NLE Choppa has taken on the challenge of ending Hip Hop’s dry spell in the Billboard charts, promising to land a No. 1 single.
On Monday (August 21), Chart Data pointed out in a social media post that it had been exactly one year since a rap song secured a top slot in the Billboard Hot 100. The following day, on Tuesday (August 22), the 20-year-old rapper responded with a bold declaration.
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“Bet lemme change that rq,” he wrote in a quote tweet attached to the post.
So far, the Memphis hitmaker has made it to the Hot 100 four times in his career: “Walk Em Down” (feat. Roddy Ricch) at 38, “Camelot” at 37, “Shotta Flow” at 36 and, most recently, “Slut Me Out” at 28.
It is important to note that even though no rapper has bagged a No. 1 spot by themselves in a year, Latto did top the chart in 2023 as a featured artist. The Atlanta rapper joined forces with BTS star Jung Kook on “Seven,” which dropped in early July and made a grand entrance on this week’s Hot 100 by debuting at No. 1.
According to Billboard, the upbeat, dance floor-friendly song soared to the top spot thanks to 21.9 million streams, 6.4 million in airplay audience and 153,000 combined digital and CD singles in its opening week. It marks the first No. 1 single for both Latto and Jung Kook, with the former’s previous best coming in April 2022 with “Big Energy,” which peaked at No. 3.
By the midway point of last year, Future, Drake and Jack Harlow had topped the Hot 100, even amidst Harry Styles’ historic 15-week run with “As It Was.”
Hip Hop was facing a similar struggle on the Billboard 200, experiencing the longest drought of a No. 1 rap album since 1993. That was until Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape broke the curse.
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Prior to Latto and Uzi’s respective success, Billboard speculated that Hip Hop’s chart struggles were largely down to a lack of releases from heavyweights like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Future and Kanye West.
They also cited the overall stagnation that has plagued the charts this year, pointing out that just five new albums had topped the Billboard 200, along with the same number of new songs on the Hot 100.
