The 21st century is not quite 25 years old, but Billboard Magazine has compiled a list of the top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the 21st century.
The list was compiled using performance on the R&B/Hip-Hop album and singles charts from January 2000 to December 2024.
The top artist on the list did not even appear on the charts until 2009. Once this Canadian finally hit the American charts, he racked up a lifetime worth of work with 30 number one singles and 15 number one albums. The tally includes both solo performances and collaborations with other artists.
And if that wasn’t enough, he leads all artists over the history of the charts with 31 top singles and 16 top albums.
Along with those 30 number one singles; he has 135 top 10 hit singles, and a total of a whopping 355 singles to enter the charts. Hi 15 number one hit albums has spent a combined total of over a year in the number one spot at 67 weeks.
This hit machine of an artist also earned top artist for a record setting eight years: 2012, 2015-18, 2021-22 and 2024.
And he goes by just one name…Drake!
And counting down from number 10 to 1:
10: Alicia Keys – 8 singles and 7 albums
Eminem – 1 hit singles and 10 albums with 41 singles entries
Rihanna – 8 singles and five albums with 55 singles entries
Jay-Z – 9 singles and seven albums with 133 singles entries
Lil Wayne – 11 singles and 35 album entries
Usher – 11 singles and eight top 10 albums
Chris Brown – 43 top 10 singles and 8 albums at number one with 12 albums in the top 3.
The Weeknd – 9 singles and 8 albums; every single from his 2012 trilogy reached number one
Beyonce – 10 singles and 8 albums
Drake – 30 singles with 135 top 10’s an 15 albums