2004 was a crazy year for hip-hop. Lil Wayne dropped Tha Carter, Kanye West released The College Dropout, MF DOOM was on a tear with Madvillainy and Mm..Food, and T.I. was putting trap music on the map with Urban Legend.
It was also a undeniable year for Usher, specifically, whose fourth studio album, Confessions, churned out the Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers “Burn,” “Confessions Part II” and “My Boo.” However, it was “Yeah!,” his collaboration with Lil Jon and Ludacris, that dominated at No. 1 for 12 straight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Usher’s dominance was a sight to behold, but numerous rap songs also managed to climb to the top spot over the course of the year.
OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move” continuously reminded listeners the South had something to say. While rap in 2004 was far from the dominating force it is today, there were plenty of signs that hip-hop was here to stay in a big way.
By comparison, in 2023, there were only five hip-hop songs—either headlined or featuring hip-hop artists—topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a total of seven weeks. Hopefully, 2024 will bring rap back to the top of the charts again, but only time will tell.
Feeling old yet? Now that 2024 is here, take a trip down memory lane with the biggest rap songs from 20 years ago. Here, XXL puts together a list of the hip-hop songs that were No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2004.
