The 20 Best Hip Hop Artists Of 2025 (So Far)

From January through August 25, 2025, hip hop has felt more global, more stage-driven, and more data-transparent than ever. This ranking weighs what’s happened this year only—no legacy halo—combining hard metrics and real-world impact: headline vs. undercard placements at major festivals (Coachella, Glastonbury, Wireless, Rolling Loud, Lollapalooza and more), 2025 tour volume and sell-through where available, marquee TV and session moments (BET, Tiny Desk, BBC Live Lounge, COLORS), and the traction of 2025 releases across charts (Billboard Hot 100/Global 200, UK Official Charts, Apple Music Global Top 100). Streaming and discovery signals matter, too—Spotify monthly listeners (by month), YouTube views on 2025 videos/performances (with dates), TikTok creation counts, Shazam spikes in key hip hop cities, and editorial support (RapCaviar, Apple Music Rap Life, BBC 1Xtra/Hot 97/Power 105.1/Capital XTRA rotations). The scope is deliberately global: U.S. and Canada alongside the UK and Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania; both solo rappers, producer-artists, and groups whose core sound is hip hop, from drill and trap to grime, boom bap, experimental and melodic rap. .

1. Tyler, The Creator – USA

From the jump in 2025, Tyler, The Creator set the bar for hip hop performance and roll-out craft. He returned in August with the suave, brass-flecked single “DARLING, I,” whose self-directed video clocked 3M+ YouTube views within five days of release (published August 19, 2025), signaling an audience that moves when he moves. He also sat atop major festival bills, headlining Lollapalooza Chicago 2025, a placement that underscores his rare crossover drawing power as a rapper who can close multi-genre festivals without diluting his idiosyncratic sound. On streaming, his listener base remained enormous; third-party tracking placed his Spotify monthly listeners north of 45M in August 2025, keeping him among the platform’s most-streamed active rappers globally. Stylistically, Tyler continues to bend boom-bap drums into plush soul samples and live-band arrangements, moving between diaristic sung hooks and needly, conversational flows—the same palette that keeps him in heavy editorial rotation and on mix-shows that favor left-field bangers next to club rap. Onstage in 2025, he added theatrical scene changes and choreographed cues that read like Broadway meets block party, which is why his name lands above veteran bands on festival posters and why his bookings stretch continents. Add in the velocity of his 2025 video drop and his reliable viral pull (clips from Lolla dominated X/TikTok the week of the festival), and Tyler feels like the year’s most complete hip hop artist: music, visuals, and live show all peaking at once.

2. Travis Scott – USA

Travis Scott’s 2025 has been defined by scale. He returned with the high-octane single “4X4,” whose official video surged past 19M YouTube views about seven months after it dropped, reinforcing his status as rap’s arena architect—every beat engineered for pyro and moshes. On the road and on posters he dominated too: Travis was tapped as one of Coachella 2025’s headliners, a bellwether booking that signals not just fan demand but curatorial trust to command the desert’s biggest night with a hip hop set. On platforms, he remained a top-tier draw; data aggregators kept him in the upper echelon of global Spotify monthly listeners throughout August 2025, reflecting enduring playlist presence across flagship sets that range from rap-first to multi-genre hits. Stylistically, he doubled down on psychedelic trap—glossy synths, subterranean 808s, ad-lib-as-melody—and leaned into the immersive stagecraft that makes his shows sell out internationally. Clips from early-summer festival sets ricocheted across TikTok, fueling demand in Europe and the Middle East and helping secondary market dates achieve near-instant sell-through. Add the 2025 visual’s momentum to festival-headliner credibility and his still-outsized streaming footprint, and Travis’s position near the top of any global hip hop power ranking feels inevitable.

3. Damso – Belgium

Belgium’s Damso has quietly had one of the year’s most commanding runs in francophone rap. He released his long-trailed sixth album *BĒYĀH* on May 30, 2025, a cultural event in the French-speaking world that kept his name dominating playlists and radio talkers from Brussels to Paris. The stark, noir-toned single “Impardonnable” arrived with an arresting video that sped to 12M+ YouTube views in roughly two months, proof that his cinematic storytelling still converts clicks into conversation. The album’s roll-out—built on cryptic teasers and sparse press—amplified demand for shows; he booked large-room and festival plays across the summer and fall in both Belgium and France, with undercards bending toward street-rap and alt-trap acts he’s influenced. Damso’s 2025 songs ride moody low-end and minor-key synths, his baritone moving from confessional to combative in a few bars; it’s a sound that continues to shape younger emcees while landing him in national chart chatter week after week. The combination of a marquee album date, rapid video traction, and sustained regional hegemony places Damso squarely among 2025’s global leaders, particularly outside the Anglophone bubble where he’s a headliner, not a niche.

4. Central Cee – UK

Central Cee’s 2025 has been about consolidation at the very top of UK rap and an increasingly global footprint. His official video “No Introduction” arrived this year via his own channel, expanding his drill-to-pop crossover by tightening song structure and melody without losing the clipped flows that made him a phenomenon. He’s a guaranteed festival highlight across the UK and continental Europe, where Wireless-style hip hop stages and multi-genre giants place him in upper-third billing with ease. The single’s visuals—clean, high-contrast street scenes and luxury lean—transferred neatly to short-form platforms, driving fan-cut edits and tour-promo snippets that helped sell blocks of tickets across EU stops. While his 2025 chart peaks have varied by territory, his core wins are consistency and conversion: successive YouTube releases that rack up seven-figure views rapidly, and a live show that has moved from undercard to near-headliner in just a few cycles. “No Introduction” cements his appeal beyond virality; it reads like a thesis for stadium-sized drill that still snaps in clubs, a sweet spot that kept him in heavy rotation on UK rap playlists and in DJ sets on BBC 1Xtra through the summer.

5. Little Simz – UK

Little Simz’s 2025 wave moved with auteur confidence. She returned with “Young,” a Dave Meyers–directed video from her *Lotus* era, fusing incisive, double-time bursts with spoken-word cadences over widescreen soul-rap production. The clip notched multi-million views within months and reaffirmed that Simz can deliver “event” visuals without sacrificing lyrical density. Festivals responded accordingly; she continued stacking prime slots across major UK weekends and EU city fests where curators prize artists who can thrill headliner-sized crowds while still feeling narrative-driven. In press, the new material drew raves for its arrangement and the way she commands space between beat switches—think grime energy tempered by orchestral sweep—which kept her in editorial spotlights and on hip hop podcasts dissecting bars rather than just moments. Crucially, “Young” functioned as a global calling card: the video’s polished cinematography and big-screen color grading spread fast in short-form reposts, helping sell international tour legs where she’s now a reliable theater headliner. By summer, Simz was a consensus pick near the top of 2025 UK rap; her blend of vision, virtuosity, and unmistakable voice warrants a top-five slot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asR-IOx93Ok

6. ONEFOUR – Australia

Australia’s drill vanguard finally delivered their debut album *Look At Me Now* on June 13, 2025—and the numbers matched the anticipation: it debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. That chart bow, powered by a burst of high-quality videos and a run of headline dates, confirmed ONEFOUR’s long-discussed potential has turned into real market muscle. The sleek, R&B-lilted single “Phone Call” with Mabel arrived with an official video ahead of the album and showed how the group can stretch into crossover hooks without losing the serrated low-end that defines their drill. Live, they made strategic festival and arena guest appearances (including a surprise UK-leaning link-up in Sydney), and their domestic touring built around the album showed strong sell-through in metro centers. Stylistically, the quartet sharpened their flows—tight staccato verses meeting melodic pre-hooks—while the production brought UK-grade syncopation and moody pads into Aussie storytelling. With a proven album moment and fresh 2025 visuals, ONEFOUR are no longer just a scene story; they’re a global rap export with metrics to back it.

