Kendrick Lamar is wrapping up a massively successful year that saw him hold the four most popular rap songs, according to Billboard. The outlet put out its ranking of the hottest tracks in the genre on Tuesday. The most popular rap song of the year was Lamar and SZA's collaboration, "luther," followed by Lamar's "TV Off," "Not Like Us," and "Squabble Up." He also owns the ninth spot with "Peekaboo."
At number five lands Lamar's current rival, Drake, with his single, "Nokia." After that ranks BigXthatPlug's "All The Way," Tyler, the Creator's "Sticky," and GloRilla & Sexyy Red's "Whatchu Kno About Me." Doechii's "Denial Is a River" rounds out the top 10.
When Kurrco shared the list on X (formerly Twitter), debate ensued in the replies. "The Kendrick Lamar influence can’t be denied, he will sweep the Grammy," one user wrote. Another countered: "Need Iceman to drop so Kendrick can know who the real king is." One more remarked: "Glorilla, sexy red, and doechii over Carti is actually crazy lmfao. Doechii is hot ass."
Apple Music's Top Songs Of 2025
Billboard isn't the only company to reveal its top songs of 2025 on Tuesday. Apple Music also introduced its "Replay" feature for 2025, providing listeners with “an audio and visual recap of the music that you listened to the most." While doing so, Apple announced Drake was the most-streamed artist overall this year.
Drake released one studio album in 2025, teaming up with PartyNextDoor for their project, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, in February. That effort featured "Nokia," "Gimme a Hug," and "Somebody Loves Me," among other hits. More recently, Drake's been focused on the rollout for his next solo studio album, Iceman. He's dropped several singles for the project, including "What Did I Miss?", "Which One" featuring Central Cee, and "Dog House" featuring Yeat and Julia Wolf.
While Drake was the most-streamed artist on Apple Music, Kendrick Lamar still had several songs rank among the most popular of the year on the platform as well. "Luther" was one of the most popular singles for Apple as well as on the Billboard charts.
