The 50 Hottest Rappers Right Now, Ranked According To Google Trends
Who's the hottest rapper out? Science tells us the answer!
Image via Complex Original
A few weeks back, we introduced you to the wonders of Google Trends. We tried to stress how useful it can be, but how misleading it can be as well. As we previously explained, Google Trends is "a free service provided by Google that allows users to see how often terms are searched on Google...it allows you to compare the popularity of different search terms."
What we tried to prove is that by using Google Trends, there's enough raw data for you to draw conclusions about the popularity of different rappers (provided their names are actually something you can Google. So congratulations, or condolances, to artists like B.o.B, The Game, Ice Cube and Nas for choosing monikers that prohibit us from accurately figuring out how popular they are on Google.) Our goal was to use Google Trends to try to get an objective, scientific ranking of just how "hot" the hottest rappers really are.
It should go without saying that Google Trends can't give us any type of qualitative assessment of an artist's music. It's more of a ranking of how newsworthy artists are, the interest level they inspire, on a mass scale. If something dramatic happens in a rapper's life (a sensational arrest, say, or a near-death experience, or even an album release) this will be reflected by a spike on the graph because more people are searching their names in an effort to learn the story.
So it's far from perfect, but we think our search of Google Trends is about as accurate as something like this can be. And we think it yields some important truths. (Well, as "important" as you think rap music is—we think it's pretty important. But of course, this is mostly just for fun.) Nearly all the "hottest" or "best" lists you read are based solely on opinions of the authors. This one is based on facts and raw data. We looked up just about every rapper name we could think of, put them into the trend machine and limited our search to the last 12 months. (Because we're interested in hotness "now.") And then ranked them based on their popularity. [Ed. note—The research for this post was done the Thursday, September 12. Due to the nature of news, the ranking could have changed already.]
Please enjoy: The 50 Hottest Rappers Right Now, Ranked According To Google Trends.
Written by Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)
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50. T.I.
Reason For Recent Spike: December 16-22, 2013 - Releases Trouble Man
The very first person on this list shows just how misleading Google can be. The problem is, the best way to search for T.I. on Trends and get somewhat reliable results is to Google "t.i."—you can't simply Google "ti" (like most of us would because the periods are annoying) because those letters are a part of too many phrases. So his Google results won't do much to convince Atlantic Records to give him $75 million. Yet, the veteran rapper kicks off this list and is still more searched for than relative newcomers like Action Bronson and Earl Sweatshirt, who we would have guessed would have been a lot higher on this list.
49. Riff Raff
Reason For Recent Spike: April 21-27, 2013 - Rumors of a Drake collab
Yup, the trolls are winning.
48. Joe Budden
Reason For Recent Spike: Jan 6-12, 2013 - Appears on ESPN
Here's funniest thing about Joe Budden's career: He released his best material in the mid-2000s for his diehard fanbase but the mainstream didn't care. Now the mainstream cares, but it's only because of reality TV, ESPN, and an Eminem co-sign. In case you didn't know, fame and art don't always go hand in hand.
47. The Notorious BIG
Reason For Recent Spike: March 3-9, 2013 - Anniversary of his death
We'll always love search Big Poppa.
46. Waka Flocka
Reason For Recent Spike: March 17-23, 2013 - Beefs on Twitter with Gucci Mane
Waka is surprisingly still very high on Trends even though he hasn't had a hit in a while.
45. LL Cool J
Reason For Recent Spike: Febuary 10-16, 2013 - Hosts and performs at the Grammys
Sadly, LL isn't on here because of his great verse on the remix to Action Bronson's "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" but instead because he hosted the Grammys and the travesty of "Accidental Racist" (Guess there really is no such thing bad press?). But the fact that the Grammys could really drive that much traffic for a name shows the lasting power of TV.
44. Azealia Banks
Reason For Recent Spike: December 30, 2012 - January 5, 2013 - Beefs on Twitter with Perez Hilton
How high do you think Azealia Banks' name would be if she had never gotten into a beef?
43. Odd Future
Reason For Recent Spike: March 31-April 6, 2013 - Tyler, The Creator releases Wolf and Drake visits Odd Future pop up shop
Hey man, the kids are alright.
42. Lupe Fiasco
Reason For Recent Spike: September 23-29, 2012 - Releases Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album
You would have thought that because of all the controversial statements Lupe has made over the years he'd rank higher, but you'd be wrong. He still has his diehard fans, but clearly not enough.
41. Fabolous
Reason For Recent Spike: November 25-December 1, 2013 - Releases The S.O.U.L. Tape 2
Props to Fab for making this list because he hasn't had a Top 40 hit (once his bread and butter) since 2009 but still managed to make the cut for this.
40. Snoop Lion
Reason For Recent Spike: Releases Reincarnated
See what a name change can do for you!
39. Wu-Tang Clan
Reason For Recent Spike: April 14-20, 2013 - Performs at Coachella
Like ODB said, "Wu-Tang is forever!" They also got a recent boost from Drake's "Wu Tang Forever" because clearly Drake cares about the search engine optimization of albums from 1997.
38. Juicy J
Reason For Recent Spike: August 25-31, 2013 - Releases Stay Trippy
Thanks to a late career resurgence, people have been searching for Juicy J a lot more.
37. MGK
Reason For Recent Spike: October 7-13, 2013 - Releases Lace Up
You would think the name "Machine Gun Kelly" would get a slight unfair boost thanks to the famous gangster his name is based on, and he does, but seems like fans just Google "MGK." Undoubtedly because it's just easier.
36. Birdman
Reason For Recent Spike: June 2-8 2013 - This peak is actually Chris Andersen peaking during the playoffs.
We're letting Birdman rock this spot because surely he loses some ranking since he's also known as "Baby." However, he does get a boost from the Miami Heat's Chris "Birdman" Andersen who played great during the NBA Playoffs. So honestly, it's hard to measure the accuracy of this one.
35. Iggy Azalea
Reason For Recent Spike: August 25-31, 2013 - Presents at VMAs
FYI: Iggy is way more popular overseas than she is in the US (she's nearly headlining festivals out there). And since we included worldwide results, the cards were stacked in her favor.
34. Diddy
Reason For Recent Spike: April 7-13, 2013 - Performs at Wrestlemania
Fact: There's only a handful of true hip-hop superduperstars who everyone and their grandmother knows and Diddy is still one of them.
33. Jeezy
Reason For Recent Spike: September 30-October 6, 2012 - Fights Rick Ross backstage at BET Awards
The Snowman doesn't just have the streets on lock, he's still pretty big on Google even though he's lost some of his hitmaking prowess in the last few years.
32. Biggie
Reason For Recent Spike: March 3-9, 2013 - Anniversary of his death
Yup, both "Biggie" and "Notorious BIG" are still popular seach terms. Sadly, there's no way to combine them and accurately figure out just how popular Biggie still is. But we believe it's safe to say Big could easily rank in the Top 25 if his search terms weren't split.
31. Ludacris
Reason For Recent Spike: November 11-17, 2012 - Releases "Rest of My Life"
Ludacris hasn't been able to crack the US top 40 with any of the four singles he's released from his upcoming Ludaversal album. But his David Guetta and Usher collabo "Rest of My Life" went platinum in Australia, so maybe most of his searches are coming from Down Under.
30. French Montana
Reason For Recent Spike: May 19-25, 2013 - Releases Excuse My French
For all the jokes about French Montana catching a brick, people are still clearly still interested in him.
29. Tyler, The Creator
Reason For Recent Spike: March 31-April 6, 2013 - Releases Wolf
Although both Odd Future and Tyler, The Creator make this list, sadly Earl Sweatshirt didn't.
28. Pharrell
Reason For Recent Spike: June 30-July 6, 2013 - Counter sues Will.i.am over "I am"
For a guy who most would crown Man of The Year after scoring some massive hits, Pharrell is surprisingly low on this list. Guess he's just been too famous for too long?
27. Gucci Mane
Reason For Recent Spike: September 8-14, 2013 - Goes ham on Twitter and disses everyone
FYI: Gucci would have ranked pretty high even before his recent Twitter outbursts and arrest.
26. DMX
Reason For Recent Spike: April 14-20, 2013 - Appears on Fix My Life
Sigh. We'd be lying if we said that X's continued search engine interest had nothing to do with his outlandish and often illegal antics. But we're just gonna say it's because he was that awesome in the late '90s.
25. Meek Mill
Reason For Recent Spike: October 28-November 3, 2013 - Release of Dreams and Nightmares
Notice the big gap between DMX and Meek? Yes, there really are levels to this shit.
24. Kid Cudi
Reason For Recent Spike: April 7-13, 2013 - Lead up to release of Indicud
Cudi's recent joint may have been overlooked by radio stations and critics, but his loyal fanbase keeps his name in heavy rotation. Announcing that he was leaving G.O.O.D. Music right before his album's release probably didn't hurt either.
23. J. Cole
Reason For Recent Spike: June 16-22, 2013 - Releases Born Sinner
Cole's Born Sinner is outselling Kanye West's Yeezus and yet, he can't even break top 20 on this list. However, some of that might have to do with people searching "j. cole" and not just "j cole" (we used the latter, more popular, term).
22. Big Sean
Reason For Recent Spike: August 11-17, 2013 - Releases "Control"
Sean got a huge boost thanks to Kendrick Lamar's "Control" verse. If it wasn't for that song, we'd imagine he'd be a few spots lower.
21. Dr. Dre
Reason For Recent Spike: December 23 - 29 - Christmas shopping season?
Headphones > Rap Music.
20. 2Pac
Reason For Recent Spike: June 16-22, 2013 - Seven Arts Entertainment partners with Makaveli Music Group for unrelease 'Pac recordings and a documentary
Ambitions as a search engine term.
19. Mac Miller
Reason For Recent Spike: June 16-22, 2013 - Releases Watching Movies with the Sound Off
Two albums in and this kid is still winning. He might have lost a few fans with his lessy-poppy second album, but we're still gonna say it was a smart move.
18. A$AP Rocky
Reason For Recent Spike: January 13-19, 2013 - Releases Long.Live.A$AP
Dear rappers: Please stop putting $ in your names because it's ruining your Search Engine Optimization. But Rocky still did alright, all things considered.
17. Snoop Dogg
Reason For Recent Spike: November 4-10 - Unknown
This is really a testament to Snoop's lasting celebrity. If you combine the Snoop Lion results with the Snoop Dogg results, he'd be even higher. (And we never thought Snoop could get any higher!)
16. 2 Chainz
Reason For Recent Spike: June 9-15, 2013 - Robbed in San Francisco
He only moved 63,000 copies of his latest album in its first week, but Chainz is still clearly a big star to anyone with a keyboard. Should Google be the new SoundScan?
15. Tyga
Reason For Recent Spike: April 7-13, 2013 - Performs at Harvard despite opposition
This is probably one of the biggest upsets on this list because there's no way we would have guessed he would have been this high. Maybe there are a lot of people out there who don't know the correct way to spell "tiger"? Probably not, since all of his related search terms are about the rapper himself. So maybe he's just that hot.
14. Wale
Reason For Recent Spike: June 23-29, 2013 - Releases The Gifted
The poise Wale exhibited this year, while his MMG colleagues Ross and Meek Mill worked through some setbacks, speaks volumes about his standing in the rap game.
13. Chief Keef
Reason For Recent Spike: January 13-19, 2013 - Faces jail time for violating parole
It was Drake who once warned, "All that hype don't feel the same next year boy." Yet fans keep Googling Keef, even if it has more to do with his arrest record than his latest music.
12. Tupac
Reason For Recent Spike: June 16-22, 2013 - Seven Arts Entertainment partners with Makaveli Music Group for unrelease 'Pac recordings and a documentary
MAKAVELI LIVES. If you combined the results for "2pac" and "Tupac" Afeni's baby boy might still be one of the most popular rappers in the world.
11. Rick Ross
Reason For Recent Spike: January 27-Febuary 2, 2013 - Shot at while driving
Even though MMG is having what we'd call an off year, Ross still sits comfortably as one of the hottest rappers in the Google game.
10. 50 Cent
Reason For Recent Spike: November 25-December 1, 2013 - Releases "My Life" f/ Adam Levine & Eminem
Yup. He might be ice cold and desperate for a hit, but 50 Cent is still famous and still fascinating.
9. Kendrick Lamar
Reason For Recent Spike: August 11-17, 2013 - Drops "Control" verse
See what calling out nearly every rapper in the game can do for your career?
8. Wiz Khalifa
Reason For Recent Spike: December 2-8, 2012 - Releases O.N.I.F.C.
Another surprise considering how Wiz is generally perceived to be having a cold moment. Luckily his loyal fanbase seems to be sticking with him through the ups and downs.
7. Jay Z
Reason For Recent Spike: June 30-July 6, 2013 - Dropped MGHC
Jay has actually been hotter on Google the last few years than he has been at any other point since 2004. (When Google Trends started.)
6. Macklemore
Reason For Recent Spike: August 25-31, 2013 - Wins VMA for Best Rap Music Video and Performs at VMAs
The fact that a guy like Macklemore can shoot up out of nowhere and become this popular is one thing. The fact that winning a VMA apparently introduced him to a whole new audience is another thing.
5. Kanye West
Reason For Recent Spike: June 16-22, 2013 - Drops Yeezus and North West is born
Kanye would have surely topped this list in 2009, when he interrupted Taylor Swift at the VMAs. He'll have to settle for top 5 this time around.
4. Lil Wayne
Reason For Recent Spike: March 10-16, 2013 - Hospitalized for epileptic seizures.
Lil Wayne's health scare has a lot to do with his ranking. But he would still be high on the list if it had never happened.
3. Eminem
Reason For Recent Spike: September 8-14, 2013 - Releases "Berzerk" video
Probably the most consistent name on this list, Eminem has dominated SEO for nearly a decade, even when his career was on hiatus
2. Nicki Minaj
Reason For Recent Spike: January 13-19, 2013 - Fueds with Mariah Carey on American Idol
Yup, Nicki Minaj is famous as fuck. As we previously pointed out, some of this has to do with her sex appeal (the fact that horny teenagers are just Googling pictures of her ass.) BShe is also talented as fuck. But this year, joining American Idol and beefing with Mariah Carey did wonders for her SEO.
1. Drake
Reason For Recent Spike: August 25-31, 2013 - Performs at the VMAs
First off, this is misleading. As we previously explained, Drake's ranking benefits from the fact that if you search for "Drake" you might also be searching for terms like "Drake Hotel" or "Drake and Josh" or "Vera Drake." Regardless, the recent spike in his chart confirms that the Young Money rapper born Aubrey Graham is the main reason people search the term "Drake." And that term is hotter than any other one on this list.