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Listed below are Nielsen's 10 most popular artists of 2018, ranked by total album-equivalent consumption: 10. Taylor Swift Total album-equivalent consumption: 1,068,000 Album sales: 285,000 Digital songs: 986,000 Streaming on-demand audio: 1,027,226,000 9. Eminem Total album-equivalent consumption: 1,081,000 Album sales: 302,000 Digital songs: 917,000 Streaming on-demand audio: 1,031,565,000  8. The Weeknd Total album-equivalent consumption: 1,104,000 Album sales: 178,000 Digital songs: 500,000 Streaming on-demand audio: 1,314,121,000 7. Kendrick Lamar Total album-equivalent consumption: 1,264,000 Album sales: 228,000 Digital songs: 864,000 Streaming on-demand audio: 1,424,425,000 6. Ed Sheeran Total album-equivalent consumption: 1,267,000 Album sales: 338,000 Digital songs: 1,926,000 Streaming on-demand audio: 1,103,995,000 5. J. Cole Total album-equivalent consumption: 1,339,000 Album sales: 288,000 Digital songs: 303,000

2018 has been quite a triumphant year for Canadian-American rapper Drake - dominating Billboard charts, streaming services, and expectedly leading the nominations for the 2018 BET Hip Hop Awards with 11 nominations. Drizzy is nominated in categories like MVP of the Year, Album of the Year, Lyricist of the Year, and two nominations for Best Hip Hop Video and Single of the Year. Coming second in nominations is last year's ceremony's biggest winner Cardi B with 10 nominations. Childish Gambino follows with six nominations, then Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar, at five nominations each. BlocBoy JB, late rapper XXXTentacion, Rich the Kid, Lil Baby AND Juice WRLD feature in this year's Best New Hip Hop Artist category. The awards ceremony will be held at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater (for the second consecutive year) on October 6, 2018 . The awards ceremony will be aired by BET Networks on October 16, 2018 . The complete list of nominees is thus: B

Geneva Ayala - XXXTentacion's ex-girlfriend - broke her silence on Tuesday, June 19, following X's death on Monday. Ayala uploaded a drawing of two people, seemingly X and herself, and captioned it, " i want to scream at the top of my lungs until i can't then keep screaming. i don't want to believe this. no one knows. the shit. i feel. for you. " She posted a short clip on her Instagram, and wrote, " It isn't real. Come back. " She wrote on Twitter, " I  know y’all don’t f**k w me, but this isn’t about me. Just please stop tagging me in disrespectful threads and arguments. I honestly don’t care for any of the hype. I lost someone close to me. leave me alone. "  She found it disgusting that people focused on the abuse she allegedly suffered from the rapper, as she said in another tweet," It’s disgusting that people are speaking for me. I don’t care if no one cared about me however many months ago, I didn’t lose my life. he did

photo credit: Billboard Rapper XXXTentacion's sensational blooming musical career came to brutal end on Monday June 18. XXX, whose real name is Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was shot by at least one of two armed suspects as he left a motorcycle dealership in South Florida. As he was leaving the motorcycle dealer, an armed masked man ran up to his car and shot him. The assailant and his partner fled in a black Dodge Journey after shooting XXX. Investigators report the young rapper was driving a black BMW after leaving RIVA Motorsports. Witnesses told police officers a Louis Vuitton bag was taken from XXX's vehicle. The rapper was rushed - in a comatose state - in an ambulance to Broward Health North at 1:35 p.m. According to a report by TMZ, XXXTentacion was pronounced dead by Broward County Sheriff's Department at 2:40 p.m.  XXXTentaacion's car at the crime scene Renowned rappers J. Cole and Kanye West among thousands of fans reacted quickly to the tragic news on so