Hip-hop appears to be making a resurgence in 2026. Back in October 2025, Billboard reported that hip-hop’s market share dropped from 30% in 2020 to 24% in 2025, which sparked debates among fans and critics about whether rap was losing its selling power or simply resetting.
So far, hip-hop appears to be going through a major reset, with rappers such as J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, Don Toliver and others delivering big sales numbers with their respective hip-hop projects.
A$AP Rocky, who hasn’t dropped an album in eight years, had quite the impressive start in 2026. In January, the Harlem rhymer dropped his eagerly-awaited album, Don’t Be Dumb, and nabbed his third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. His project moved 123,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release.
Not to be outdone, YoungBoy Never Broke Again dropped his 17th album, Slime Cry, on the same day as Rocky and saw the biggest sales of his career. His LP pushed 70,000 equivalent album units in its opening week.
Then, at the end of January, Don Toliver delivered his new project, Octane. The collection garnered the Houston rapper-singer his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. The set earned an impressive 162,000 equivalent album units, which is his best first-sales week ever in his career.
Meanwhile, J. Cole is currently projected to have the highest album sales among rappers this year. Early estimates suggest the North Carolina rhymer’s magnum opus, The Fall-Off, will move between 260,000 and 300,000 equivalent album units in the first week of his album’s release. Final, official numbers are still being tabulated.
Nevertheless, hip-hop appears to be in a good space this year. So with that, XXL has compiled a list of some of the highest hip-hop project sales in 2026, so far.
