“Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ray Lewis is the top rap song of all time, according to the folks over at Billboard .
To celebrate 25 years of the Hot Rap Songs chart, the publication counted down the top 100 since its inception. When all the tallies were systematically totaled and carefully calculated, “Thrift Shop” emerged victorious. Chances are there’s a lot of people shaking their heads and bemoaning the state of hip hop right about now.
The catchy song has also proved extremely popular on YouTube. The official music video for “Thrift Shop” has over 502 million views as of this writing. If you haven’t heard the song yet, then you’ll probably check it out before you’ve finished reading this article. In fact, you can have a listen to the track below.
“Thrift Shop” is definitely in good company. According to XXL , the top five includes tracks by 69 Boyz (“Tootsee Roll”), Missy Elliot (“Hot Boyz”), and Salt-N-Pepa (“Expression”). Proving that they’re not one-hit wonders, Macklemore & Ray Lewis complimented “Thrift Shop” with the tune “Can’t Hold Us.” The track landed at number four on the Billboard list.
Considering the Hot Rap Songs list started way back in 1989, it’s definitely a little impressive that “Thrift Shop” managed to rise to the top of the pile in a relatively short amount of time. The tune held onto the top spot for a phenomenal 15 weeks last year.
“Thrift Shop” certainly helped Macklemore & Ray Lewis sell 1.3 million copies of The Heist since October of 2012. The record also took won a trophy for Best Rap Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards, beating out efforts by Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Jay Z, and Kanye West. To hold back the wave of controversy that started to erupt shortly after the announcement, Macklemore sent Lamar an apology via text .
The message read:
“You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have. It’s weird and sucks that I robbed you. I was gonna say that during the speech. Then the music started playing during my speech and I froze. Anyway, you know what it is. Congrats on this year and your music. Appreciate you as an artist and as a friend. Much love.”
Regardless of what you may think of “Thrift Shop,” it’s clear that the tune struck a chord with a lot of people last year. To see the complete list of top rap songs, swing by Billboard and have a listen. Are you surprised Macklemore & Ray Lewis’ song is the top rap song of all time?
