Spotify playlist: The history of grime in 100 tracks

It's taken a while, but grime is finally getting the widespread credit it deserves. Skepta is selling out 10,000-capacity arenas and Stormzy shot to number one with no major label support whatsoever.

The genre's soaring popularity is evident in recent stats that show album sales have risen by over 100 per cent since 2016.

Mainstream success for grime artists isn't anything new, though. Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Tinchy Stryder and Chip (formerly Chipmunk) have all tasted the big time, but it doesn't take a grime aficionado to listen to the music they did it with and realise they had to disown the sound to do so.

Meridian Dan took it back to old school in 2014 when he released 'German Whip', introducing a whole new generation to the genre that grew out of UK garage in the early '00s. Then Skepta and JME released 'That's Not Me', accompanied by an oh-so-grime DIY video, and that was that.

15 years on from the earliest grime instrumentals, we reckon it's time to give a little history lesson on the genre.

Our 100-track playlist spans from Wiley's 'Morgue' and Youngstar's 'Pulse X' instrumentals to bangers from the likes of Stormzy, Novelist and AJ Tracey. In between you'll find some classics from legendary video station Channel U and off-kilter productions by the likes of Logos and Mumdance.

Note: Remember some of grime's tastiest cuts were only released on vinyl, so don't blame us for anything that's not on Spotify

[Photo: Simon Wheatley]

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, you might see him around wearing his Wiley T-shirt