
Since Spotify launched a decade ago, hip-hop has splintered into countless new directions-and streaming culture has only intensified the process. Streaming platforms have become a core part of the music's story: They're not just shaping the listener's experience, they're informing the sounds and styles of the music itself. But attempting to trace the path of this decade of evolution-in any straightforward way, at least-is enough to give anyone a headache. Hip-hop isn't just one genre; it's hundreds of subgenres, forming one hectic, complicated whole.
The gulf between hip-hop's biggest stars and its lesser-known names has never been wider, yet previously unknown artists can blow up overnight on the momentum of a song they uploaded themselves. Regional rap scenes that were once only for insiders have become the backbone of the mainstream. And thanks to the internet's everything-at-once-ness, trends often seem to shift in the blink of an eye.
It's a lot to process. Enter Glenn McDonald, Spotify's data alchemist ; in essence, his job is to translate a practically infinite set of cold, hard data-millions of streams, saves, playlists, and beyond-into a reflection of the human experience of listening to music. Applying the rigorous approach of a data scientist to the perspective of a music critic, he can not only identify existing patterns, but catch new genres as they emerge.
Behold McDonald's passion project, Every Noise At Once. The site is a sprawling, hyper-detailed index of genres, from massive umbrellas like hip-hop or country to the nichest of micro-genres you never knew existed. (Deep discofox, anyone?) Through a combination of machine learning, Spotify's music intelligence division, and McDonald's own analysis (plus a bit of creative license when it comes to coining new genre names), the site currently identifies and indexes a whopping 2,215 genres. Click on the map for hip hop and you'll find yourself entangled in a dense web of associated artists from across Spotify's database; seen in list form, you can trace the degree of overlap with other genres. You can also branch out into nerdcore or old school nederhop, each accompanied by a representative playlist. It's not just a data map of Spotify users' listening habits, it's a visual deep-dive into how trends emerge and evolve.
Using Every Noise's data-along with some additional information from McDonald, including the rough number of artists per individual genre and the amount of both casual and serious listeners-we've identified the five most significant trends in the past decade of hip-hop, alongside playlists to explore. It's a means of articulating all the subtleties of the ever-changing culture, at least before the next offshoot is born.
Trap Music 350 major core artists, 3500 relevant artists
10 million serious listeners, 40 million casual listeners
Back when Spotify emerged, trap music had just barely begun to cross over into the mainstream. Mid- 00s pioneers like Jeezy and T.I. had made their mark on the charts, but in most parts of the country, trap hadn't had much sway on the sound of popular rap. That'd soon change: Gucci Mane was gearing up to release his breakthrough album, 2009's unexpectedly pop-friendly The State vs. Radric Davis; meanwhile, the popularity of down-South subgenres like crunk and snap music in the mid and late 00s had brought regional rap trends to mainstream prominence. The burgeoning popularity of streaming music doubtlessly played a part in the way the sound of Southern street rap came to influence hip-hop at large: With control in the hands of the users, what was once at the periphery moved toward the center.
As expected, Every Noise At Once shows a significant amount of overlap between what's considered trap music-which runs the gamut from Jeezy to Waka Flocka Flame to Future to BlocBoy JB-and what falls under the similar categories of southern hip hop and dirty south rap. (There are even further subsections of those categories: Deep trap appears to focus on relatively lesser-known artists, like Nashville's Starlito and DC's Fat Trel, where the even more specific deep southern trap skews toward Baton Rouge rappers like Boosie, Webbie, and Kevin Gates.) But it's equally unsurprising that, within the scope of all that's considered rap on the site, trap and its related offshoots take up significant real estate near the top of the list: In 2018, trap music is the sound of popular hip-hop.
Emo Rap / Vapor Trap Emo rap: 250 major artists, 900 relevant artists
280k serious listeners, 6 million casual listeners
Vapor trap: 300 major artists, 2000 relevant artists
1 million serious listeners, 10 million casual listeners
Odds are you've never heard the term vapor trap before. The term is one of many that McDonald intuitively coined in order to more precisely identify genres as they form in real time. (See also: escape room, slow game, electrofox.) But its artist map and associated playlist is immediately recognizable to anyone who's acquainted with the movements often referred to as Soundcloud rap or emo rap that have dominated streaming sites and, increasingly, the Billboard charts in recent years. The artists indexed here have significant overlap with those grouped under Every Noise's emo rap category, though its most central acts-Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION, Yung Lean-do skew further toward guitar-driven interpolations of alt-rock, emo, and grunge than those listed as vapor trap. Still, they are easily understood together-the sound of a new generation of rap forming a newer, more lawless canon.
The burgeoning scene's marquee artists and songs-think Lil Xan, Wifisfuneral, and Ski Mask The Slump God, alongside slightly older internet-rap predecessors like Denzel
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
18/09/2026
DHD reports a high level of interest in its range of audio production equipment on all four days of the September 11-14 International Broadcasting Convention in...
18/09/2026
Sonnet Announces Thunderbolt 5 eGPU With 850-Watt Power Supply and Integrated Do...
18/09/2026
DeckBridge adds live Resolve playback and Fairlight controls to Stream Deck
Brie Clayton September 17, 2026
0 Comments
DeckBridge starting profiles ac...
18/09/2026
Learn to arrange tracks using Color With Live's Free Stencil Pack
Brie Clayton September 17, 2026
0 Comments
Stencils are Color With Live's or...
18/09/2026
Berklee Establishes Susan Tedeschi Scholarship in Honor of Grammy-Winning Alumna The scholarship is announced as Tedeschi returns to headline the Berklee Bloc...
