Fab Five Freddie Told Me Everybody’s Fly, But I Didn’t Believe Him

🫏 Hack Track: When media sources point different ways

Billboard Magazine reported on October 29 that for the first time since 1990, the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 contained no rap songs. The trend continued during the first week in November.

Billboard attributes some of this to a new ranking scheme, but notes that rap/hip-hop’s popularity has been on a steady slide in recent years. Rap sales and streaming dipped from 30% of the market in 2020 to less than 24% today.

My own listening echoes this trend: Rap has dropped from 0.01% to 0.001% of my personal Hot Hundred, sustained exclusively by the continued presence of Blondie’s Rapture.

“The lack of rap songs in the Hot 100’s Top 40 is the latest sign of a recent dip in rap’s commercial dominance.” — Billboard

Over at the Washington Post, though, things have never looked better for rap. The paper ran a column by Chris Richards on November 7 applauding the respect rap is getting at the Grammys this year. The Post claims that this is a sign that the “academy seems more interested in aligning its story with reality.”

“Is everyone clocking this? Go grab your abacus. Click, clack, click, clack. Half of the academy’s nominees for album of the year make rap music.” — The Washington Post

Of course, if Billboard’s data is right, it’s all a little too late.

So which piece is the discerning reader expected to believe? Billboard is using data, but it’s a snapshot in time — two weeks out of the past 2,000 is a statistical blip, not a devastating trend. Still, it bears monitoring.

And, the Post’s piece is a column, not a news story. (Hard to tell with the Post sometimes…) The Grammy nominations are a fact, so there’s no disputing that. But snarky opinion — such as referring to “crybaby reactions from gross industry types in Nashville” — doesn’t exactly build credibility.

The Post did land one sharp point, though:

“The Grammys remain an industry awards show that can only tell us what the music business thinks of itself. When we shovel Grammy victories into our history books, we are participating in a corporate history, not a people’s history.”

And therein lies the comms message to watch. Are the Grammys trying to prop up a fading product line or celebrate overlooked talent?

I guess we’ll know when we see what’s in the corporate-sponsored swag bags.