“UK music has entered a recession,” reads a tweet from the Opinionated UK Twitter page, known for giving frequent breakdowns of commercial sales of UK rap artists, including first and following week sales of projects and singles. This casually summates a growing feeling among many circles that the scene has gone stagnant, that its commercial flatlining points to a bigger problem of music not sticking, fans becoming bored and artists getting repetitive. On the surface, one could be forgiven for thinking that is quite a dramatic way to make a point, but let’s dig in, because there are layers to this conversation.

British rap in 2024 has taken a commercial downward turn from previous years, especially 2022 when it claimed 12.4% of all UK album consumption according to BPI. Most recently, Headie One, one of the scene’s shining lights, peaked at No. 52 on the UK Albums Chart with his sophomore album, The Last One—a stark contrast to his chart-topping debut album, 2020’s Edna. This is despite charting at No. 4 on the UK Hip-Hop & R&B Chart and racking up 2.5k physical sales and over 50 million Spotify streams. Elsewhere, Stefflon Don reached No. 3 on the R&B charts with her Island 54 album sailing 795 physicals in its first week and generating 10 million streams, but failed to chart inside the Top 100 of the general albums chart.

From just a couple of examples among many, fans and commentators have been quick to state that the scene is currently down bad, that the music has fallen below a standard we’ve seen in abundance over the last near-decade thanks to the likes of Stormzy, Dave, Headie, Digga D, D-Block Europe and more. Hence sales dropping and diminishing chart positions. One look at these stats might cause concern, and it’s not hard to see why. Some measure the success of the scene by how well its artists are doing commercially—an indication that it’s either firing on all cylinders or shooting blanks.

But this is where fans can lose perspective because the scene, in essence, is still growing, and there are multiple ways to measure success. We’ve finally gotten to a stage where our artists are producing quality projects in abundance, albums to soundtrack any and every mood, not just those that sell records. 2024 can boast some great musical moments. Headie’s The Last One isn’t his most commercially successful but is arguably one of the best projects of the year in any genre, and among the best in his catalogue. Bashy injected a heap of substance with his phenomenal comeback album, Being Poor Is Expensive, while Ghetts, Potter Payper, Unknown T, Skrapz, Strandz, BXKS, Chiedu Oraka and namesbliss have served up fun and meaningful samples of their respective skills.

To place commercial acclaim at such a high level of importance is counterproductive to the work being laid down around the country. And look: music is subjective. It’s there to be argued and you’re entitled to place importance on different things. But fans and commentators always seem to fall into a trap when discussing UK music, inclined to make big and potentially harmful statements detached from all reality and context. It’s the same corners that will argue a genre like drill or UK R&B is dead. Such brashness helps no one, especially when commercial success isn’t the be-all and end-all. There is still a consistent conveyor belt of nourishing albums and projects dropping regularly, so we mustn’t punt this to the side when it suits agendas.

A look back at our history only strengthens the case that the scene doesn’t live and die by how well it performs on the charts. In the 2000s, the first grime era was hardly a financial powerhouse but it was a vibrant scene full of character and future legends building from the ground up. We now regard that period as the launching pad for what we see in the scene today, where new players like Central Cee (co-owner of the biggest commercial UK rap song ever in “Sprinter”) and Nemzzz (whose Do Not Disturb project has performed well with over 25k sales in the UK alone in 2024) are able to thrive and find their own wins.

If you look even further to underground British rap, plenty of stars lay in-waiting. These are the artists we should be championing to reach new commercial heights. Even if you feel the scene has been too formulaic with all-too-similar songs and features, which can be attributed to sales being down as a whole, there are a slew of musicians pushing sonic boundaries that need our support.

As for those mainstream artists that could be seen as floundering, the jury is out on whether they can reach the lofty heights again. But contributing to the culture holds just as, if not more, weight than numbers probably should. And while it’s perfectly acceptable to want major success for the scene, perspective must be factored in. Over in America, hip-hop didn’t achieve sustained commercial success until the 1990s thanks to the likes of Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac, despite first developing in 1973. Not only did this owe to amazing music being made but also to a slew of artists that spoke to virtually every audience.

The UK could definitely do with more of this variety on a mainstream level, but patience really is a virtue when it comes to building a scene. It never stops. It will hit peaks and valleys, but it will endure. The peaks and valleys are what continue to make our scene so great in the first place. So, don’t panic: it may feel like doom and gloom right now, but more commercial peaks are, surely, en route. But what everyone should be doing right now is getting back to their underground roots, and remember why they started this thing in the first place.