Hip-Hop and RnB top as the biggest selling genres of 2017. Surpass Rock for the first time ever

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Nielson Soundscan recently released their official mid-year stats-figures for 2017, and RnB/Hip-Hop seems to be breaking the mold like never before.

For the first time since Nielson started measuring and scanning music, Rock has been dethroned from the top spot as the biggest selling genre - in terms of overall music consumption through all formats. The place is now taken up by the combined genres of Hip-Hop and RnB - both of which have contributed towards raking in the biggest numbers of the year so far.

The combined sales of the two genres constituted 25.1% of the total music consumption of the year so far, while Rock came second with 23%.

The rise in the combined consumption of the two similar genres are contributed by the surge on online streaming where RnB and Hip-Hop take the lead, while the physical album sales market is still dominated by Rock which takes upto 40% of the overall sales in all genres.

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With names like Drake, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, May J Blige, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj among several others continuing to blend the genres of RnB and Hip-Hop and constituting majority of the Top 20 hits delivered this year - there should be a steady climb for the two genres for the rest of the year, helping it stay atop.

Thoughts?