While it’s true that hip-hop and Latin music have dominated
Billboard’s global charts since their September launch, pop music is far from monolithic. “There are two sides to the coin,” says YouTube trends manager Kevin Meenan. “On one hand, music has become super global and is traveling like never before. But we’re also seeing that local music still really resonates locally.”
In fact, the hitmakers in most countries are local, according to the findings of a YouTube analysis of the top 2020 acts in 10 world markets. (See charts below.) The video streaming platform which counts over 2 billion logged-in users across 100 countries and 80 languages (and is a data provider for
The music industry took a big hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rappers weren’t able to do press runs or go on tours and those are two essential things that are needed to be successful in that line of work. Because of that, leveling up in a time where nothing is really happening is a difficult task to do, but there was a select group of artists who managed to get it done.
The rappers on this list got right to work this year and didn’t let the pandemic stop their progression. Given they all had solid runs the year before, this group knew a little something about evolving. These rappers took what they already knew, tweaked it a bit and were able to separate from the pack to establish themselves as the breakout stars of the year.