For a record-extending eighth time, Drake wins the year-end Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist honor as he crowns the 2024 recap. The superstar previously ruled in 2012, 2015-18 and 2021-22. With his latest coronation, he now has twice as many year-end No. 1 titles as any other artist – R. Kelly sits in second place, with four MVP runs.
Drake’s year-end triumph centers around his latest studio album, For All the Dogs, which comes in at No. 1 on the year’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums rundown. The set debuted on the Billboard charts dated Oct. 21, 2023, just one week before the 2024 chart year (Oct. 28, 2023 – Oct. 19, 2024) began. In total, For All the Dogs spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart during the eligibility period, the longest run for any Drake album since Take Care racked up a 12-week command in 2011-12. A month after its release, For All the Dogs enjoyed a second wind through its Scary Hours deluxe edition, which added six more cuts.
Typical of any Drake project, For All the Dogs also spun off multiple hits, “Slime You Out,” featuring SZA, and “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole, topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and radio hit “Rich Baby Daddy,” featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, peaked at No. 4.
While For All the Dogs powers Drake’s year, the superstar’s back catalog also contributes a huge share of activity. High streaming volume and consistency has kept multiple Drake albums on the weekly Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, helping several titles to strong year-end positions, with 2012’s Take Care (No. 14), 2021’s Certified Lover Boy (No. 20) and 2018’s Scorpion (No. 22) leading the pack.
Drake adds to his year-end haul with prizes including No. 1 Top Rap Artist, Top Male R&B/Hip-Hop Artist and Top Male Rap Artist, while For All the Dogs also rules the Top Rap Albums recap.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Oct. 28, 2023, through Oct. 19, 2024. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the October-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
‘Not Like’ The Others: Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” prevails in a close race with Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” for the year-end No. 1 spot for the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs recap. “Not Like Us,” a Drake diss released in May as the rappers traded tracks at the height of their feud, exploded far beyond the battleground into a culture-shaping hit. Its hip-hop legacy secured, the song next conquered the record books – try an unprecedented 24-week domination on the Hot Rap Songs chart and a record-tying 21-week run atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, for starters.
“Not Like Us” proved a runaway hit in every metric, achieving seven weeks at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart, 15 weeks in charge of R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and 18 weeks leading R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs, with the lattermost success translating into another No. 1 year-end finish. Plus, as the sole pen behind the year’s top hit, Kendrick Lamar nabs another honor as the 2024 No. 1 songwriter for the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
In addition to its Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs collection, “Not Like Us” also takes several rap-specific honors. It’s the No. 1 title for 2024 on three lists: Hot Rap Songs, Rap Airplay and Rap Streaming Songs, as Lamar likewise takes the top songwriter spot for the Hot Rap Songs chart.
Richman Banks New Artist: Tommy Richman captures the Top New R&B/Hip-Hop Artist prize thanks largely to his juggernaut breakthrough single, “Million Dollar Baby.” After the single’s preview snippets stirred anticipation on social media, its full release met with instant favor. “Million Dollar Baby” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and spent its first 26 weeks on the chart all inside the top three. The longevity traces to its success across all metrics, topping both the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs and R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs charts and peaking at No. 2 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.
“Million Dollar Baby” fuels Tommy Richman to multiple R&B-specific honors. The introductory smash claims No. 1 year-end accolades on the Hot R&B Songs, R&B Streaming Songs and R&B Digital Song Sales, while Richman is the Top Male R&B Artist and No. 1 writer for the Hot R&B Songs chart.
Don’t Sleep on SZA: A year after SZA stormed to several top honors in the R&B/hip-hop field, the singer-songwriter returns to the winner’s circle. Her victory lap begins with “Snooze,” the No. 1 track on both the audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and plays-based Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list. Despite its debut on her SOS album in December 2022, “Snooze” became a radio single in mid-2023 and its grip on audiences led to record results. The track enjoyed 37 weeks atop R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay – ruling the ranking as late as May 2024 – shattering the previous mark of 29 frames for Chris Brown and Young Thug’s “Go Crazy.”
Largely thanks to “Snooze” and follow-up single, “Saturn,” SZA wins the 2024 year-end Top R&B Artist and Top Female R&B/Hip-Hop Artist contests. Not to be outdone, SOS defends its title as the year’s No. 1 on Top R&B Albums, becoming the second album to achieve the feat, after The Weeknd’s After Hours,in 2020-21.
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