We kicked off our annual year-end segments with the first part of Hottest 50 Songs of 2015. While you wait for the next two parts, we're releasing our list of the top 10 Most Searched Artists on the site over the past year.
The data for this list was gathered from the amount of times our users searched directly for the artist name in question, whether that was through our homepage search bar, socials, etc, as long as it landed you on an HNHH page for that artist, we counted it. This year we're giving you the actual percentage, out of ALL our site searches, that the artist name accounted for.
We're seeing a few change-ups from last year's list of Most Searched Artists, with the removal of artists like Kid Ink, Tyga, Chris Brown and Kendrick Lamar from our top 10-- you may be surprised to see that Kendrick Lamar isn't even featured in the 5 honorable mentions, as he ranked at #20 this year.
Take a look at #15-#11 below, and proceed to the top 10.
15. Tory Lanez- 1.27%
14. Fabolous- 1.29%
13. J. Cole- 1.35%
12. Chris Brown- 1.36% / The Weeknd 1.36%
11. Tyga- 1.45%
Chief Keef
Chief Keef didn't have the most ground-breaking year ever, but he did seem to step up his rap game and remain consistent with it, from his features to his own cuts-- he had a particularly memorable features on Mac Miller's GOOD AM and Travi$ Scott's Rodeo. His Bang 3 impressed fans and critics alike, proving that Keef can still channel his auto-tuned belligerence into something that makes sense musically. All these factors had HNHH users claiming Chief Keef's superiority and apparently searching him on the site quite a bit-- he accounted for 2.07% of all our searches this past year.
With all the drama Migos went through this past year, it's not that surprising that they were heavily searched figures on HNHH. Whether it was all three of Migos getting locked up, or Offset's recent freedom, or the takeover of the dab dance, propelled in part by Quality Control affiliates Jose Guapo and Rich The Kid, Migos were constantly in the news. Their delayed debut album also made an impact over the summer, which they quickly followed up with a mixtape. It's safe to say if you were searching for Migos, you'd find a shit ton of content. Migos made up 2.12% of our site searches this year, narrowly beating out Chief Keef at #9.
Kevin Gates
Kevin Gates may be a surprising name, at least at first glance, to see in our top 10 most searched-- however when you think about it a bit longer, he did have quite the controversies surrounding him this past year. Gates started off the year with one such controversy, when an Instagram video he posted where he claimed to have sexual relations with a cousin went viral. This boosted his Instagram game up by approx. 1000 points, and ultimately led him to delete all his videos and photos off his page. However even starting fresh couldn't prevent the drama that would soon follow, when a video of Gates kicking a fan at a concert went viral several months later. Oh yeah, who could forget the Jhene Aiko shout out, when she revealed her infamous "Post To Be" lyrics were inspired by the booty-eating rapper himself. All this, and, lest we forget, the dope music, put Gates as the #8 most-searched artist on HNHH, taking up 2.37% of all searches.
Wiz Khalifa
What can we say about Wiz? Wiz is Wiz. His music may have gone downhill from the mixtape days, but he's still the same guy we fell in love with on B.A.R.-- a carefree, fun-loving weed smoker, who wears extremely tight jeans. He made last year's list (at #2 mind you, so he's fallen off a bit), and he's here again, although it wasn't the biggest year for Wiz. He didn't drop an album, although he had a major single with the "Fast & Furious 7" mainstream-dream "See You Again" (plus a Grammy nod). Nonetheless in recent months, anticipation has grown as Wiz has announced two follow-up projects: one for the fan-favorite Cabin Fever mixtape series, and one for Rolling Papers. It seems all Wiz needs to do is be Wiz, and he'll garner traction on the site. His name accounted for 2.38% of our searches-- that's only one minuscule point above Gates.
Young Thug is nothing if not a divisive figure among the HNHH community, or the world at large. The rapper can be very isolating if you're not already on the Thugger bandwagon. But, even haters gotta lurk. Thug can easily rack up views and comments on HNHH, and most of the time, it's firmly split down the middle when it comes to the love and hate-- we've definitely seen Thug make some progress since last year though, when the hate often superseded the love. It's very possible that one day you'll all be on board with Thug's quirky rap movement, but until then, you stay searching him. Young Thug's name accounted for 2.62% of our searches.
