There is no doubt that since the days of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow, hip-hop dating back to the 1970s has produced some of the most culturally impactful albums in music history. LPs can be measured in quality metrics like verses, production and originality. However, few qualities can boost the legend of a project like record sales. The role of moving units within rap is significant because it showcases the past five decades of evolution. And while the number of products shipped does not tell the entire story, these numerical milestones represent the growth of the genre’s popularity.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), only about a dozen rap albums have received diamond recognition. Some of those celebrated efforts include legendary projects such as The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death, the sophomore double-disc masterpiece by the Brooklyn MC. And Tupac Shakur’s magnum opus, All Eyez on Me, the first double-disc album of original material in hip-hop history.
Others have surpassed that milestone, with OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Eminem’s The Eminem Show and others going multi-diamond. However, it’s also important to recognize multiplatinum projects on this list, like 50 Cent’s hard-hitting, critically acclaimed debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
In today’s digital age, measuring the importance of record sales in hip-hop is difficult because sometimes sales do not match impact. Many rappers put out music dauly, but only a few have made it to the higher echelon of commercial success. Here are the 25 best-selling hip-hop albums of all time. These numbers are calculated by the RIAA for the U.S., and not on a worldwide scale.—Antonio Cooper