Hip-hop dominated music streaming in 2017, leading to some eye-popping record deals for rising stars — $8 million for Lil Pump, $15 million for Brockhampton. That wasn’t a one-year spurt in listening, according to the new year-end report published on Thursday by BuzzAngle, which tracks music consumption data. Impressively, hip-hop continued to consolidate its lead over other genres in 2018.
Listeners sought out more rap singles and more rap albums last year. Hip-hop tracks were already more popular than any other kind in 2017, accounting for 20.9 percent of songs consumption. That number jumped to a stunning 24.7 percent in 2018, meaning that nearly a quarter of all tracks listened to in the U.S. came from rap. (BuzzAngle measures track consumption by combining sales and on-demand streams at the rate of 1 sale = 150 on-demand streams.