Over the past two decades, rap has become increasingly popular in France. We all know that apart from a rapper's looks, his music is also rated by his lyrics and rhymes. Nowadays, rap is no longer defined as music from the suburbs; it's now on everyone's playlist. In this article, we list the 10 best French rappers of 2023. Before we begin, we'd like to point out that the rankings are based on the number of albums sold by the singer in his or her career.
N°1- Jul
Known as Jul, Julien Mari was born in Marseille on January 14, 1990. His heyday was explained by the release of his debut album "Dans ma paranoïa", preceded by a single "Sort le cross volé" in 2013. From the outset, Jul has worked with the Liga One Industry label, which has set him apart from other artists, and his albums have always been a success. elected platinum discs. Jul is the French rapper who the most gold records.
With over 375 million streamsIn 2023, he topped Spotify's list of the most streamed urban artists. His hit "Bande organisée" has been a hit on social networks, with 498 million views on YouTube at the time of writing. Over his ten-year career, Jul has sold over 7 million albums.
N°2 - PLK
Mathieu Pruski aka PLK grew up in Paris, in the 14ᵉ arrondissement. From an early age, he was known as "petit polak ," referring to his Polish origins. PLK is the abbreviation of polak and the name he kept for his career as a rapper.
PLK made its mark with its album "Polak", which recorded 237,008 sales equivalents.. In 2023, he passed the 1,000,000 mark in career album sales. His album 2069′, released in April 2023, recorded more than 55,000 sales equivalents. He has over 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
N°3 - Ninho
Ninho, a challenge artist, is in second place with 333 million streamss. He currently dominates the French rap market. In total, he has sold 2,980,000 albums.
He has a total of 291 certifications. He is the first French rapper to reach the milestone of 100 golden singles. On Spotify alone, Ninho's monthly listenership exceeds 6,100,000.
N°4 - NLP
N.O.S and Ademothe mysterious duo, absent for 4 years, are still making their mark, selling over 220,000 copies in 2023. "Que La Famille", there pPNL's first mixtape also continued to attract listeners, selling 16,074 units. Over all PNL albums, they record 2,510,000 sales.
The brothers' albums totalled more than 220,000 equivalent sales in 2023, including :
- 98 239: Two Brothers;
- 68 879: In Legend ;
- 37 159: Chico World ;
- 16 074: Que La Famille.
N°5 - Niska
Raised in the Essonne region of France, the 29-year-old artist sold over 1 million albums. His first 3 clips went around the world, including "Freestyle PSG" with over 100 million views.
Blaise Matuidi's celebrations were choreographed by Niska every time he scored a goal. His collaboration with Maître Gims was also a real springboard for him. On the solo front, he has "Charo Life", released last September and already approaching 300,000 sales. Of all the albums he has already released, he has sold 1,370,000.
N°6 - Djadja and Dinaz
These two inseparable childhood friends come in at number 6 in our ranking, having made a smashing entry onto the cloud rap scene in the mid-2010s. They mixed unfiltered tales of neighborhoods with the art of buzz. In all, they recorded 1,095,000 sales.
With their album "On s'promet", they exceed the bar of 200,000 sales. They obtained 18 certifications. Their Alpha video, the album's eponymous track, has over 4 million views on YouTube.
N°7 - Tiakola
The Congolese-born artist has created a style that appeals to many. He has taken the French rap movement by storm. He collaborated with Gazo, and their duo album, released on December 1, 2023, recorded stratospheric figures right from the start. Within 24 hours of its release, "La Mélo est gangx" had been streamed over 4.4 million times on Spotify.
N°8 - Gazo
The king of French Drill has carved out a place for himself among the best rappers in France. From crime to rap, he has come a long way.
Gazo shone throughout 2023 with a number of collaborations that never ceased to dominate the French charts. His mixtape KMT (2022), baptized triple platinum, recorded almost 358,000 copies sold.
N°9 - Hamza
Real name Hamza Al-Farissi, Hamza spent his childhood in the Brussels-Capital region. He marked his rap debut at just 19, with his mixtape "Recto Verso" released in 2013.
With "Sincèrement", he directed 40,458 sales in just 7 days, including :
- 10,271 physical sales ;
- 67 download sales ;
- 30,120 streaming sales.
N°10 - Werenoi
Born on January 30, 1994, Werenoi unveils its first tracks in early 2021. It wasn't until June 2022 that he delivered his first project, the EP Telegram which went gold in less than a year.
The artist from Montreuil (93) recorded 11,509 sales in the first week of release of Télégram 2, available on September 22, 2023. This is his second project of 2023, following on fromalbum Carré. With this album, he surprised everyone by finishing first in the top record sales in 2023.
As every year, competition on the French rap scene is fierce. Rappers continue to push the envelope, delivering top-quality sounds to their fans. Which French rapper made the biggest impression on you in 2023? And do you know who the founder of rap ?
Thanks
Dadju is in music for which other country? Why is his name not in the list and Gims too?
Hello, this is a list made by an editor who took the figures and the information, for Gims he is less a rapper than others currently and has become more of an "Author-composer-performer"
apparently it must be a good ranking