Hip hop has always had a complicated relationship with YouTube. For a genre that built its visual identity through late-night MTV premieres, VHS bootlegs, and DVD compilations, the shift to a free, searchable, endlessly replayable platform changed everything \u2014 and the view counts prove it.<\/p>\n
Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every single minute in 2026. Yet certain hip hop videos have managed to cut through that ocean of content and accumulate view counts that would have been unimaginable during the BET and MTV era. We’re talking billions \u2014 not millions \u2014 of replays, representing genuine cultural moments that keep drawing new generations of listeners back to the same videos, years and even decades after their original release.<\/p>\n
This list covers the top 20 most watched hip hop music videos on YouTube in 2026<\/strong>, ranked by total view count. These are verified figures pulled from current YouTube data, not estimates. Each entry also goes beyond the number to explain why the video connected so deeply and what made it culturally significant \u2014 because view counts alone never tell the whole story.<\/p>\n What Makes a Hip Hop Video Cross the Billion-View Mark<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the list, it’s worth understanding why some videos reach these numbers and most don’t.<\/p>\n The hip hop videos that accumulate the most YouTube views share a few consistent characteristics. They tend to carry strong emotional anchors \u2014 grief, triumph, defiance, humor \u2014 that give viewers a reason to return. They are often tied to broader cultural moments that extend far beyond the music itself: movie soundtracks, viral social media challenges, breakthrough artist moments. And they tend to have visual identities strong enough to make them worth rewatching rather than just relisting.<\/p>\n YouTube’s own Director of Black Music and Culture, Tuma Basa, identified two distinct eras of hip hop music videos when ranking the genre’s most significant entries. The first is what he calls the “Handkerchief Era” \u2014 the 90s and 2000s, defined by cinematic, big-budget videos built to last. The second is the “Kleenex Era” \u2014 faster, more disposable content designed for immediate impact rather than long-term cultural residence. What is remarkable about this list is how many videos from both eras have managed to accumulate numbers that prove longevity and immediacy are not mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n Released in 2015 as the lead single from the Furious 7 soundtrack, See You Again was written as a tribute to actor Paul Walker, who died in a car accident in November 2013. The emotional weight behind the video is impossible to separate from its view count \u2014 this was not just a song, it was a public goodbye to someone the entire world had watched grow up on screen.<\/p>\n The combination of Wiz Khalifa’s verse and Charlie Puth’s emotionally raw hook over a piano-driven production reached an audience far wider than traditional hip hop listeners. The music video, directed to complement the film’s visual language, debuted at number one in over twenty countries and became the most-streamed song on YouTube for multiple years after its release.<\/p>\n What makes 7 billion views comprehensible is understanding the context: a beloved public figure, a billion-dollar film franchise, an emotionally accessible production, and a video that served as a genuine memorial rather than a commercial product. It remains the most viewed hip hop music video in YouTube history by a considerable margin.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth Released:<\/strong> 2015 Album:<\/strong> Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Genre:<\/strong> Pop rap, Hip-hop<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Few collaborations in hip hop history have connected with the emotional range that Love The Way You Lie managed in 2010. Eminem’s unflinching lyrical examination of a toxic relationship, paired with Rihanna’s chorus \u2014 delivered by an artist whose own experience with relationship violence was public knowledge \u2014 gave the video a layer of authenticity that studio-crafted emotional content rarely achieves.<\/p>\n The visual treatment, featuring Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan acting out the cycle of a destructive relationship, matched the song’s intensity with images that were disturbing enough to provoke discussion but grounded enough to reflect something millions of viewers recognized. The video crossed 3.2 billion views not despite its difficult subject matter but partly because of it \u2014 it said things many people felt but had not seen articulated at this scale.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Eminem ft. Rihanna Released:<\/strong> 2010 Album:<\/strong> Recovery Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop, Rap rock<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Sunflower arrived in 2018 as part of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, and its YouTube performance reflects just how effectively a film placement can amplify a song’s reach. The animated film’s visual language, combined with the track’s dream pop and R&B influences, reached an audience that spanned both comic book fans and pop listeners alongside Post Malone’s existing fanbase.<\/p>\n The production, handled by Carter Lang and Louis Bell, sits outside of what most people think of as traditional hip hop \u2014 which may be precisely why it reached 1.7 billion views. Post Malone’s genre-blending approach during this period consistently broke through to listeners who would not have described themselves as hip hop fans, expanding his reach in ways that pure rap releases rarely achieve.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Post Malone ft. Swae Lee Released:<\/strong> 2018 Album:<\/strong> Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop, Dream pop, R&B<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ApXoWvfEYVU<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Thrift Shop is one of the more unlikely billion-view hip hop videos. A song about secondhand clothing stores and saving money, delivered by an independent duo from Seattle without major label backing, should not logically accumulate the same YouTube footprint as tracks backed by the full machinery of Atlantic or Interscope. The fact that it did speaks to the authenticity of the concept and the genuine humor of the execution.<\/p>\n The video, which leans fully into the absurdist visual possibilities of thrift store fashion, functions as pure comedy while Macklemore’s flow remains sharp enough to satisfy listeners who came for the rap. It spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified diamond \u2014 the highest possible certification in the US. In 2026, more than a decade after its release, it holds over 1.9 billion views.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz Released:<\/strong> 2012 Album:<\/strong> The Heist Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop, Alternative rap<\/p>\n Listen to the music: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Not Afraid arrived in 2010 as Eminem’s declaration of recovery from addiction, and it delivered on that promise with a directness that his audience responded to massively. The music video, featuring Eminem literally breaking out of darkness into light, matched the song’s metaphors with visual execution that felt earned rather than manufactured.<\/p>\n The track won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video and received near-universal critical praise for its honesty. In the context of Eminem’s catalog, it functions as a pivot point \u2014 the album Recovery that it launched became one of the best-selling albums of 2010 globally. The video’s consistent return of new viewers over fifteen years suggests it continues to find people at moments when its message about getting through difficulty resonates personally.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Eminem Released:<\/strong> 2010 Album:<\/strong> Recovery Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop, Rap rock<\/p>\n Here is the music link: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j5-yKhDd64s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Congratulations was Post Malone’s commercial breakthrough moment. Released before he had the massive profile he would later develop, the track \u2014 produced by Metro Boomin and Frank Dukes \u2014 caught enough early momentum to become his first major charting single. The video’s relatively simple execution focuses on Malone’s delivery and the track’s undeniable melodic hook, letting the production do most of the emotional work.<\/p>\n The feature from Quavo extended its reach into the Migos fanbase, and the track’s themes of perseverance and recognition resonated with a fanbase that was growing at exactly the moment hip hop’s relationship with melodic rap was shifting. By 2026, it has crossed 1.7 billion views \u2014 remarkable for a track with relatively modest production values compared to major-label videos of the same era.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Post Malone ft. Quavo Released:<\/strong> 2017 Album:<\/strong> Stoney Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop, Trap<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SC4xMk98Pdc<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I Like It is a study in how combining markets creates audiences larger than any single fanbase could produce. A Latin trap collaboration between a Bronx-raised rap superstar, a Puerto Rican phenomenon, and a Colombian reggaeton star, the track samples Pete Rodriguez’s 1967 boogaloo record \u2014 a production choice that connected three generations of Latin and hip hop listeners simultaneously.<\/p>\n The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Song of the Summer in 2018, and its visual energy \u2014 rooted in Latin visual traditions but executed at global pop scale \u2014 made it one of the most replayed videos of that year. At 1.7 billion views in 2026, it remains a benchmark for what genuinely cross-cultural hip hop collaborations can achieve on YouTube.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin Released:<\/strong> 2018 Album:<\/strong> Invasion of Privacy Genre:<\/strong> Latin trap, Hip-hop<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xTlNMmZKwpA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n God’s Plan is unusual in the billion-view club because its music video is primarily documentary rather than performance-based. Instead of a traditional narrative or performance video, Drake spent the entire $996,631.90 video budget giving money and resources away to people in Miami \u2014 paying off student tuition, buying groceries, donating to shelters. The receipts were shown on screen. The impact was real and documented.<\/p>\n The video debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the 29th song in history to achieve that debut, and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song. At 1.7 billion views, it represents something genuinely unusual in hip hop video history: a visual component that made the song more rather than less significant.