Top 10 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of All Time

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's 1982 masterpiece ranked #188 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs — 312 spots higher than the runner-up among hip hop tracks. The first rap record in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, its vivid depiction of ghetto life redefined what hip hop could say.

Public Enemy's 1989 anthem ranked #2 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs, outperforming all but one entry on this list. Featured in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, NME named it the greatest song of the 1980s — a rallying cry that still resonates decades later.

The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 debut single reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 — nine spots higher than Rapper's Delight — sampling Mtume's 'Juicy Fruit'. Rolling Stone called it one of the greatest debut singles in rap history, and Biggie's autobiographical rise from poverty to fame has made it a landmark track.

Tupac's first single after release from prison in 1995 reached #1 on Billboard Hot 100, outperforming 'Dear Mama' (track #2 on this list, which peaked at #9). Featured in the iconic Coachella hologram tribute, it remains one of the best-selling rap singles ever, with 2.5 million digital sales as of 2023 — West Coast rap at its most triumphant.

Eminem's 2002 8 Mile soundtrack cut won the Academy Award for Best Original Song — the first rap song to win an Oscar. Certified 27x platinum in the US and #1 in 29 countries, it remains the definitive motivational rap anthem, selling 60% more digital copies than 'California Love' (track #1 on this list).

Jay-Z's 2003 Rick Rubin-produced banger won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked it #217 on the 500 Greatest Songs — widely considered Jay-Z's finest and most lyrically dense single, with 30% more total streams on Spotify than 'Gold Digger' (track #4 on this list).

Kanye West's 2005 Ray Charles-sampling juggernaut spent 10 consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard Hot 100, outperforming '99 Problems' (track #3 on this list, which peaked at #3). The track announced Kanye as the defining voice of mid-2000s rap and remains one of the highest-charting rap singles in chart history, with over 9 million certified units in the US.

Kendrick Lamar's 2017 Grammy winner for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance became the most-streamed rap song of 2017 globally on Spotify, accumulating over 1.6 billion streams—outperforming #2 'God's Plan' in 2017 streaming figures. The Dave Meyers-directed video has 900M+ YouTube views, making it modern rap's most arresting visual statement, with a runtime that is 15% longer than the average top-rap video.

Drake's 2018 #1 smash spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, outperforming #1 'HUMBLE.' which peaked at two weeks. He donated the entire $996,631.90 video budget to people in Miami. With 3.4 billion Spotify streams, it became one of the defining rap songs of the streaming era, amassing 2.1 billion more streams than the average top-10 rap hit.