7. Loyle Carner – UK

Loyle Carner’s 2025 strength is performance and poise. His Glastonbury 2025 appearance—captured officially by BBC Music and shared on YouTube—was a masterclass in intimate, jazz-skewed hip hop delivered at festival scale. The set’s clips, including his soulful cover moments and spoken interludes, traveled widely online and drove noticeable bumps in ticket interest for continental dates. Carner’s signature sound—poetic, diaristic verses over brushed snares and Rhodes chords—anchored a summer of upper-card festival placements, particularly on stages that prize craft (think teatime slots that feel like headliners by applause). While he’s less about blockbuster singles, his YouTube performance content in 2025 over-indexed, with BBC’s official uploads giving him the kind of global discoverability that live TV used to; the comments sections read like a real-time tour marketing funnel. Add in sustained UK radio support from tastemaker shows and his consistent sell-outs in theaters across Europe, and Carner’s case for a 2025 top-10 spot rests on pure quality control and live momentum.

8. Gazo – France

French drill star Gazo kept his 2025 heat with “SANKHARA,” a slickly shot clip that crossed 9.5M YouTube views within its first quarter, signaling his hold on the national street-rap mainstream. The video’s sharp edit—wide-angle cityscapes, luxury interiors—matched a sound heavy on sub-bass slides, clipped hi-hats, and his signature rasp, making it a perfect fit for rap playlists in France and francophone Africa. Live, Gazo is a guaranteed draw on big urban stages (Les Ardentes-type festivals and Paris arena plays), where he now lands just below headliners or co-tops bills with trap peers. His 2025 output stayed algorithm-smart too, feeding short-form content that pushed pre-sales in Marseille, Lyon, and Brussels. With a loyal YouTube core and spillover into mainstream French charts, Gazo’s ranking this year is about consistency: frequent, high-impact drops; steady big-room bookings; and a drill sound refined enough for pop adjacency without losing its teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zJ-lsopQLA

9. Ninho – France

If France has a sure-thing hitmaker in 2025 rap, it’s Ninho. His single “RS6” arrived with a blockbuster video that sped to 70M+ views in roughly five months—outright pop-star numbers for a rapper who still centers street-level writing. The clip’s cinematic car sequences and high-gloss lighting complement a sound that melds melodic hooks with elastic, technically clean verses; DJs can slide him next to Afropop or trap without losing the crowd. He translated that digital momentum to the stage with large-venue dates across France and healthy demand in Belgium and Switzerland, where his name tops hip hop stage bills. Editorially, he’s a fixture—playlist banners, cover placements, and weekly radio spins that keep him in casual listeners’ feeds, not just rap heads’. With staggering video velocity and cross-border sell-through, Ninho’s 2025 profile is the definition of mainstream rap dominance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxgw2Q4WfAE

10. Duki – Argentina

Argentina’s Duki continued his regional-to-global climb in 2025 through smart collaborations and sticky visuals. The all-star single “Mi Señora” with KHEA and La Joaqui landed March 20, 2025, accompanied by an official video that dominated Argentine YouTube and spread rapidly across the Southern Cone—its fusion of trap cadences with cumbia/RKT flavor created a cross-scene smash that club DJs in Buenos Aires and Córdoba rinsed nightly. Press tracked the conversation around the collaboration the week of release, reflecting a culture moment that spilled outside rap circles and into mainstream entertainment pages. Live, Duki moved up festival posters from Spain to Chile, often billed as a top-three rap act amid reggaetón and pop heavyweights. Sonically, he balanced gravelly, chest-voice hooks and rapid-fire double-time, sitting comfortably on 808-driven beats or Latin-leaning percussive patterns, which keeps him in flagship Latin hip hop playlists and trending on short-form platforms when a visual hits. The combination of a marquee 2025 collab video, reliable viral loops, and sustained continental bookings makes Duki a lock for the year’s global top 20.

11. Trueno – Argentina

Trueno’s 2025 entries show a rapper increasingly comfortable as a pan-Latin headliner. The official video for “FRESH” showcased his elastic flows over crisp, boom-bap-meets-trap drums and arrived alongside a run of strong singles (including high-profile collabs) that kept his YouTube channel in constant motion. Elsewhere, his 2025 visuals with heavyweight features amplified his reach into Spanish and U.S. Latin markets, picking up editorial support and keeping him parked on major Latin hip hop playlists. Onstage, Trueno’s breath control and crowd work turned afternoon festival slots into must-watch sets; that reputation helped him secure better-than-undercard billing at Iberian and Cono Sur festivals, and he’s become a reliable theater sell-out across Argentina. The year’s output doubled as brand building: high-contrast, dance-heavy videos built for short-form edits and lyric-dense hooks that TikTok creators can flip into trends. Put together, 2025 found Trueno playing both the algorithm and the stage to his advantage.

12. Nasty C – South Africa

Nasty C reaffirmed his continental star power in 2025 with “Soft,” a sleek, melody-forward single alongside Usimamane whose official video extended his reach across Southern and West Africa. The clip’s polished look and R&B-leaning hook tapped into a broader Afrobeats audience while keeping his rap core intact—syncopated triplet flows, crisp ad-libs, and confident punchlines. That balance translated to bookings: Nasty C continued to headline national festivals and appear as a top-line international on pan-African bills, while his diaspora plays in the UK and Canada drew strong advance sales. On platforms, “Soft” fed an already healthy visual ecosystem where live session clips and freestyles perform well; the official video gave creators a clean source for edits that traveled across TikTok dashboards in Johannesburg and Lagos. With a 2025 visual that widened his lane and a tour calendar that reflects cross-scene demand, Nasty C’s global ranking this year is more than justified.

13. ODUMODUBLVCK – Nigeria

ODUMODUBLVCK’s bulldozing momentum carried into 2025 via “PITY THIS BOY,” a Victony-assisted single whose official video tightened his hybrid of Abuja street rap, alté textures, and chant-along hooks. The collaboration bridged fanbases and kept him sticky in West African playlists, while his boisterous live presence—mosh-ready, call-and-response heavy—earned him high placements at Lagos and Accra festivals. The video’s crisp color work and kinetic cuts made it ideal fodder for TikTok choreography clips and Instagram Reels that pushed the track beyond Nigeria’s borders. Mix-shows across Capital XTRA-style stations and diasporic radio gave the song recurrent spins, and his 2025 run included packed club dates in London and Toronto where diaspora fans sang every line. With a 2025 visual that traveled and a live show that converts curiosity into fandom, ODUMODUBLVCK belongs in this year’s global 20.

14. Sarkodie – Ghana

A titan in Ghanaian hip hop, Sarkodie stayed sharp in 2025 with “Violence” (featuring Kweku Smoke), whose official video reaffirmed his status as the region’s most technically gifted emcee. The record rides taut, minor-key production and machine-precise triplets, a blueprint he’s exported worldwide on tours that included key diaspora hubs. The visual’s high-contrast palette and tight framing match his no-frills delivery, a reminder that bars still move numbers when presented cleanly. In 2025 he continued to top festival bills in Accra and showed up as a marquee guest in London, where Afrobeats-heavy lineups still leave room for pure rap dominance. The video fueled a steady run of radio spins on pan-African stations and diaspora channels, keeping Sarkodie’s name in steady rotation while he teased further releases. A crisp drop, continued headline demand, and a fanbase that shows up across continents—all reasons he earns a 2025 spot.

15. JP THE WAVY – Japan

JP THE WAVY’s 2025 is proof that Japan’s hip hop scene can export performance energy on par with the West. His official “EYES” live video from POP YOURS 2025 at Makuhari Messe captured a crowd-control clinic: razor-tight breath work, dance-driven staging, and glossy trap beats that hit with festival-scale low-end. The performance, published on YouTube by the festival, functioned like a global EPK—helping him secure bookings across Asia and seeding interest for European club dates tied to his *WAVY TAPE 3* cycle. The single “EYES” itself also surfaced on platforms in 2025, keeping the algorithm pointing back to the live clip. Stylistically, JP blends nimble double-time with swaggering half-time cadences, landing his tracks in workout/trap playlists and on Japanese radio mixes that lean club-ready. With the POP YOURS video gaining traction among international rap fans and his 2025 release slate providing a steady drip of content, JP THE WAVY’s inclusion is a statement about the scene’s breadth this year.

16. NAV – Canada

NAV’s 2025 comeback with Metro Boomin felt big in both presentation and reception. The official visual for “REAL ME” arrived under XO/Republic’s banner, leveraging Metro’s cinematic trap to set up NAV’s most confident verses of the cycle. The video drop synced with a tight campaign that included arena-adjacent bookings and festival slots where his melodic monotone hits the same sweet spot for crowds that embrace both trap and melodic R&B. Editorially, the pairing earned attention from North American hip hop press and gave DJs a mid-tempo weapon that sat comfortably between club heat and radio polish. The video’s crisp neon palette and story-lite, mood-heavy framing played well in short-form reposts, keeping the single in circulation beyond release week. Combined with a healthy Canadian draw and consistent U.S. streaming presence, the 2025 run puts NAV back in the conversation as a global player with production-led star power behind him.

17. bbno$ – Canada

bbno$ turned a breakout 2024 into an even larger 2025 by doing what few internet-born rappers manage: translating virality to prestige stages. His live performance of “it boy” at the 2025 Juno Awards—captured on the ceremony’s official YouTube channel—doubled as a national co-sign, beaming his elastic, humor-laced rap to mainstream TV and helping fuel a post-show spike in streams. The set underlined a formula that’s worked globally for him this year: tightly written earworms, rubbery bass, and choreography-friendly hooks that spread across TikTok, then convert to tickets in college towns and European festival undercards. 2025’s steady stream of official videos (and a clutch of creator-collab clips) kept his channel sticky, while summer dates in the U.S. and EU showed strong sell-through in 1–3k caps. With a marquee award-show moment, consistent content, and a live show that wins skeptics, bbno$ earns his spot among this year’s most impactful hip hop artists.

18. Santa Fe Klan – Mexico

Santa Fe Klan’s 2025 highlights the power of cross-border collaboration. “Locos,” his official video with Saweetie, logged 2M+ YouTube views about a month after release and bridged U.S. West Coast rap fandom with Mexico’s booming trap scene. The visual’s neon-lit set pieces and bilingual swagger doubled as a tour advert; demand for his U.S. dates pushed him beyond clubs into larger theaters in Latino hubs, while Mexico shows remained instant sell-outs. The record’s bounce sits neatly between West Coast snap and Latin trap swing, helping it land on Latin urban playlists and sparking DJ edits that ran up Shazam queries in border cities. Santa Fe Klan’s 2025 itinerary also included festival looks where he slotted high on rap stages amid corridos tumbados and reggaetón stars—proof he’s a true hip hop-led act who can play across formats. The momentum of “Locos,” paired with steady release cadence, keeps him central to Spanish-language rap’s global story this year.

19. Luciano – Germany

Germany’s trap juggernaut Luciano kept his 2025 dominance with “Unlock,” an official video that showcases his icy delivery over sub-rattling 808s—club ammunition that travels from Berlin to Vienna to Zurich. The visual’s crisp edits and luxury imagery match his pan-DACH appeal, and the single synced with a busy touring calendar that has him reliably near the top of German rap festival lineups while packing out standalone dates. Luciano’s YouTube numbers remain formidable, and his 2025 drops continue to cut through thanks to tightly structured hooks that work in both German and international playlists. He’s also a frequent collaborator with UK and European street-rap acts, a pipeline that kept “Unlock” adjacent to pan-European DJ sets all summer. In a crowded scene, Luciano’s consistency—clean videos, punchy singles, and heavy live rotations—cements him in this year’s global top tier.

20. Alemán – Mexico

Alemán’s 2025 has been a reminder that Mexico’s hip hop scene exports at volume. “Mi Clero,” his official video with La Santa Grifa on Sony Music México, arrived with the chest-out swagger and half-sung hooks that make him a staple in both street rap and Latin pop-adjacent playlists. The clip’s fast cuts and grimy-gloss aesthetic fit festival screens and smartphone feeds alike, and its release coincided with a string of high-energy performances across Mexico’s summer circuit—dates that often see him billed as a top rap act among regional Mexican and urbano heavyweights. Algorithmically, the video fed a run of 2025 uploads (“Panas,” “Like Agua”) that kept his channel active and boosted discovery in Spain and the U.S. Southwest. Alemán’s cross-scene credibility—hard verses, mainstream co-signs—earned him a seat at this year’s global table.