Rappers lie, lyrics lie, numbers don’t, right?
Several of the biggest names in popular music are named in a new fan-made poll curated by the popular Hip Hop statistics account, Hip Hop By The Numbers, going viral as it ranks the top 60 artists without classic albums, voted by fans.
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Released last month, the social media account accumulated two ranking lists on the top 60 and the top 30 Hip Hop artists fans believe do not have a classic album in their respective catalogs. The percentage-based ranking distinguished No.1 to No. 60 or No. 30 ranging from superstars like Drake, Kanye West and Eminem to today’s popular artists, like Big Sean, ASAP Rocky and J. Cole to cult-like stars Gucci Mane, Tyler The Creator and Young Thug.
For Hip Hop By The Numbers — who’s best-known as @hiphopnumbers to their 45,000 followers on Instagram and 202,000 on Twitter — votes for an abundance of game-changing artists by fans was shocking. “A little surprised, which is a bit silly of me, because I’ve done plenty of these polls and I should know to expect the unexpected,” said HHBTN when asked for a statement by The Source about the latest poll. “The polls themselves are interesting. I run them because I want to give a voice to my followers, I want them to help in the content creation. Bigger accounts aren’t just a monolith, they’re propelled by how much their followers interact, but I think too often that interaction is taken for granted and not given enough credit. My followers help me so much, they deserve a voice, and if people disagree with the results, that’s totally fine, that’s the part of the point of the polls, to provoke discussion and give people something to think about and mull over. But like, Mac Miller? Nicki Minaj? J. Cole?! Come on now. And The Love Below is an Andre 3000 solo album, it was just packaged with a Big Boi solo album, so he should be nowhere near this list. But that’s the beauty of the list right? We can discuss and recall and argue our points.”
Upon the lists reveal, followers’ reactions were as equally surprising as the curator. “Port of Miami is a Classic?” questions DJ Justin Time about the Rick Ross debut.
Another commented, “Anybody that said Kendrick and Kanye don’t have classics need to be banned from music.”
Check out a wide range of reactions below.
Voted by 4,000 HHN followers on Twitter and Instagram, separately. According to My Mixtapez, among both the Top 60 list voted by fans on Twitter and the Top 30 list voted by fans on Instagram includes six of the ten highest-selling Hip Hop artists of all time. Eminem — who is ranked No. 45 overall on Twitter — is the highest-selling Hip Hop artist of all time with 227 million units sold, Drake — who is ranked No. 6 overall on Twitter and No. 14 overall on Instagram — is the No. 2 highest-selling Hip Hop artist of all time with 152 million units sold, Kanye West — who is ranked No. 29 overall on Instagram — is the No. 3 highest-selling Hip Hop artist of all time with 140 million units sold, Lil Wayne — who is ranked No. 29 overall on Twitter — is the No. 5 highest-selling Hip Hop artist of all time with 110 million units sold, Nicki Minaj — who is ranked No. 2 overall on Twitter and No. 15 overall on Instagram — is the No. 6 highest-selling artist of all time with 106 million units sold, and Flo Rida — who is ranked No. 32 overall on Twitter — is the No. 7 highest-selling artist of all time with 102 million units sold.
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Contrary to popular belief, in addition to the release of his new album, Certified Lover Boy, Drake was crowned the biggest rapper of 2021 by Spotify. In a year that saw the release of new albums from Kanye West, Migos, Tyler The Creator, and many more, Drake amounted several new record-breaking achievements like the most dominant weeks and nine songs charting on the top 10 singles, simultaneously on Billboard Hot 100 — which dethroned Michael Jackson and The Beatles.
Rick Ross is the only artist left of 2021 on the list with the opportunity to change popular belief with the release of his new album, Rich Than I Ever Been, his first album in two years, set to arrive December 10 via MMG-Epic with guest appearances by The Dream, Future, Benny The Butcher and more.
Do you agree with this list? Leave your comments below.
