About “Hip-Hop’s Greatest Singles By Year”

ego trip’s Book of Rap Lists (buy a copy here) is a highly-entertaining reference book about hip-hop history by the creators of ego trip Magazine.

It includes a list of the greatest rap songs and albums each year between 1979 and 1998. These lists remain the most authoritative and comprehensive record of the rap music that mattered during hip-hop’s first 20 years.

Here, the top 40 “Greatest Singles” list from each year has been reproduced, with links to the individual song pages on Genius.

In total, the lists name 874 songs (including b-sides), all of which exist on Genius. See more discussion here.

Click the links below to jump to each year’s list: