Nielsen: Rap Beats Rock As Top Genre Among Music Fans

A new 2017 year-end report from Neilsen Music shows that streaming is now the majority in music consumption, and that rap has passed rock to become the biggest music genre in the U.S. for the first time in terms of total consumption.

While album and song sales fell 19 percent in 2017 from the year before, streams were up 43 percent, and streaming now accounts for 54 percent of total audio consumption, making up the majority for the first time. Just one year earlier, in 2016, streams accounted for just 38 percent of total audio consumption, and it was 22 percent in 2015.

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.

USAToday reports Hip-hop dominated the charts in 2017, with viral hits such as Lil Uzi Vert's XO Tour Llif3, Future's Mask Off and Post Malone's Congratulations ranking among the 10 best-selling tracks of last year, according to BuzzAngle Music and Mediabase. Rap up-and-comers Cardi B (Bodak Yellow) and Migos (Bad and Boujee) each spent multiple weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their respective singles, while four of the five Grammy nominees for album of the year were R&B or hip-hop artists.

Highlights from the 2017 NIelsen U.S. Music Year-End Report include:

• Ed Sheeran’s Divide was the leader in total volume (albums + track equivalent albums + on-demand audio streaming equivalent albums), followed by Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and Taylor Swift’s Reputation.
• Latin music history was made when Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s Spanish-language smash “Despacito” and its crossover remix featuring Justin Bieber topped the Hot 100 chart. “Despacito” was the biggest song of the year in terms of total activity (sales + on-demand audio streaming equivalents), followed by Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and “Humble.” by Kendrick Lamar.
• “Despacito” and “Shape of You” also led the Digital Song Sales chart, followed by Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” at No. 3.
• Vinyl had a renaissance at retail by experiencing sales growth for the 12th consecutive year, comprising 14% of all physical album sales. The top-selling vinyl LP of the year was the re-release of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.