rap genius trends 2014
Listening to an album or single is one thing, spending the effort to search, and/or annotate an artists lyrics separates casual listeners from loyal fans. Genius analytics can truly determine who made the biggest impact in a calendar year. So with that in mind, we decided to breakdown lyric driven trends in 2014.
Most viewed songs in 20142014 really felt like the year of the "single". While we missed major label offerings from the game's hottest MC's, we had an abundance of outstanding singles, features and breakthrough artists. The likes of Bobby Shmurda, Rich Gang, and Rae Sremmurd dropped meme-generating songs quicker than you could understand what Young Thug was saying.  And although Thugger and Rae Sremmurd   may appear more times on the list, Bobby Shmurda took the crown with his single “Hot Nigga”, which  has snagged more than 3,000,000 page views since July last year.
Even with the Young Thugs and Shmurdas in the rap game, fans found themselves furiously searching content from 2012 and 2013. Just under half the songs you'll find below were not from 2014. Most notably, 2013's two rap biggest songs - “Drunk In Love” & “Rap God” sit at the top of our view count. In an even bigger twist, Kendrick Lamar flexed his influence with “m.A.A.d city” - the 8th track from his modern classic good kid, m.A.A.d city broke into the top 10.
1. Beyonce ft Jay Z - “Drunk In Love”
2. Eminem - “Rap God”
3. Bobby Shmurda - “Hot Nigga”
4. Rich Gang - “Lifestyle”
5. Beyonce - "Partition"
6. Drake - “0-100/The Catch Up”
7. Lil Wayne ft. Drake - “Believe Me”
8. The Weeknd ft. Ty Dolla $ign & Wiz Khalifa- “Or Nah Remix”
9. Kendrick Lamar ft. MC Eiht - “m.A.A.d city”
10. Big Sean ft. E-40 - “I Don’t Fuck With You”
11. T.I ft.Young Thug - “About The Money”
12. Jhene Aiko - “The Worst”
13. Rae Sremmurd - “No Flex Zone”
14. Childish Gambino - “V. 3005”
15. Nicki MInaj - “Lookin’ (Lookin' Ass Niggas”)
16. Rae Sremmurd - "No Type"
17. Eminem ft. Rihanna - “The Monster”
18. Jay Z ft. Beyonce - “Part II: On The Run”
19. Drake - "Trophies"
20. Kanye West ft. Charlie Wilson - “Bound 2”
Most viewed artists in 2014Song views may rule the roost when it comes to who had the hottest meme of the minute, but an artist is the total package. In 2014, only six of the most viewed artists on Genius released full albums. The most surprising addition to the top ten is Childish Gambino -  seeing his name there with raps heavyweights shows how far he's come from that infamous 1.6.
Drake took 2014's crown as the most viewed artist on Genius - is this a surprise? Yes, for two reasons. The list doesn't include features, and Drake only released a handful of tracks in 2014, meaning he relied heavily on 2013's Nothing Was The Same. It looks like Yeezy was right all along, Drake really is the most popular man in rap.
1. Drake
2. Eminem
3. Beyonce
4. Kanye West
5. Kendrick Lamar
6. Childish Gambino
7. Jay Z
8. Lil Wayne
9. J. Cole
10. The Weeknd
11. Nicki Minaj
12. Rick Ross
13. ScHoolboy Q
14. Jhene Aiko
15. Rich Gang
16. Chief Keef
17. Chris Brown
18. Big Sean
19. Chance The Rapper
20. A$AP Rocky
Bonus: The Carters Beyonce & Jay Z appear in the top ten artists, but only on records featuring each other in the "most viewed" songs list. This cements their "power couple" brand, but raises more questions about their individual status. Have the "Beyonce & Jay Z" brands been replaced by "The Carters?"
What lyrics did you search for this year, surprised not to see something on the list? Let us know in the comments.