With tracks on tracks dropping every day, it can be hard to break down in the group chat what songs were the biggest from this summer. Unfortunately for hip-hop fans, the songs that defined your summer are often omitted from major lists like Billboard and TikTok‘s “Songs of the Summer” in favor of commercially successful tracks by the Taylor Swifts and Sabrina Carpenters of the industry. Not to worry, we made our own list to acknowledge the songs that rap fans had on repeat with parody statistics to justify their rank.
#5 “BAND4BAND” by Central Cee ft. Lil Baby
Switching from fits like Paul Revere to Lil Uzi Vert, the song took over social media as well as the charts. The track broke the record for most single-day Spotify streams by a UK rapper, previously held by Central Cee and Dave’s song “Sprinter.” “BAND4BAND” also earned Central Cee the highest Billboard Hot 100 debut of his career, taking spot #22. Whether your team crumpets or team biscuits, the song proved to be a banger with the best of both worlds.
- — 842,752 British people attempted an Atlanta accent and vice versa
- — 194,432 Google searches on how much it costs to take pictures on a private jet
- — 432,084 people flashed bands on TikTok that were really just prop money from Amazon
#4 “Million Dollar Baby” by Tommy Richman
It’s OK to admit you tried to sing like Tommy Richman in the car. This is a safe space. Signed to Brent Faiyaz’s label ISO Supremacy along with Pulse Records, Richman created a groovy hit played in cars, barbecues, clubs, and basically anywhere suitable to listen to music. The song was the first to stay at the number one spot for ten weeks on Billboard‘s TikTok Top 50 chart since the list was created in September 2023. The week of August 31, he also took the top spot on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart. “Million Dollar Baby” was Richman’s million-dollar ticket to the mainstream rap scene.
- — 409,432 strained vocal cords by people trying to hit Richman’s high notes
- — 723,402 people searched “Who is Tommy Richman” on Google
- — 154,921 pre-games featured the song this summer
#3 “TGIF” by GloRilla
GloRilla dropped another banger to twerk on top of a car with “TGIF.” The song is officially her fourth number-one on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and peaked at #28 on the Hot 100. The song has plenty of fans, including Rihanna. Her TikTok of her rapping the song to an unbothered A$AP Rocky has over 173 million views and counting. Building on the success of “TGIF,” GloRilla dropped her debut album Glorious on October 11, and the whole rap community is yelling “Yeah Glo!” in support.
- — 824,500 TikToks using the song have been recorded
- — 19,843 failed attempts at a Memphis accent
- — 30,319 breakups caused by the lyrics “I’m outside with your bae”
#2 “Like That” by Future and Metro Boomin
It’s pretty obvious why “Like That” is highly ranked among the songs of the summer picks. The song caused Drake to have a Goku-level crash out on Kendrick and kick off one of the most entertaining rap beefs ever. It also made waves on the radio and music streaming apps (for those who love blasting the song off the Don Julio). It was the first song on the Billboard Hot 100 to clear 40 million streams in its first three weeks out.
- — 5,545,084 million people screamed when they heard Kendrick’s surprise verse for the first time
- — 230,450 Drake fans crashed out
- — 20 steps were taken back by J. Cole in the battle of hip-hop’s “Big Three”
#1 “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
It’s hard to deny Kendrick Lamar’s supremacy this summer. He pulled a Drake on Drake by dropping a West Coast club banger that not only ended the rap civil war but became inescapable (so much so that Steph Curry is tired of hearing it). Argentina’s soccer team even used it to diss Drake and his home country after beating Canada in the Copa América semi-finals. It’s reportedly the most-streamed diss track on Spotify (beating Tupac’s “Hit ‘Em Up), and it became the fastest rap song on the platform to accumulate milestones of 100M streams, counting consecutively up to 700M streams.
- — 3,500,000 people screamed “certified pedophile”
- — 225,897 households were divided about Team Kendrick vs Team Drake
- — 50,400 threads on X were started about easter eggs in the music video
