For the first time ever, hip-hop is officially bigger than rock

The findings of Nielsen's 2017 Year-End report have suggested that this may indeed be the case in the US

A new study has found that, for the first time ever, hip-hop/R&B has surpassed rock music as the most consumed music genre in the US.

Findings from the Nielsen group – which provides “market research, insights and data about what people watch, listen to and buy” in the US – have produced the data on the country’s annual music consumption, with the group’s 2017 Year-End Report giving an indication of what Americans listened to last year.

Hip-hop – along with R&B – account for eight of the 10 most popular artists based on total consumption, which takes into account album sales, track-equivalent albums and on-demand audio/video streaming-equivalent albums. The top 10 artists were led by Drake and Kendrick Lamar respectively, while the likes of Future, The Weeknd and Eminem also made the top 10.

Advertisement

Drake

The only non-hip-hop or R&B artists to break into the top 10 most-consumed artists chart were Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.

Hip-hop/R&B has also largely contributed to a 59% rise in on-demand music streaming in the US, with artists from the two genres accounting for nine of the top 10 most-streamed acts in 2017.

The best-performing rock artist in 2017 was Metallica, while Imagine Dragons, The Beatles, Linkin Park and Twenty One Pilots made up the remainder of the top five.

Earlier this week, the BPI released the UK’s end-of-year sales figures for 2017 – with the organisation hailing a “very bright future” for British music as a result of the findings.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories