Facts and figures about hip-hop and rap

History of Hip-Hop: From the underground of New York to the mainstream of global pop culture

Kool DJ Herc developed the prototype of hip-hop in the Bronx. In 1973, he no longer played songs as a whole, but repeated certain parts of the beat (sog. breakbeats). Political and socially critical issues became characteristic of the content of the lyrics of rap. In the 80s, the genre evolved and gangsta rap with its more complex beats became style-defining. Relevant artists from the early days of hip-hop included Run-D, for example.M.C or LL Cool J, who released on the Def Jam record label. In the period from 1989 to 2015, Def Jam was the most successful hip-hop label in the U.S., while the multitude of record stores contributed to the spread of the genre. In the mid-1990s, the conflict between East and West Coast dominated the perception of hip-hop and rap. Famous artists from the East Coast include A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Wu-Tang Clan. The West Coast was represented by N.W.A, Ice-T or Dr. Dre. The rivalry between West Coast and East Coast accumulated in the duel between 2Pac (West Coast) and Notorious B.I.G (Eastcoast). After both rappers died violently, the conflict eased and hip-hop finally made its way into the mainstream. Not for nothing is glamour one of the defining elements of music videos in hip-hop and rap, and for many the genre embodies the American Dream. Jay-Z, who grew up in Brooklyn, occupies the first place in the ranking of the richest hip-hop musicians in the world with a fortune of about one billion US dollars (as of 2019).

In the USA, R&B and hip-hop are now the top-selling music genres: Songs from these genres account for 28.3 percent of all albums sold and streamed, well ahead of the second-place genre rock. The share of hip-hop and R&B in the total sales of the US music industry has been growing for years. While artists like Drake and Post Malone are listened to millions of times over and female artists like Cardi B are increasingly enjoying success, other English-speaking rappers stand out for their enormous vocabulary.

Increasing popularity in Germany as well: from the Fanta 4 to Peter Fox and Capital Bra

Films like Beatstreet and Wild Style sparked the interest of young people worldwide and brought rap and hip-hop to Europe. In Germany, the genre had its first stronghold in Heidelberg (Advanced Chemistry) and its first popular representatives with the Fantastischen Vier (Stuttgart) or Fettes Brot (Hamburg). Meanwhile, hip-hop is a lucrative business for the music industry in Germany. At 18.6 percent, the genre now accounts for the second-largest share of sales in the music industry in Germany. Hip-hop and rap are especially popular among the younger demographic of 14 to 19-year-olds. In 2020, more than 40 percent in this age group said they very much enjoyed listening to this genre of music. In the previous year, one-fifth of the German-speaking population between the ages of 14 and 25 had bought a music CD of the genre hip-hop, rhythm& Blues bought. In total, there are about 7.6 million people in Germany who like to listen to hip hop and rap. The increased interest is also reflected in the German music charts: a full 14 Deutschrap songs were at the top of the charts at times in 2018, which is more than ever before – Capital Bra in particular recorded numerous hits in the process. The best-selling album in Deutschrap and Sprechgesang is Stadtaffe, the first and only album by Seeed singer Peter Fox, which went over the counter in physical music sales more than 1.3 million times.

The diversity of the very strongly lyrical genre of German hip hop can be seen, among other things, in the rankings of artists with the largest vocabularies. Nevertheless, discrimination such as sexism or homophobia that can be observed in the scene is increasingly being critically scrutinized. Lyrics analyses show, for example, that sexist terms are used in a not inconsiderable proportion of the Deutschrap songs released in recent years – some artists’ lyrics can hardly do without such expressions. In contrast, artists such as the now-defunct rap duo SXTN attempt to gain interpretive authority over sexist terms through their provocative use of them, thus achieving an emancipatory reinterpretation. Under the hashtag #deutschrapmetoo, which follows the MeToo debate that began in 2017, allegations of sexual abuse against various male rappers in German-speaking countries were made in the summer of 2021. Overall social issues such as feminism and sexual violence are thus now also being discussed in the Deutschrap scene.

This text represents a basic information. A guarantee for the correctness and completeness of the data cannot be taken over. Due to different updating rhythms, statistics may have a more current data status.

Key figures

The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic "Hip-Hop" and take you directly to the related statistics pages.

