Hip-hop looks set to make a resurgence in 2026. Back in October 2025, Billboard reported that hip-hop’s market share would drop from 30% in 2020 to 24% in 2025, sparking debate among fans and critics about whether rap was losing sales power or simply repositioning itself.
By now, hip-hop seems to be undergoing a major reset, with rappers such as J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, Don Toliver and others generating huge sales with their own hip-hop projects.
A$AP Rocky hasn’t released an album in eight years, but he’s off to an impressive start in 2026. In January, the Harlem rhymer released his highly anticipated album Don’t Be Dumb, earning him his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. His project sold 123,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release.
Not to be outdone, YoungBoy Never Broke Again released his 17th album “Slime Cry” on the same day as Rocky and achieved the biggest sales of his career. His album sold 70,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release.
Then, at the end of January, Don Toliver released his new record, Octane . The album earned the Houston rapper his first number one album on the Billboard 200 chart. The album achieved an impressive 162,000 equivalent album sales, the best first-week sales of his career.
Meanwhile, J. Cole is currently projected to have the highest album sales among rappers this year. Preliminary estimates put the North Carolina rhymer’s new project, The Fall-Off, at between 260,000 and 300,000 copies in its first week of release. Final official figures are still being tallied.
Still, hip-hop seems to be doing well this year. So, XXL has compiled a list of the highest-selling hip-hop projects of 2026 so far.
