EXCLUSIVE: Meek Mill, Ty Dolla $ign & More On Why Hip Hop/R&B Is Top Genre

Hip Hop and R&B is currently the top genre in the US. After an annual mid-year report released by Nielsen Music, results show that -- in terms of overall music consumption -- rock is no longer the No. 1 genre, and that Hip Hop and R&B has taken the top spot. The genre has pulled ahead with 25.1% of consumption in America; rock takes 23%. 

So, why, for the first time ever, is hip hop and R&B the No. 1 genre? How has it pulled ahead of every other genre out there? iHeartRadio asked a few hip hop and R&B stars -- like Meek Mill and Ty Dolla $ign -- to share their thoughts on what has made it to the top. And the common theme? Hip hop and R&B is more than just a music genre -- it's an entire culture. And one that has become very influential. Read on below.

Meek Mill: "I think hip hop and R&B is the number one genre in music [because there are] way more artists now. We got a lot of different platforms where artists can freelance and make any type of music. They're actually mixing rap with rock music, rap with pop. Other genres are not really mixing with rap as much as we're mixing rap with other genres, so I think that's a big deal. I can't give you the reason why it's selling the most, but I know rap is putting out the most music right now, by far. I probably recorded about 200 hundred songs this year myself so, you got a lot more music coming this way. And, I know a lot of artists are recording songs by the hundreds at this point."

Ty Dolla $ign: "We did it. It's the culture, it's what everybody listens to. It's hard to say but, rock is kinda dead. I love rock, I still play all the old school Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, Incubus, I can go for days, but we need some new, some new young rockers." 

DJ Envy: "Hip hop and R&B is the number one genre in the country because hip hop and R&B sets the trends. If you look at what anybody does in any genre, you know, if it's tighter jeans they follow from hip hop, if it's baggy clothes they follow from hip hop, if it's bandanas they follow from hip hop. So, it's only right that a genre that sets the trends is the genre that's on top."

Mike Classic: "It's most influential. I mean regardless of what people want to say, rock is amazing, but I feel like hip hop, just like rock, has a certain flavor and it adapts to people around the world just like any other genre. But with hip hop, it comes with the style, it comes with the clothes, it comes with sports, it comes with everything. Anything you do is hip hop, what you wear. You go out to look good. That's the culture, that's hip hop culture. So I think it's just involved in everyone's life a little bit more than anything else in the world, without people even knowing it. So, congratulations to hip hop, I'm happy to say that I'm a part of it. We did it."

Jacquees: "I think Hip Hop and R&B is the number one genre right now because of the artist thats [that are] out. I think that the artists that they have in the lanes right now [are] just killin' it, and the music is great. And I think that's why it's winning, is just simple, it's great music being made through hip hop and R&B.