Surprising Facts for the Hip-Hop Songs That Went No. 1

Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but they can reveal a good chunk of it. That’s something that becomes clear when you look through the Billboard Hot 100 chart listings over the last 20 years. Specifically speaking, the tracks that occupied the No. 1 spot during that time.

During that span of time—between 2000 and 2020—the evolution of hip-hop played out atop the vaunted Hot 100 chart. Over that 20-year span, rap transitioned from a slightly niche musical genre to the most commercially dominant artistic force in the U.S. One year, there wasn’t a single hip-hop song that held down the No. 1 spot. This year, there have been 12.

The Billboard Hot 100 chart can act as both a snapshot of hip-hop fans’ consumption habits and the artists who define particular eras. A quick look through Hot 100 chart during the early 2000s will let anyone know that Nelly had one of the best commercial runs in rap history. A scan through the Hot 100 chart in the 2010s will lead a casual fan to realize the same for Drake—just in case they didn’t have a sense of that already.

There are a ton of gems to be collected by sifting through the Hot 100 chart over the years. Enough focus will reveal a number of patterns. Now, it’s time to see what the research has provided.

Today, XXL takes a look at 20 surprising facts about hip-hop songs that went No. 1 on the  Billboard Hot 100 chart between 2000 and 2020. Check out the facts in the gallery below.