Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs of The Decade, How Accurate Is It?
Recently Billboard released their list for the Top R&B/Hip-Hop songs of the Decade to a large amount of backlash. Although Hip-Hop has become the dominant genre of America, that doesn’t mean that the most successful songs of the decade necessarily reflect that trend. Although many of the artists on the list are well known Hip-Hop artists, most Hip-Hop fans were surprised by the list, mostly regarding the criteria used to formulate such a list.
Including only three songs that won Grammy Awards for their specific category, it is clear that the main thinking behind the list is the success of a song. However, it isn’t automatically who sold the most, or who spent the most weeks on #1 on any amount of Billboard charts. While four of the songs on the list have been certified diamond selling more than 10 million records, they are spread throughout the list. “Congratulations” by Post Malone featuring Quavo which has sold over 10 Million copies is not on the list, however “Rockstar” featuring 21 Savage, another Post Malone hit is. Longevity also can’t be the answer since “Rockstar” has spent 9 fewer weeks on the Billboard charts than “Congratulations”, which shows that Billboard cares more about if the song has been #1 hit than if it has danced around the charts. Billboard represents all the US music charts, so their thinking is understandable, but their methodology for this list regarding the value of chart performance seems flawed.
The most interesting aspect of this list might be the literal sound of Billboard’s “top songs of the decade.” It’s hard to really understand what falls into the category of Hip-Hop and R&B, while smash hits “Starboy” and “The Hills” by The Weeknd are on the list, songs like “I’m the One” by DJ Khaled featuring Hip-Hop stars like Quavo, and Chance the Rapper aren’t. Even the record-breaking “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X, is only #27 on this decade list, which highlights the main issue with their methodology and approach to this list.
The biggest issue I find with this list is, while Billboard disguises the evolution of pop by regarding successful genre-bending songs by black artists as Hip-Hop and R&B, they have misrepresented the evolution of Hip-Hop and R&B. While Billboard does a good job of highlighting the songs that captured the country’s ears over the years, like Drake’s international smash hits “One Dance” & “God’s Plan,” Bruno Mars’ Pop-R&B bop “That’s What I Like” and Pharell’s hypnotizing “Happy,” the songs that exemplified the evolution of the two genres over the years are missing. While songs like Chris Brown’s “Loyal,” Migos’ “Versace”, or Bryson Tiller’s “Don’t” didn’t hit #1 on the Billboard charts, their success’ impact on their respective genres are undeniable, and they don’t get the recognition they should.
So how can we really gauge Billboard’s list, while they ignore genre descriptions, inconsistently value statistics like chart performance and record sales, and completely ignore both critics and audience’s responses? The honest answer is that we can’t. Being that we are now in December 2019, every music publication will be releasing their lists for artists, albums, songs of the year and more. Each publication having their on criteria and basis for their lists, it’s clear that Billboard’s is the least valid in my opinion because it’s based on popularity over anything else.
Billboard lets music fans down by combining the two genres and not giving full recognition to the rise of Hip-Hop in the last 10 years. Besides officially becoming the most listened to genre in the country, the superstars that Hip-Hop has produced over the last ten years need to be acknowledged. Artists like Future, Migos and Lil Uzi Vert, should have a spot on this list. Regardless of where you’re from, you should know that Atlanta has had the most influence on this current era of Hip-Hop, and was at the forefront of Hip-Hop when it ascended to the top. Billboard put themselves in a position to fail by focusing too much on songs that spent time at #1, they should’ve looked at other aspects like, where the records sales were coming from (youtube, bundles, etc) and songs that fight their way up the charts, rather than just the songs that debut on the top because of the artist’s label support. By only caring about chart performance they also have left out any independent artists' impact on the last ten years like Chance the Rapper and Frank Ocean, let alone the impact of mixtapes on the last ten years. But, the main way to consume music being with streaming, projects that go under the radar have a high potential of still reaching the masses. While established artists were almost like gate-keepers to mainstream success, artists these days can do it all themselves. Maybe ten years from now, the top songs will all be a product of viral songs and one-hit wonders, which means Billboard’s decade awards for the 2020s could be even more surprising.
Looking at Billboard’s list for the top Hip Hop and R&B songs of the 2010s, disappointments aren’t surprising. Most of us have already made peace with Macklemore beating Kendrick for Rap Album of the Year, and we were all singing “One Dance” when it came out. The real question is will Hip Hop and R&B be represented correctly in these next ten years. With all the shifts in the music business, Billboard has to continuously keep up with new music trends, while also refining the way that sales are counted. Either way, the backlash for the list doesn’t change the top ten, and it will be up to Billboard to update their methodology next decade.