Hip hop in the USA

Best-selling hip-hop albums through 2019

Share of R&B/Hip Hop in Music Industry Sales in the USA by 2021

Rappers with the largest vocabulary by 2019

Deutschrap

Top-selling Deutschrap albums up to 2018

Hip-hop’s share of music industry revenue by 2020

German rappers with the biggest vocabulary by 2015

Interesting statistics

In the following 2 chapters you will quickly find the most important 22 statistics from the topic "Hip-Hop".

Dossier on the topic

History of Hip-Hop: From New York’s underground to the mainstream of global pop culture

Kool DJ Herc developed the prototype of hip-hop in the Bronx. In 1973, he no longer played songs as a whole, but repeated certain parts of the beat (sog. Breakbeats). Political and socially critical topics became characteristic of the content of rap lyrics. In the 80s, the genre evolved and gangsta rap with its more complex beats became influential in style. Relevant artists in the early days of hip-hop included, for example, Run-D.M.C or LL Cool J, who released on the Def Jam record label. In the period from 1989 to 2015, Def Jam was the most successful hip-hop label in the U.S., while the multitude of record stores contributed to the spread of the genre. In the mid-1990s, the conflict between East and West Coast dominated the perception of hip-hop and rap. Famous artists from the East Coast include A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul or the Wu-Tang Clan. The West Coast was represented by N.W.A, Ice-T or Dr. Dre. The rivalry between West Coast and East Coast accumulated in the duel between 2Pac (West Coast) and Notorious B.I.G (Eastcoast). After both rappers died violently, the conflict eased and hip-hop finally made its way into the mainstream. It’s no coincidence that glamour is one of the defining elements of music videos in hip-hop and rap, and for many, the genre embodies the American Dream. Jay-Z, who grew up in Brooklyn, ranks first in the ranking of the world’s richest hip-hop musicians, with a fortune of about $1 billion (as of 2019).

In the U.S., R&B and hip-hop are now the top-selling genres of music: Songs from these genres account for 28.3 percent of all albums sold and streamed, well ahead of second-place genre rock. Hip-hop and R&B’s share of total U.S. music industry sales has been growing for years in the process. While artists like Drake and Post Malone are heard millions of times and female artists like Cardi B are increasingly enjoying success, other English-speaking rappers stand out because of their enormous vocabulary.

Increasing popularity in Germany as well: from the Fanta 4 to Peter Fox and Capital Bra

Films like Beatstreet or Wild Style aroused the interest of young people all over the world and brought rap and hip-hop to Europe. In Germany, the genre had its first stronghold in Heidelberg (Advanced Chemistry) and with the Fantastischen Vier (Stuttgart) or Fettes Brot (Hamburg) its first popular representatives. Meanwhile, hip-hop is a lucrative business for the music industry in Germany. At 18.6 percent, the genre now accounts for the second-largest share of music industry sales in Germany. Hip-hop and rap are especially popular among the younger population of 14 to 19 years old. Over 40 percent in this age group said in 2020 that they very much like listening to this genre of music. In the previous year, one-fifth of the German-speaking population between the ages of 14 and 25 had bought a music CD of the genre hip-hop, rhythm& Blues bought. In total, there are about 7.6 million people nationwide who are very fond of listening to hip hop and rap. The increased interest is also reflected in the German music charts: a full 14 Deutschrap songs were at the top of the charts for a time in 2018, more than ever before – with Capital Bra, in particular, scoring numerous hits. The best-selling album in Deutschrap and Sprechgesang is Stadtaffe, the first and only album by Seeed singer Peter Fox, which went over the counter more than 1.3 million times in physical music sales.

The diversity of the very strongly lyrical genre of German hip hop can be seen, among other things, in the rankings of artists with the largest vocabulary. At the same time, observable discrimination in the scene, such as sexism or homophobia, is increasingly being critically questioned. Text analyses show that a significant number of German rap songs released in recent years use sexist terms – some artists’ lyrics are hardly free of such expressions. On the other hand, female artists such as the now disbanded rap duo SXTN are attempting to gain interpretive sovereignty over sexist terms by using them provocatively, thus achieving an emancipatory reinterpretation. Under the hashtag #deutschrapmetoo, which follows the MeToo debate that began in 2017, allegations of sexual abuse against various male rappers in German-speaking countries surfaced in the summer of 2021. Overall social issues such as feminism and sexual violence are thus now also discussed in the German rap scene.

This text represents basic information. No guarantee can be given for the correctness and completeness of the data. Due to different updating rhythms, statistics may show a more current data status.