rap and Hip Hop comprised well over a fifth (21.5%) of all consumption, up from 20.9% in 2018. In the five years from 2015 to 2019, UK artists’ share of Rap’s sales and streams increased from 10.0% to 26.9% on albums and from 15.5% to 42.2% on singles.
While American artists such as Post Malone and Lil Nas X were among those to have the biggest hits last year, UK talent also did well: Stormzy achieved his first ever UK No.1 with Vossi Bop, and both AJ Tracey (Ladbroke Grove) and Aitch (Taste (Make It Shake)) made the top three. Additionally there were top 10 hits for British artists such as Dave, Russ & Tion Wayne, Young T & Bugsey and Mist among others.
It was also a good year for UK rappers in the artist albums market, in which Rap/Hip Hop claimed a 10.8% share. Stormzy took Glastonbury by storm with a triumphant headline slot, while his December-released second album Heavy Is The Head went on to give him another number one. There was also success for Dave, commercially and critically – his debut Psychodrama went straight to No.1 on its release in March, and in September was awarded the Mercury Prize for Album of the Year. Both Dave and Stormzy were recognized at the 2020 BRITs, with Dave picking up British Album of the Year and Stormzy honoured as British Male Solo Artist.
Hip Hop and Rap’s profile has not always been as prominent in the UK market – its share has been as low as 3.6% in the singles market (in 1999) and 1.7% in the albums market (1998). In the early-to-mid 2000s it enjoyed success climbing to 13.7% of singles sold and 6.4% of albums in 2004 through artists such as Eminem, Outkast and The Streets. Since then its share has fluctuated but its rise in recent years, including the resurgence of Grime, has seen its share of singles consumption in 2019 (21.5%) at almost twice that recorded as recently as 2015 (11.0%). In 2019 it was second only in the singles share table behind Pop (33.1%), and third in the albums table, behind Rock (38.0%) and Pop (27.5%).
Early indications for Rap/Hip Hop in 2020 remain encouraging, with the genre landing three of the top 10 albums of the first quarter – by Stormzy (Heavy Is The Head), Eminem (Music To Be Murdered By) and J Hus (Big Conspiracy).
Further information can be found in the BPI’s annual yearbook All About the Music 2020 which gives a detailed insight into the year in UK recorded music in 2019 and is available free to all BPI members and can be purchased from the BPI’s website here.
