From classics like “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio to “Hiss” by Megan Thee Stallion, hip hop is one of the most popular genres that has evolved over the last 5 decades.
In fact, Spotify reported that 25% of all their streams in 2023 were rap/Hip Hop songs with the top artists being 21 Savage, Drake, and Nicki Minaj.
They also claim that over 400 million users streamed rap songs in 2023 alone. On top of that over 2 billion Spotify playlists featured at least a single rap song, making it the most popular genre in their platform.
Hip-hop turned 50 in 2013 and while superstars and fans were celebrating its anniversary, I was wondering:
- How many rap songs are there on the planet?”
- How many songs have rappers produced since the genre started in the Bronx half a century ago?
Let’s find out.
How Many Rap Songs Are There on the Planet?
Generally, there are hundreds of millions of hip-hop music on the planet, with over a million Hip-hop songs released annually.
Unfortunately, quantifying the total number of rap songs ever released is impossible since it is one of the world’s most popular genres.
Therefore, millions of rappers are always uploading their new song every hour.
In fact, Spotify uploaded over 60,000 songs in 2021 with Hip-hop making up a huge percentage of these songs.
Rappers started by releasing singles back in 1979, with the first recorded rap song being “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang.
But over the years the number of albums has been increasing with 3 rap albums released in 1980. But after a decade, rappers were releasing over 100 albums in the United States alone.
And in 2024 alone, American rappers released 26 albums in January, so we expect over 300 albums to be released this year in the United States.
Remember, albums have a maximum of 17 songs with some having as low as 7 songs. A good example of an album with 7 songs is Kanye’s latest album “Ye.”
This means that American rappers who release albums bless us with over 1,000 songs every year and this doesn’t include the singles being released every day.
And how many rappers do we have on our beautiful planet? Find out here: How Many Rappers Are There In The World?
Which Rapper Has the Most Songs?
As of 2017, the American rapper with the most songs was Snoop Dogg with 583 followed by Lil Wayne (430), and then Eminem (388).
But he has released even more songs in the last 5 years and currently, he has a total of 19 studio albums.
Snoop Dogg has also released 128 singles, 25 mixtapes, 17 compilation albums, and 4 collaborative albums.
On the other hand, Lil Wayne also known as Young Tuneche has over 128 singles.
Rapper with the most number 1 hits
While Snoop and Lil Wayne have the most songs in the United States, they don’t have the most number 1 hit songs in the United States.
The rapper with the most number 1 hits is Drake with 28 followed by Lil Wayne with 11 songs.
Since he began his career in 2006, Drake has released hit-after-hit making him the highest-selling American musician.
Also check: How Many Lil Rappers Are There?