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Drake Released:<\/strong> 2018 Album:<\/strong> Scorpion Genre:<\/strong> Pop rap, Trap<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Without Me demonstrates that great hip hop videos are not diminished by time. Released in 2002, the video parodies the Slim Shady character Eminem had built across three albums while simultaneously delivering one of his sharpest lyrical performances. The visual references \u2014 including a Batman parody, a direct dig at Moby, and the recurring Eminem-as-Robin Dynamic \u2014 gave the video a density of jokes that rewarded repeat viewing.<\/p>\n The track reached number one in fifteen countries and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. More than two decades later, it holds 2.4 billion views on YouTube \u2014 a testament to how effective self-referential humor and airtight production can be at maintaining attention across generations of new listeners.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Eminem Released:<\/strong> 2002 Album:<\/strong> The Eminem Show Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YVkUvmDQ3HY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Rap God entered the Guinness World Records as the single containing the most words in a hit song \u2014 1,560 words, delivered across six minutes and four seconds. The music video, which visualizes Eminem’s verses with a range of graphical and performance styles, became a natural magnet for the substantial audience that comes to YouTube specifically to watch technical rap performance.<\/p>\n The track was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. Its view count of over 1.5 billion reflects a specific kind of YouTube audience: listeners who seek out rap for its technical dimensions and return repeatedly to catch references they missed or to share the experience with someone who hasn’t seen it.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Eminem Released:<\/strong> 2013 Album:<\/strong> The Marshall Mathers LP 2 Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop<\/p>\n Listen to the song: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XbGs_qK2PQA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Taste marked Tyga’s return to chart relevance after a period of lower commercial profile. The collaboration with Offset caught the wave of Migos-adjacent trap that was dominating radio in 2018, and the track peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 \u2014 Tyga’s highest placement in years. The video’s visual language draws heavily from the glossy trap aesthetic that defined that moment in hip hop, and it connected strongly enough with that audience to accumulate over 1.7 billion YouTube views.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Tyga ft. Offset Released:<\/strong> 2018 Genre:<\/strong> Trap, Hip-hop<\/p>\n Here is the YouTube link: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LjxulQ1bEWg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Gucci Gang is a video that polarized critics while simultaneously demonstrating exactly how YouTube view counts work: repetition, shareability, and genuine cultural moment outperform quality assessments every time. The track peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, has been certified five times platinum, and at 1.2 billion views has proven whatever the critics thought largely irrelevant to how listeners actually engaged with it.<\/p>\n The bling-focused, deliberately simple aesthetic of the video defined a particular corner of SoundCloud-era rap’s visual language, and in that context it functions as an accurate cultural document regardless of how it’s evaluated aesthetically.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Lil Pump Released:<\/strong> 2017 Album:<\/strong> Lil Pump Genre:<\/strong> Trap, Hip-hop<\/p>\n Watch the music video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4LfJnj66HVQ<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Bad and Boujee arrived in late 2016 and became one of the defining cultural moments of that winter. When Donald Glover referenced it in his Golden Globe speech in January 2017, the track went from already-popular to inescapable overnight. The video, co-produced by Metro Boomin, visualizes the trap lifestyle aesthetic that Migos had been building across multiple mixtapes, and with Lil Uzi Vert’s feature extending its appeal to a slightly different fanbase, it became something broader than Migos had previously achieved.<\/p>\n It holds 1.3 billion views in 2026 \u2014 a number that reflects both the track’s enormous initial impact and the way iconic moments in culture continue drawing new viewers years after the initial wave.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert Released:<\/strong> 2016 Album:<\/strong> Culture Genre:<\/strong> Trap, Hip-hop<\/p>\n Watch the music video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S-sJp1FfG7Q<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Lose Yourself won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003 \u2014 the first hip hop song ever to receive that distinction. The video, tied to the 8 Mile film’s narrative of a rapper fighting for his shot at a breakthrough, carries a specific emotional weight that pure performance videos rarely achieve: viewers know the stakes, they understand the character’s situation, and the song’s driving production delivers a payoff that works whether or not you’ve seen the film.