In a year that solidified his position as hip-hop’s reigning monarch, Kendrick Lamar achieved an unprecedented feat by securing the most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2024, per hiphopdx.com. The Compton virtuoso dominated the charts with three chart-toppers: “Not Like Us,” “Squabble Up” and the Future and Metro Boomin collaboration “Like That.”
The achievement caps off a remarkable year for the Pulitzer Prize-winning artiste, who released his critically acclaimed sixth album GNX and emerged victorious in a high-stakes rap battle with Drake. The latter controversy proved particularly lucrative, with Lamar’s diss tracks generating an estimated $13.4 million in streaming revenue alone, according to Luminate analytics.
Beyond his Hot 100 success, Lamar shattered additional records by becoming the first artist to score three consecutive number-ones on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart with “Squabble Up,” “TV Off” and the SZA-featured “Luther.” His track “Not Like Us” also claimed the title of 2024’s best-selling song in the United States.
Billboard recently crowned Lamar as 2024’s premier popstar, outranking industry titans Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter. The publication praised his ability to transcend his previous achievements, noting that he “showed that he could do things we’d never even seen from him before.”
Looking ahead, Lamar’s momentum shows no signs of slowing, with a highly anticipated Super Bowl performance on the horizon and an upcoming tour featuring his former TDE labelmate SZA. As 2024 draws to a close, Kendrick Lamar’s historic chart performance cements his legacy as one of hip-hop’s most influential and commercially successful artistes.
