Masked Wolf Was 2021’s Breakthrough Hip Hop Artist, Shows Data

Sara Mekinc

Jan 27, 2022

As you probably heard, we just published our annual “State of Music” report. In it, we've examined key social media and music channels (Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and more) to see which artists made the biggest impact in terms of views, streams, likes and online buzz.

According to the data, 2021 in Hip Hop was the year of Masked Wolf. The Australian rapper was streamed almost one billion times in 2021 and amassed nearly 450 million YouTube video views, recording one of the biggest surges in popularity. The top three breakthrough acts also included Nigerian producer CKay and Puerto Rican trapper Eladio Carrión.

Looking at global streaming numbers, Hip Hop was the second most streamed genre on Spotify in 2021. Hip Hop tracks were streamed over 80 billion times worldwide, making for 22% of all streams. Pop took the lead with 39%. It is also interesting to note that Hip Hop is much less represented on radio – a snub it has in common with Latin and K-Pop music.

Our report also highlights three names to watch out for in 2022, as their current streaming and social media numbers suggest they are gaining in popularity fast. All three hail from Europe and got millions of Spotify streams in 2021: Central Cee (460+ million streams), Orelsan (150+ million streams) and Soda Luv (76+ million streams).

See the “State of Music” address for the full list of best-performing artists, key music stats and trends for 2022.

*Masked Wolf photo courtesy of Elektra Music Group