Meek Mill
While Meek Mill may have stumbled a few times over the last year, he remained on the tip of everyone's tongues thanks in part to those blunders, and the fact that he was dating the rap game's most coveted Nicki Minaj. Funnily enough, he was #5 on last year's list, and locks in the same spot this year. Good sign or bad? Whatever the case, the Drake/Meek Mill beef was obviously a big factor here, and we cannot forget the inter-crew beef between Wale and Meek. Meek and Nicki's relationship went full-force following the New Year, leading to many public displays of affection and working collaborations-- from records to tours, Meek and his boo put on for each other. Whether you were searching because of bad publicity or good publicity, Meek accounted for 2.84% of all our searches this year.
Fetty Wap
Fetty Wap definitely had his break-out/cross-over year in 2015. The rapper had been bubbling at the end of 2014, "Trap Queen" had already started to do its thing, however it wasn't until we entered 2k15 that Fetty's wobbly sound truly took over, and he began releasing song-after-song, culminating (rather quickly, when you think about it) into his debut album, Fetty Wap. The success of his individual songs, the Drake remix, the motorcycle accident, all accounted for Fetty's constant appearance on HNHH. After not appearing anywhere at all on last year's list, this year Fetty jumps in at #4, making up 3.23% of our searches.
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne will always be a beloved rapper on the site, if not for his current output, then as a 'veteran' rap figure that you can never entirely let go of. Weezy had his fair share of ups and downs this year, which certainly kept you guys checking for him. There was the Lil Wayne/Birdman lawsuit that unfolded in the New Year, and may or may not be tied with Wayne's tour bus shooting. There was the Young Thug versus Lil Wayne drama, a few disses back and forth, and Thugger attempting to pay homage to his idol, but missing the mark. There was the Free Weezy Album. There was Christina Milian. There was No Ceilings. There was Carter V rumors. Whatever there was, Lil Wayne rounded up 3.74% of the searches on HNHH.
Future
What a time. Future, like his mixtape, was in beast mode this year. The rapper had a return to form, which many pinpointed to the lack of Ciara in his life. He started the year with Beast Mode, thus defining how he'd spend the rest of the year. From there we received 56 Nights, further fueling the excitement for Future's career, before finally, reaching new heights with Dirty Sprite 2-- not only satiating his day one fans, but sparking new fans to dig deeper into Future's past. He didn't stop there, keeping the auto-tuned trap wave coming with What A Time To Be Alive, moreso Future-derivative then it was Drake, further cementing Fewtch's influence. The Future sound crept into other people's records as well, whether it was through his hook takeover or simply a case of copycats. It's worth noting, that while many of the artists on this list are shuffled around from last year's list, Future is an entirely new entry (like Fetty), who sky-rocketed all the way to #2 with 5% of the searches on HNHH belonging to him.
Drake
Bitch, you probably guessed it. No one can take away Drizzy's crown as HNHH king, and trust, it's not just because we post about his most mundane activities, it's because you care about his most mundane activities. The rapper was sitting at #1 last year, and hasn't budged. He had an even bigger year in 2015. To briefly summarize, he created two of the most iconic/memorable/meme-ified music videos of the year, he dropped a "mixtape" of album proportions (and went platinum), he won a beef with a song that is now Grammy-nominated, WATTBA, he started OVO Sound Radio further putting on for the 6, he hate-kissed Madonna, and he barely dropped any information about Views From The 6. Drake was the one to check for, whether it was on social media or on our site, everyone was watching his moves. This isn't even restricted to HNHH-- Drake was Spotify's most streamed artist in 2015 (spanning all genres), he broke a Billboard record (later taken away from him by fellow Canadian Justin Beiber), and he was among TIME's Person of the Year candidates. Adele even wants to get in on the Drizzy action. Drake's takeover was felt worldwide, across Internet boundaries and IRL. Drake accounted for a whopping 10.64% of our searches this year.