Hip-hop is in the middle of an unusual chart slump.
According to a statistic circulating online, the genre has now gone nine straight months without placing a song in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, a streak that underscores a noticeable shift in mainstream music trends.
The last hip-hop track to break into that tier was Drake’s “What Did I Miss?” back in July 2025. Since then, no rap release has managed to crack the upper echelon of the chart, a rarity for a genre that has dominated streaming and radio for much of the past decade.
The drought has sparked conversation across the industry, with fans and analysts pointing to a mix of factors, from changing listener habits to the rise of genre-blending pop and international sounds.
Worth pointing out here is that Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” which earlier this year took home Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Melodic Rap Performance, enjoyed a lengthy run at the top of the Hot 100 chart in 2025. By October, the song, first released in 2024, had fallen out of the Hot 100 entirely, thanks in part to recent Billboard rule changes.
Despite the lull, attention remains firmly on Drake, who could be the artist to break the streak once again.
The Toronto superstar has been quietly building toward his next solo album, Iceman, which would mark his first full-length release since 2023’s For All the Dogs. While no official release date has been confirmed, Drake has teased the project multiple times, hinting that it’s still in progress.
“We’re focused… trust me. We’re cheffing,” he said during a livestream earlier this year, signaling that new music is on the way.
Several tracks believed to be tied to Iceman have already surfaced, including “Which One,” “Dog House,” and “What Did I Miss?”
