Everyone knows that the first rap hit was “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang, but what was the second rap hit or the third? That was something I couldn’t find even on the internet, so inspired by the book “Top Ten of Everything” I decided to make my own list of the first 10 after doing some research. Each had to be on Billboard’s Hot 100 the main singles chart.Most noticeably absent is “White Lines” by Grandmaster Flash. It did hit the R&B chart but never the Hot 100. Also some of the songs on the list may be considered rap by some, and others not. The First Ten Hits are:
Date Song Artist
1. 11/10/1979 Rapper’s Delight Sugarhill Gang
2. 9/6/1980 The Breaks Kurtis Blow
3. 1/31/1981 Rapture Blondie
4. 2/7/1981 8th Wonder Sugarhill Gang
5. 2/13/1982 Apache Sugarhill Gang
6. 7/17/1982 Planet Rock Afrika Bambaataa*
7. 10/16/1982 The Message Grandmaster Flash#
8.12/17/1983 Electric Kingdom Twilight 22
9. 6/2/1984 Jam On It Newcleus
10. 8/4/1984 Beat Street Breakdown Grandmaster Melle Mel^
*with the Soul Sonic Force
#and the Furious Five featuring Melle Mel
^and the Furious Five
Discokid
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nice work
Whoa. What the hell? This is the best post in the history of this blog. I’ve actually been reading about and listening to a lot of the really old school hip-hop lately and was thinking of writing some stuff on the blog at some point. Since you mention the R&B chart, would you consider making a list of the first 10 rap hits to hit the R&B chart, whether or not they made it to the pop top 100?