18/09/2026
The inside scoop on attention-grabbing market assets from those in the know 17 September 2026
(L-R): Sophie Green, Todd Brown and Edwina Waddy
Find this episo...
17/09/2026
Lions vs. Bills will also be the first regular-season game at new Highmark Stadi...
17/09/2026
Teradek has announced Bolt 7, a wireless video and data system that adds an integrated 900MHz radio to the Bolt's zero-delay video pipeline. The 900MHz chan...
17/09/2026
DAZN has announced three appointments to its executive leadership team, all reporting to CEO Shay Segev effective immediately.
Patrick Delany has been appointe...
17/09/2026
Monumental Sports and Entertainment (MSE) has announced a leadership restructuring. Zach Leonsis has been named President and Vice Chairman, a newly created pos...
17/09/2026
CP Communications has been named Best of Florida for Audio-Visual Services, and its subsidiary Red House Streaming has been named Best Movie and Recording Studi...
17/09/2026
Scripps Sports and ION have announced a broadcast partnership for the Shriners Children's East-West Bowl, the nation's oldest college all-star football ...
17/09/2026
The 17th annual espnW: Women + Sports Summit, presented by Toyota, will take place October 14-16 at the Ojai Valley Inn in Ojai, California, with virtual attend...
17/09/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated have...
17/09/2026
Lithuanian broadcaster LNK Group has completed a migration of playout and media management for its five national television networks - LNK, BTV, TV1, InfoTV, an...
17/09/2026
Net Insight has announced a pan-Asian live media network created with its regional partners, giving broadcasters, production companies, and media service provid...
17/09/2026
After a high school football injury, the Orlando native found a new path in video production, gaining experience on ESPN college football broadcasts, Tampa Bay ...
17/09/2026
Popular DAW gains free pitch-correction tool
Image-Line have teamed up with Antares to kit their popular DAW software out with a built-in pitch-correction p...
17/09/2026
Promises unprecedented realism, dynamic nuance and clarity
Gibson have teamed up with acoustic pickup experts Baggs, creating a next-generation' pickup...
17/09/2026
Two new libraries join percussion line-up
VSL (Vienna Symphonic Library) have just launched two new libraries that bring some intriguing new instruments int...
17/09/2026
Hardware & plug-in versions gain new features
Arturia have just released a free update that brings some significant new features to their MiniFreak synthesi...
17/09/2026
Respected journalist Catalina Fl rez to succeed Anton Enus as SBS World News pre...
17/09/2026
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), in partnership with the Nation...
17/09/2026
Calrec brings leading audio solutions and long-term business value to IBC 2026 We're looking forward to meeting up with you all on 11-14th September in Amst...
17/09/2026
Streaming Content Ratings (SCR) Data Shifts to Daily Delivery Cadence, Mirroring...
17/09/2026
August brought further stabilization in total TV viewing time. Poles spent an average of 3 hours and 31 minutes a day watching video content on TV glass-just 2 ...
17/09/2026
Post-sports seasonal shift redistributes viewership across Poland, while streami...
17/09/2026
Television Content Analytics Pte Ltd (TVC), a Singapore-based deep-tech company specialising in sports technology, artificial intelligence and live broadcast in...
17/09/2026
Rise WIB, the global advocacy group championing gender diversity and career progression across the media technology industry, today announced the shortlist for ...
17/09/2026
RALEIGH, N.C. - Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) and Hurricanes Holdings annou...
17/09/2026
Lithuanian broadcaster deploys Playout X and Framelight X across five networks, combining on-premises software-defined playout with cloud-based disaster recover...
17/09/2026
Introducing Adobe Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements 2027
Brie Clayton September 17, 2026
0 Comments
New tools make it easier than ever to enhance y...
17/09/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-While the brain orchestrates metabolic processes in the body, it al...
17/09/2026
New series of Aistear an Amhr in shares extraordinary stories behind Ireland'...
17/09/2026
The Late Late Show is back!
Liam Neeson, Siobh n McSweeney, Caitr ona Balfe a...
17/09/2026
The Neighbours Effect: Gen Z Brings Back Big Hair, Double Denim and 80s soap sty...
17/09/2026
The bold, new legal drama starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller launches on Sky and NOW on 2nd OctThursday 17 September 2026
Official trailer released for Sk...
17/09/2026
Every week we read headlines about new threats from AI. From taking over jobs to disrupting critical infrastructure, spreading misinformation or even destroying...
17/09/2026
Arqiva selected by SANZAAR to deliver global distribution of 2026 international ...
17/09/2026
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA This evening at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, Apple TV...
17/09/2026
A new creature-catching adventure is ready to stream from the cloud this week. Pawprint Studio's Aniimo arrives on GeForce NOW at launch, inviting gamers to...
17/09/2026
RT Statement:
RT is today confirming that its position regarding participation in the Eurovision Song Contest remains unchanged. RT will not participate in...
16/09/2026
Grass Valley has been recognized with a 2026 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award...
16/09/2026
Sports-media leaders explore how cloud, AI, and virtualization are transforming ...
16/09/2026
With a full crew on site in Springfield, deep access to players, and a growing d...
16/09/2026
John Wilson attends The History of Concrete premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Yarrow Theatre on January 22, 2026, in Park City, Utah. (Ph...
16/09/2026
Powerful soft synth receives free update
Wavea have just launched a new and improved version of their feature-packed soft synth, kitting it out with over 20...