So what do rappers know that the rest of us don't? Actually, that's a lengthy discussion, and one explored in-depth last October (see 'related article' below). But maybe a culture of rapid releases, mixtapes, DJ influencers, and modular production is proving a cockroach in this nuclear winter.
A curious stat just popped up. Just looking over Soundscan numbers for 2010, most genres suffered catastrophic declines. Rock dropped 16 percent, Alternative slumped 21 percent, and Classical tanked 26 percent. Country, which shed 5 percent, was the only genre spared a double-digit decline.
Yet Rap managed a 3 percent gain on US-based sales of 27.3 million albums. And, keep in mind that overall, albums decreased 12.7 percent.
Sounds great, but will it last? Perhaps this bubble deserves a pricking early on. Subtract out Eminem - whose Recovery scored sales of 3.4 million - and it looks like Rap is just another loser. And, digging back into previous years, it turns out that Rap has suffered its fair share of double-digit plunges. In fact, the genre commanded album sales of 75.1 million in 2005, only to drop 20.7 percent the following year.
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