Nielsen’s worldwide consumer report has just released its annual midyear report on the entertainment industry. Within the findings, hip-hop star Kendrick Lamar’s album, “DAMN,” is one of the biggest albums of 2017. But that is not the most important piece of information the report gleaned from public interest. Reports show that R&B and hip-hop have overtaken the lead as the most consumed music in the U.S.
A Forbes article stated, “For the first time since Nielsen started measuring music consumption in the United States, rock is no longer the top genre in terms of overall consumption. Instead, the combined genre of R&B and hip-hop has taken the crown, and while the two styles are fairly close to one another when it comes to percentages, the latter has pulled ahead, and it seems like it will continue to distance itself from the competition in the coming months and years.
“According to the report, R&B and hip-hop are now responsible for 25.1 percent of all music consumption in the U.S., while rock claims 23 percent. Looking at the rest of the numbers listed that dissect how people are consuming these styles of music, it’s clear that streaming is to thank for the swap in ranking. Rock is far and away the winner when it comes to album sales—the genre claims 40 percent of all album sales in the country—but the total number of records actually purchased dwindles every year, so while that percentage may remain steady or even climb, it’s not representative of how Americans are truly consuming music.”
In 2017, hip-hop has finally made a complete domination of sonic preference of American culture amid consistent violence against Black Americans. Our music and community are embraced as an iconic and completely relevant form of expression in the eyes of the American masses across, gender, race and creed. This might be a fascinating revelation to non-African-American people, but since the genre’s emergence in the 1970s and its popularization in the ’80s, ’90s and beyond, it’s no surprise that hip-hop reigns supreme over rock and roll, which is also originally a Black music genre.