Popular music is more collaborative than ever
Hip-hop’s growing influence is bringing more guest artists into the recording studio
DJ KHALED, an American hip-hop producer, is often criticised for shamelessly packing his songs with famous guest stars like Drake, Rihanna and Justin Bieber. But it is hard to argue with success. In a little over a decade, Mr Khaled has racked up 24 Billboard Hot 100 hit songs, all of them collaborations with other artists.
America’s music industry is increasingly following Mr Khaled’s formula. According to data from the Billboard Hot 100, a weekly ranking of the most popular singles in the country, collaborations now represent more than a third of hit songs. Of the top ten songs on the current Hot 100 chart, half are credited to more than one artist.
Musicians are teaming up more often for several reasons. Hip-hop, the most collaborative music genre, is now America’s most popular too, according to Nielsen, a market-research firm. Streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, which tend to blur the lines between genres, may also be encouraging popular artists to jump on each others’ tracks.
Such partnerships run the risk of sounding contrived and inauthentic. But well-executed ones can yield critical acclaim as well as millions of streams. When Chancelor Bennett, known to fans as Chance the Rapper, released the album “Surf” with his touring band in 2015, he boasted that “every record has like 50 people on it”. Pitchfork Media, a highbrow music magazine, lauded it as “a celebration of friendship and a tribute to the alchemic power of collaboration”.
More from Graphic detail
After Dobbs, Americans are turning to permanent contraception
More young women are tying their tubes
Five charts that show why the BJP expects to win India’s election
Narendra Modi’s party is eyeing another big victory
By 2100 half the world’s children will be born in sub-Saharan Africa
Fertility rates are falling faster everywhere else