<\/p>\n More than two decades after its release, Lose Yourself still holds over 1.4 billion views on YouTube. It is the rare hip hop video that crosses over completely into mainstream cultural memory \u2014 taught in schools, used in motivational contexts, covered by artists across genres.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Eminem Released:<\/strong> 2002 Album:<\/strong> 8 Mile: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop, Hip hop soul<\/p>\n Watch the music video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_Yhyp-_hX2s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Anaconda crossed the billion-view threshold by operating at a cultural intersection that generates maximum viewership: a provocative visual concept built on a sample (Sir Mix-a-Lot’s Baby Got Back) that already had a thirty-year head start in the culture. The video was deliberately designed to generate discussion, and it did \u2014 making it one of the most written-about music videos of 2014.<\/p>\n From Young Money Entertainment via Republic Records, the video’s cultural impact extended well beyond the hip hop audience. At over 1.1 billion views in 2026, it remains one of the most viewed videos by a female rapper in YouTube history.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Nicki Minaj Released:<\/strong> 2014 Album:<\/strong> The Pinkprint Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop<\/p>\n Watch the music video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Bodak Yellow was a significant moment in hip hop history: it made Cardi B the first female rapper since Lauryn Hill in 1998 to top the Billboard Hot 100 with a solo track. The video reflected the Queens-born artist’s authentic voice and visual sensibility, and the track’s success was directly connected to the credibility it established rather than any manufactured image.<\/p>\n The BET Hip Hop Award for Best Song of the Year confirmed the community’s embrace of the track. At over 1.2 billion views on YouTube, Bodak Yellow represents a genuine breakthrough moment preserved in its original form \u2014 accessible to anyone who wants to understand what that moment in hip hop felt like.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Cardi B Released:<\/strong> 2017 Album:<\/strong> Invasion of Privacy Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop<\/p>\n Watch the full video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PEGccV-NOm8<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Still D.R.E. is approaching the billion-view mark in 2026, and it is one of the most culturally significant near-misses on this list. Released in 1999 from the 2001 album \u2014 itself widely considered one of the most important West Coast rap albums ever recorded \u2014 the video represents the apex of a particular era in hip hop’s relationship with production polish and cinematic ambition.<\/p>\n The collaboration between Dre and Snoop that the video captures is the kind of cultural touchstone that keeps generating new listeners across generations. The fact that a song from 1999 is approaching a billion YouTube views in 2026 says something profound about the enduring power of its production.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg Released:<\/strong> 1999 Album:<\/strong> 2001 Genre:<\/strong> West Coast hip-hop, Gangsta rap<\/p>\n Watch the full video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_CL6n0FJZpk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Rockstar debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017 and marked the moment when Post Malone’s commercial reach became undeniable at a global scale. The track reached the top position in Australia, Canada, the UK, and across Europe \u2014 a chart performance that reflected genuine international streaming muscle rather than US-centric radio play.<\/p>\n The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year and the Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Song. At nearly a billion views on YouTube in 2026, it stands as one of the strongest documents of the melodic rap moment that Post Malone spent several years defining.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Post Malone ft. 21 Savage Released:<\/strong> 2017 Album:<\/strong> Beerbongs & Bentleys Genre:<\/strong> Trap, Cloud rap, Hip-hop<\/p>\n Watch the full video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UceaB4D0jpo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n White Iverson is the origin story. Released in 2015 before Post Malone had a label deal or significant industry backing, the video became a viral phenomenon that launched his career from zero. The song peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100, introduced his melodic rap approach to a mainstream audience for the first time, and generated enough momentum to lead directly to his signing with Republic Records.<\/p>\n At nearly 1.1 Billion<\/strong> views in 2026, White Iverson demonstrates something important about YouTube as a medium: a career-launching moment, preserved in its original context, continues accumulating views as new listeners discover an artist and trace their history back to the beginning.<\/p>\n Artist:<\/strong> Post Malone Released:<\/strong> 2015 Genre:<\/strong> Hip-hop<\/p>\n Watch the full video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SLsTskih7_I<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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