The debate over whether Urban AC stations should play any hip-hop (current or gold) has been waged for years. I can recall when I first started in the world of trade journalism in 1996, that programmers had widely different opinions, even back then when the majority of the urban AC listeners (the upper end of the 25-54 demo), had grown up in the ’70s, and not with rap on their radio.

Fast-forward to 2012, and there are still strongly held and varying opinions on the subject. But the world of gold hip-hop for an Urban adult audience has opened up. Many Urban ACs today embrace some gold hip-hop in their mix shows, and some even go beyond that with gold hip-hop in other dayparts. There’s also full-fledged stations and services such as KDAY Los Angeles and Cumulus Media’s Classic Hip-Hop and R&B format (where many of the songs listed below earned their highest weekly spin count), dedicated exclusively to the “old School” genre, even if they are very different and unique approaches.

Living in the New York City area, it’s not unusual for me to hear an old Biggie or Tribe Called Quest record on Emmis’ WRKS “98.7 Kiss FM” or Inner City’s WBLS, in their weekend mix shows. In fact, those kinds of artists are even expected. On the West Coast, the approach is to play more pop-leaning hip-hop artists and songs, such as you would hear on Clear Channel’s KISQ “98.1 Kiss” San Francisco or KHYL Sacramento.

When researching this story on Nielsen BDSRadio.com, I found that in general, the hip-hop titles that get the most play on Urban AC tend to be songs that found some original success on pop radio – and were from the late-’80s era of rap, the time when rap finally exploded at radio.

Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 hip-hop songs played on Urban AC radio, between January 10 and January 16, 2012, according to Nielsen BDSRadio.com:

Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock –“It Takes Two” 282 spins
72 stations on including KHYL (8x), KHHT Los Angeles (7x), WQQK Nashville and KISQ (6x)

PM Dawn –“Set Adrift On Memory Bliss” 210 spins
45 stations on including WVBE Roanoke, Va.,(5x), WWIN Baltimore, WKSP and WWDM Columbia, S.C., (4x)

Heavy D & the Boyz – “Now That We Found Love” 197 spins
65 stations on including WDMK Detroit, and WBAV Charlotte

Salt-N-Pepa – “Push It” 171 Spins
54 stations on including KHYL (10x), KISQ, and KHLR Little Rock (6x)

Chubb Rock – “Treat em Right” 137 Spins
68 stations on including WRNB Philadelphia (4x), WZAK Cleveland, WFXC Raleigh, and WJMR Milwaukee (3x)

Outkast – “The Way You Move” 131 spins
43 stations on including WFUN St. Louis (9x), WSOL Jacksonville (8x), and the Touch (5x)

LL Cool J – “Round The Way Girl” 130 spins
49 stations on including WYLD New Orleans (5x), WBLS New York, WMJM Louisville, WKSA Norfolk, WROU Dayton, and WLVH Savannah (4x)

Sugar Hill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight” 123 spins
27 stations on including KISQ (10x), KHHT (9x), and KHYL (8x)

Digital Underground – “The Humpty Dance” 122 spins
53 stations on including WTYB Savannah (6x), and KMJK Kansas City (3x)

Doug E. Fresh – “The Show” 120 spins
56 stations on including WKSA, WKSP, WDAS Philadelphia, WRNB, KMJM, WSOL, and WKJS Richmond (3x)

**Other gold hip-hop titles showing up in the top 500 most played songs on Urban AC were: Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story,” Naughty By Nature’s “O.P.P.,” and Wreckx-N-Effect’s “New Jack Swing.”


And for one PD’s take on how he incorporates classic Hip-Hop into his Urban AC programming, click here.