In 2017, something strange happened. For the first time, rap overtook pop and rock as the most popular genre of music.

While this has fluctuated, streaming numbers show rap still dominates. For Spotify’s most listened-to genres this year, hip hop ended up at a staggering 38% with pop trailing at 27%.

It’s not hard to see why. A world in chaos has gutted pop’s imagination, and many popstars have struggled to find their place within the cultural zeitgeist as a result.

Listeners are clearly struggling to embrace the fantasy worlds of the mainstream music industry. The high stakes and gritty realism inherent to rap have struck a chord with the moment, arguably being transformed into the most innovative and prescient it’s ever been.

Choosing ten songs to represent such a year is impossible. The number of notable songs and artists every year gets bigger and more diverse, and many trends and sounds branch off down their own fascinating trajectories.

Alas, some songs still shone through more than others, whether due to their stamp on the culture at large or their ability to get into the deeper recesses of the listener’s head and stay there. Either way, here are ten songs that helped to define rap in the year 2022.

Warning: the following songs and videos contain harsh language and adult themes

10. Lil Durk – AHHH HA


Chicago drill legend Lil Durk may have gotten a bit comfortable making melodic love songs but that’s all changed. Durk has suffered too many tragedies to not end up angry and defensive with the result being a pivot away from an attempt at industry professionalism and back to his South Side roots.

AHHH HA shows Durk still has the capabilities to make a hard-hitting street anthem. The murders of protégé King Von and his brother Dthang weigh heavily on his mind, bringing plenty of ammo for everyone who contributed to the stress of their deaths. A main player all the way back in the first wave of drill, Durk showed this year why he deserves his continued relevance.

9. Kenzo B – The Realest


The New York drill scene has begun to correct the record of the male-dominated Chicago wave, with many women this year gravitating towards the style.

Kenzo B is one such talent, demonstrating insane control over her fast-paced, machine gun delivery over a bass-heavy stepping-stone beat. New York has recently seen a spate of rappers hiding below the beat but Kenzo always stays out in front, confident and unstartled.

8. DaBoii – Bananas


Versatility is one of rap's trump cards, handing over the creative and diverse space of taking source material and moulding it for purpose.

One of the best examples this year was DaBoii’s take on Gwen Stefani’s bratty Hollaback Girl. The SOB x RBE member delivers an interesting interpretation of the huge 2005 pop hit, retaining the original’s table thump rhythm and bringing forth plenty of West Coast strut.

While Stefani’s track hinted at subversion through its minimalism and school ground language, DaBoii subverts the success and recognisability of the original for his day in the life street raps.

7. Kendrick Lamar – We Cry Together ft. Taylour Paige


Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was the first Kendrick Lamar album not to be inordinately drooled over by the music press, and it might have been the consequence of bold experiments in form like We Cry Together.

Taking on a classic battle of the sexes format, Lamar ramps it up to an uncomfortable degree. Actress Taylour Paige plays his foil, delivering a chilling performance that provides the other half of a fractured picture.

Toxic masculinity and femininity as victimhood are unravelled, first with the couple taking on trivial annoyances to broadening the fight out to their roles within the wider world. Producer The Alchemist’s creeping piano sample is the perfect accompaniment, with the couple eventually finding acceptance in everything wrong.

6. Yung Kayo – YEET ft. Yeat


More traditional listeners might be put off by the futuristic sounds of teenaged Young Thug protégé Yung Kayo but there was hardly a clearer statement on rap’s full immersion into the digital world this year.

Kayo and fellow rising star Yeat use their rapping like an instrument to contain the melodic framework of the overblown synth-heavy beat, frequencies spattering everywhere over the chaotic 808 drum pattern.

Like it or not, the sounds of the future are here.

5. Nicholas Craven & Boldy James – Power Nap


The best song Griselda Records dropped this year wasn’t the grimy New York traditionalism of Westside Gunn or Benny the Butcher but rather this haunting track from Detroit’s Boldy James and Canadian producer Nicholas Craven.

Boldy uses the conceit of sleep to frame the darkness of his words, his vocal track blending into the hypnotising “I go to sleep” voice sample like a dream turned nightmare.

4. Babyface Ray – 6 Mile Show ft. Icewear Vezzo


Babyface Ray had a full come-up this year, cementing himself into the fabric of the Detroit rap scene. 6 Mile Show is a fascinating two-parter assisted by fellow city dweller Icewear Vezzo, where waves of sirens give way to a stripped-down staccato bass.

Babyface and Icewear spar effortlessly, alternating between tragedy and seduction as they navigate the ying and yang of the song’s structure. Another strong year for Detroit, not only in relevance but in how many ideas manage to pour out of one place.

3. Kodak Black – Walk


Florida’s Kodak Black suffered a huge loss of momentum while he languished away in a cell. That was until former president Donald Trump pardoned him as he begrudgingly left the White House, in a move that shocked and surprised fans and pundits.

Often misunderstood as just some mush-mouthed mumbler, Kodak has gained millions of followers through his highly emotive style, building pathos over an excellent ear for beats.

Walk continues where he left off, a dramatic but unfiltered take on Kodak’s mindset in the moment. “Fresh out of prison, I'm already spinnin', I'm right back where I started” he raps, well aware that sometimes money and fame can never erase the fingerprints of a life of poverty and violence.

2. CashClick Boog – Use to Money ft. BandGang Lonnie Bands


Among the grandstanding and braggadocio, a lot of the most engaging rap occurs when an artist lets us into their head, courageously revealing every festering vulnerability.

CashClick Boog and BandGang Lonnie Bands put this into focus, with Lonnie Bands delivering a particularly devastating verse.

Jack Harlow and Drake originally used the beat as a mediation on the past through the lens of present fame. Lonnie Bands confronts his past too but is instead left dealing with the aftereffects of trauma and depression (“I got to get high to even sleep / cause I be hearing things like when I close my eyes / I hear an evil spirit whispering”, “I got to eat sleep with my gun / ain’t no security round me”).

Tales of eternal scars are told as the spectral vocal sample repeats like ghosts of the past informing the listener of futures that never were.

1. GloRilla & Cardi B – Tomorrow 2


GloRilla was the biggest surprise of the year, coming out of nowhere to capture the imaginations of millions in a ridiculously short amount of time.

Paired with superstar Cardi B, the two together are undeniable, making the ultimate statement on fake friends, fake enemies, scorned men and the possibilities of tomorrow (“Every day the sun won't shine / but that's why I love tomorrows”).

Tomorrow 2 has great energy, wonderful chemistry, plenty of quotables and a hard-hitting Southern beat by way of GloRilla’s native Memphis. It’s easy to see why it’s the number one rap song of 2022.

Listen to this list and the rest of the top 20 here: