Hitsdailydouble report: Kendrick Lamar, Future and Travis Scott are the only hip hop artists who can move the marketplace right now

[Don Homer]

How can u really figure record sales today with all this streaming

the bigger issue is artists re-releasing albums with one song added and bundling their albums with t-shirt sales etc

 

[tremonthustler1]

Jay-Z was bragging about sales before 50 was even a thing. So was Nas, Biggie, Diddy, Mase and every other popular rapper of the 90’s. We need to stop acting like sales hasn’t been a barometer of success in Hip Hop music (the most braggadocios genre of any musical category) since forever.

Ya motherfukkers ain't live, don't control the streets
I sold 163 thou on my 1st week
That means I got more fans than you, bigger plans than you
We buy real coke, your grams is blue


this was NORE of all people bragging about sales in 98.

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

I think Drake could take a step back but the fact remains that his next album will do 350k+ and live on the charts. I think Cole took damage too but will still hit 300k+ first week. Carti still sells, Uzi still sells, Lil Baby can sell, Durk too, etc. There are a lot of successful rappers, sales wise. It's not just Travis and Kendrick.

If there's a problem it's that rappers after Drake/Cole/Kendrick haven't grown the way they should. Both Carti and Uzi's last albums were poorly received by many fans, as was Baby's last album. If you read the HDD article it details what Travis' team was doing behind the scenes to get him to #1. What is Uzi's team doing right now? Carti? Baby? Lot of dudes are just burning braincells on drugs and endless studio nights recording the same shyt over and over. And their teams aren't doing shyt about it.

Cartis last album is a Classic, it grew on fans

 

[Piff Perkins]

This is the truth. Alot of Drakes old stuff is what's sustaining his record numbers and his top spot. This is what I was talking about months ago in terms of "the silent majority". GKMC selling as much as it has this year(hell Mr Morale going platinum besides being a "difficult album") proves that ppl will actually listen to concept albums and skits. We're in an era where the viral nature of the single, takes precedence(in the eyes of the labels) rather than marketing the full length rollout. The over-consumption and bloated albums has turned these artist and the replay value into microwave "quick" rap. Just put out as much music as quickly as possible, get it on TikTok, make it a trend and see where it takes you. Or go goth and make melodic pill rap or cater to edgelords. Which would've been unique and was unique back in 2016-2017, but has been the oversaturated.

I think you could make an argument we're reaching a point where real shyt can come back. Say what you will about Meg, Doja, and Nicki but they're actually rapping. There's some structure and legacy there in terms of counting bars, using metaphors, etc. We also just witnessed the biggest rap battle in memory, which completely dominated music discourse for months and spawned multiple hit records that were largely just rap bars (including 3 verses). The signs are there. People are receptive to real rap shyt, if packaged correctly.

Investing in an artist and trying to build up a fanbase right now isn't a bad idea. I think it has to come from an established label under a big rapper, so Dreamville for instance or OVO. TDE is trying with Doechii, we'll see where that goes.

 

[Biscayne]

Drake just had a number 1 last year and gave Cole his first number 1 song. Future used the Drake stimulus for wait for you as well. Family matters was number 7 and push ups 17 in 2024 : his last three pack all charted .

They charted, but they don't have the sustainability of old drake. The old drake is still pumping on streaming platforms years later. When ppl post the "Drake still holds the top xyz spot of weekly listeners and streamers" alot of that is his old stuff from his 8x and diamond albums.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Yea....

 

[Ziploc]

That's not really the case. Not a Drake stam by any metric but if they put the machine to work when it's album time ,this take will look uninformed or pandering to fickle public opinion concerning dude

 

[dangerranger]

That's not really the case. Not a Drake stam by any metric but if they put the machine to work when it's album time ,this take will look uninformed or pandering to fickle public opinion concerning dude

Yep. I mean just look at the streams for FATD alone. It may not be the numbers like his older projects but when even some of the weaker songs have had 80 million streams as of now it’s like these takes people have are really delusional. People jump off the plane with their takes because they headline read instead of contextualizing what they are reading and analyzing to see if what’s being said is actually true.

But at the same time I am no fan of the lack of transparency when it comes to streaming, the games that are played to juice the numbers and the fact that the people doing the reporting also have to answer to the big music heads first. It’s conflict of interest on conflict of interest.

 

[Iverson_64]

Yea....

To be fair, most of his fans probably already heard those songs before since it's a re-release with no new single.

 

[hex]

Jay-Z was bragging about sales before 50 was even a thing. So was Nas, Biggie, Diddy, Mase and every other popular rapper of the 90’s. We need to stop acting like sales hasn’t been a barometer of success in Hip Hop music (the most braggadocios genre of any musical category) since forever.

"30 days later, the LP went gold, so what cha saying?" - EPMD, 1989.

Fred.

 

[iliketurtles]

Rage bait

 

[iliketurtles]

we are talking about Aubrey and his recent flops not them

Drake is still the number 1 guy cope llol

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Jay-Z was bragging about sales before 50 was even a thing. So was Nas, Biggie, Diddy, Mase and every other popular rapper of the 90’s. We need to stop acting like sales hasn’t been a barometer of success in Hip Hop music (the most braggadocios genre of any musical category) since forever.

nikkas was talking about going plat... Going triple, etc... I'm not saying you're wrong.. I'm talking about the levels being raised to common fans using soundscan numbers to debate music.........

50 Cent was coming up to Hot 97 weekly with a copy of the soundscan report and reading it live on air.. That's when it became a universal thing. Remember, the common man can't even get the full soundscan report unless he pays for it. This man was doing a damn weekly radio show to tell you how he was demolishing nikkas. Wasn't a sentence of it on record

 

[Davewhite]

Drake is still the number 1 guy cope llol

All his new songs are flopping though. It’s kind of crazy to see. Kendrick really did damage.

 

[Ziggiy]

nikkas was talking about going plat... Going triple, etc... I'm not saying you're wrong.. I'm talking about the levels being raised to common fans using soundscan numbers to debate music.........

50 Cent was coming up to Hot 97 weekly with a copy of the soundscan report and reading it live on air.. That's when it became a universal thing. Remember, the common man can't even get the full soundscan report unless he pays for it. This man was doing a damn weekly radio show to tell you how he was demolishing nikkas. Wasn't a sentence of it on record

You’re right 50 went OD with it and then Game copied