10 Trends That Defined 2018

...and Nine Other Trends That Defined the Year in Music

Hip-hop’s new generation takes over, rock still rules the road, albums don’t have staying power like they used to, and much more.

THE YEAR IN HIP-HOP made one thing blindingly clear: The old guard is, well, old. Kanye West executive-produced five albums over the summer, but it took a Lil Pump feature to get him any traction on streaming services. Nicki Minaj needed a duet with embattled rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine to make any real noise. The generation rushing to fill the vacuum at rap’s top

isn’t always getting there on artistic merit — see the empty gestures masquerading as scintillation on Minaj and 6ix9ine’s hit “Fefe,” or Post Malone’s featherweight blockbuster Beerbongs & Bentleys — but, more often than not, the new class made the case that the genre was due for a change. Travis Scott’s Astroworld was a grand, sweeping album that finally got him out of the long shadow of his mentor, West; Noname and Tierra Whack produced thrilling breakthroughs without following anyone else’s rules; and Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy was a genuine, surprising tour de force that suggested a long career ahead. (Swizz Beatz, meanwhile, made likely the best album of his career with Poison precisely because he didn’t bother competing for oxygen with younger stars — it’s an exercise in aging gracefully.) The game has changed, and it’s for the better.

BRENDAN KLINKENBERG