It's officially been nine months since hip-hop had a song within the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100. The last track to land near the top of the chart was Drake's single "What Did I Miss?" in July 2025. In turn, fans are panicking about the state of the once-dominant genre.
Many on social media have been using the situation as a way to troll Kendrick Lamar, following his highly-publicized feud with Drake. "They were so busy trolling Drake, they forgot to stream other rappers' music," one user replied to HipHopAllDay on X (formerly Twitter). Another added: "The dot era became the worst in history." Other users called on Drake to release his highly-anticipated album, Iceman.
In October 2025, Billboard reported that no rap songs appeared in the chart’s top 40 for the first time since February 2, 1990. At the time, NBA YoungBoy's “Shot Callin,” was the highest at No. 44.
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Drake's "Iceman" Album
Drake released "What Did I Miss?" as the lead single from Iceman on July 5, 2025. It peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Despite the high landing spot, it didn't have a ton of staying power. It fell outside of the top 30 within a month.
Following the release of "What Did I Miss?" Drake shared two more singles from Iceman. They included "Which One" featuring Central Cee, and "Dog House" featuring Yeat and Julia Wolf.
Despite the popularity of his singles, Drake still hasn't confirmed a release date for the project. He recently hinted that it's "coming soon" at the Juno Awards. Congratulating Nelly Furtado for her induction into the Canadian Hall of Fame, he said in a video message: "To the Junos, because you are honouring one of my dearest friends tonight, I will spare you, even though I know you're still thinking about those six awards that you gave to Shad in 2011 when you snubbed 'Take Care' as I hosted the 40th anniversary of your award show. But listen, that's neither here nor there. Tonight we'll let it go. This is about Nelly. And one thing Nelly knows, you know my love is real. You know my love is true. I love you. Have a great night. Enjoy your hall of fame status. It's long overdue. Kill the performance. We love you dog. Iceman coming soon."
