Boosted by streams, rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar were the most listened-to artists of 2017, which saw another decline in album and song sales.
Rock is no longer the top dog in music.
For the first time ever, R&B/hip-hop has surpassed rock to become the biggest music genre in the U. S. in terms of total consumption, according to Nielsen Music’s 2017 year-end report.
Eight of the 10 most listened-to artists of the year came from the R&B/hip-hop genre, led by Drake, with 4.8 million album equivalent units (combined album sales, song downloads and streams), and Kendrick Lamar (3.7 million). Rap also experienced the second-highest growth of any genre, spiking 25% over 2016 and coming in just behind Latin music, which was up 30% in total volume.
Album and song sales were down overall in 2017, dropping 19% against the year before. But streaming surged in their wake, growing 43% with 400 billion streams total (compared with 252 billion in 2016).
More insights from Nielsen about the year in music:
