The Billboard Hot 100 number one song is the holy grail of pop music achievement. It took hip hop over a decade to its first number one song on the charts , and that was a Vanilla Ice song.
Since then, with the recent inclusion of streaming numbers, hip hop has steadily been clocking up number ones left, right and centre. Here are 24 rappers and their first number one Billboard Hot 100 song.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – “Tha Crossroads”
Album: E. 1999 Eternal
Released: April 30, 1996
Produced by: Tim Middleton
2Pac – “California Love”
Album: All Eyez on Me
Released: December 3, 1995
Produced by: Dr. Dre
Other number one songs:
- “How Do U Want It” (June 4, 1996)
Puff Daddy – “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down”
Album: No Way Out
Released: February 11, 1997
Produced by: Carlos Broady, Sean “Puffy” Combs, Stevie J, Nashiem Myrick
Other number one songs:
- “I’ll Be Missing You” (May 23, 1997)
- “Shake Ya Tailfeather” (June 29, 2003)
The Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize”
Album: Life After Death
Released: March 1, 1997
Produced by: D-Dot, Ron “Amen-Ra” Lawrence, Sean “Puffy” Combs (co.)
Other number one songs:
- “Mo Money Mo Problems” (July 15, 1997)
Lauryn Hill – “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Released: July 7, 1998
Produced by: Lauryn Hill
Outkast – “Ms. Jackson”
Album: Stankonia
Released: October 24, 2000
Produced by: Earthtone III
Other number one songs:
- “Hey Ya!” (August 25, 2003)
- “The Way You Move” (August 25, 2003)
Ja Rule – “Always On Time”
Album: Pain Is Love
Released: November 27, 2001
Produced by: Irv Gotti
Nelly – “Hot in Herre”
Album: Nellyville
Released: April 16, 2002
Produced by: The Neptunes
Other number one songs:
- “Dilemma” (July 30, 2002)
- “Shake Ya Tailfeather” (June 29, 2003)
- “Grillz” (June 7, 2005)
Eminem – “Lose Yourself”
Album: 8 Mile: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture
Released: October 28, 2002
Produced by: Eminem, Jeff Bass, Luis Resto
Other number one songs:
- “Crack A Bottle” (February 2, 2009)
- “Not Afraid” (April 29, 2010)
- “Love The Way You Lie” (August 9, 2010)
- “The Monster” (October 29, 2013)
50 Cent – “In da Club”
Album: Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Released: January 7, 2003
Produced by: Dr. Dre, DJ Quik, Mike Elizondo
Other number one songs:
- “21 Questions” (March 4, 2003)
- “Candy Shop” (February 8, 2005)
Ludacris – “Stand Up”
Album: Chicken-n-Beer
Released: August 19, 2003
Produced by: Kanye West, Ludacris (co.)
Other number one songs:
- “Money Maker” (July 17, 2006)
Kanye West – “Slow Jamz”
Album: The College Dropout / Kamikaze
Released: December 2, 2003
Produced by: Kanye West
Other number one songs:
- “Gold Digger” (July 5, 2005)
- “Stronger” (July 31, 2007)
Snoop Dogg – “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
Album: R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
Released: September 27, 2004
Produced by: The Neptunes
Lil Wayne – “Lollipop”
Album: Tha Carter III
Released: March 13, 2008
Produced by: Deezle, Jim Jonsin
T.I. – “Whatever You Like”
Album: Paper Trail
Released: July 29, 2008
Produced by: Jim Jonsin
Other number one songs:
- “Live Your Life” (September 23, 2008)
Jay-Z – “Empire State of Mind”
Album: The Blueprint 3
Released: October 20, 2009
Produced by: Al Shux
Wiz Khalifa – “Black and Yellow”
Album: Rolling Papers
Released: September 14, 2010
Produced by: Stargate
Other number one songs:
- “See You Again” (March 10, 2015)
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – “Thrift Shop”
Album: The Heist
Released: August 27, 2012
Produced by: Ryan Lewis
Other number one songs:
- “Can’t Hold Us” (August 16, 2011)
Drake – “One Dance”
Album: Views
Released: April 5, 2016
Produced by: Nineteen85, 40, WizKid, DJ Maphorisa
Other number one songs:
- “God’s Plan” (January 19, 2018)
- “Nice For What” (April 6, 2018)
- “In My Feelings” (July 10, 2018)
- “Toosie Slide” (April 3, 2020)
- “What’s Next” (March 5, 2021)
Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert – “Bad and Boujee”
Album: Culture
Released: October 28, 2016
Produced by: Metro Boomin, G Koop
Kendrick Lamar – “Humble”
Album: DAMN.
Released: March 30, 2017
Produced by: Mike WiLL Made It, Pluss
Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow”
Album: Invasion of Privacy
Released: June 16, 2017
Produced by: J. White Did It, Laquan Green
Other number one songs:
- “I Like It” (May 25, 2018)
- “WAP” (August 7, 2020)
- “Up” (February 5, 2021)
Childish Gambino – “This Is America”
Album: N/A
Released: May 5, 2018
Produced by: Donald Glover, Ludwig Göransson
Travis Scott – “Sicko Mode”
Album: Astroworld
Released: August 21, 2018
Produced by: Chahayed, Hit-Boy, OZ, Cubeatz, Tay Keith, Mike Dean
Other number one songs:
- “Highest in the Room” (October 4, 2019)
- “The Scotts” (April 24, 2020)
- “Franchise” (September 25, 2020)
