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The record of rap songs topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart since 1990 has been broken. For the first time in 35 years, no rap song appeared in the chart’s top 40 last week. The streak ended on October 25, 2025, after Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s 13-week No. 1 hit, Luther, was removed from the chart following a rule change. YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s Shot Callin is currently the highest-charting rap song, holding the No. 44 spot, just shy of the top 40. Cardi B’s Safe featuring Kehlani and BigXthaPlug’s Hell at Night featuring Ella Langley follow closely behind, ranking at No. 48 and No. 49, respectively. Why Luther Was Removed From The Chart Billboard’s recent changes to its chart methodology led to Luther’s removal. According to the Billboard, songs that have spent a long time on the chart and dropped below specific positions are now marked as recurrent and removed. Previously, Billboard would remove songs that fell below No. 25 after 25 weeks or below No. 50 after 20 weeks. Under the updated rules, songs will now be taken off the chart if they fall below No. 5 after 78 weeks, below No. 10 after 52 weeks, below No. 25 after 26 weeks, or below No. 50 after 20 weeks. Luther ranked at No. 38 in its final week but failed to reach No. 25 within 26 weeks, resulting in its removal under the new criteria. This update came after Lamar, 38, enjoyed a successful year. The album featuring Luther, GNX, made history this summer as the longest-running No. 1 on the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart. He also headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and won Grammys in five categories. Taylor Swift’s Chart Dominance Leaves Little Room For Rap Hits Though the rule change created opportunities for other tracks to rise, no rap songs came close to breaking into the top 40. Taylor Swift’s dominance, with 12 songs from her new album The Life of a Showgirl occupying leading positions, further limited space for rap entries on the chart. Is Hip-Hop’s Market Drowning? The absence of rap songs in the top 40 points to a dip in the genre’s commercial dominance. In 2020, hip-hop’s overall market share reached its peak at nearly 30%. By 2023, it had slipped to just over 25% and has remained around 24% so far in 2025, through the week ending October 23. In the Hot 100 chart from the same week five years ago (dated October 24, 2020), 16 of the top 40 songs were rap tracks. Two years later, in the chart dated October 28, 2023, that number had fallen to just eight. Luther was the last rap song to break into the Hot 100’s top 10, reaching No. 9 on the August 2 chart before dropping out the following week. Since then, the closest any rap track has come was BigXthaPlug’s All the Way, which peaked at No. 22 on the September 6, 2025 chart.
