.rap
Is .rap a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .rap in its own right, as of 7 October 2026. Automattic named .rap as the replacement string of its .jazz application.
A short, punchy music-genre address that fans and small artists may grab, but serious acts build their identity elsewhere.
rappers, producers, small labels, fan sites and hip-hop media outlets wanting a genre-flavoured address, plus hobbyists and domainers picking up artist names and slang
No applications recorded for this TLD yet.
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet almost exactly: a subculture's own name sold back to that subculture, so it only works if artists, labels and fans treat the genre word as their primary identity rather than a merch-tier vanity label.
The parent category noun aimed at the same buyers (performers, labels, fans), but it bets on breadth and generic authority rather than on tribal self-identification by one scene.
Also an identity word performers would put their name on in the same market, but it names the commercial unit (a role) rather than a genre or culture, so it needs different things to be true.
What a .rap domain is
.rap is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Culture. Nobody has applied for .rap in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .rap domain extension real yet?
.rap is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .rap domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .rap name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .rap was .hiphop, delegated on 15 May 2014.
Is .rap a real TLD?
Not yet. .rap is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .rap as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Automattic · first recordedICANN
“KKWT2621T-T70353 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · replacement string of .jazz”ICANN
“KKWT2621T-T78272 · Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC · replacement string of .craft · Deactivated LFGL2683T-T15033 · Link Freedom Group Ltd · primary · contention set 2026-81 RTIS2674T-T99384 · Radix Technologies Inc SEZC · replacement string of .mind · Deactivated VC2665T-T98880 · Vanity Check, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-81”ICANN
- Band chosen: 10-29 (vanity/narrow). The string is short, globally understood, and tied to one of the largest music cultures, so memorability is real and some artists, producers, fan sites and media outlets could plausibly use a .rap address over the next 5 years. But by analogy (flagged as analogy) with earlier genre and music-adjacent TLDs such as .hiphop, .band, .dj and .rocks, genre strings have drawn modest registration volumes and little sustained primary-identity use; established artists anchor their identity on streaming platforms, social handles and .com, and the aftermarket for genre TLDs has been thin. It is not in the 30-49 band because there is no evidence, even by analogy, of volume- or price-driven registration demand for a genre word of this kind; the closest analogue (.hiphop) reads as a narrow vanity space rather than a usable-but-limited namespace. It is above the 1-9 band because the word is a strong, recognisable cultural noun with real hobbyist, fan and small-label appeal, and secondary meanings of 'rap' (verb, slang) add some vanity and short-name use. Applicant facts on record: Automattic (legal name Knock Knock WHOIS There, LLC) holds a standard application for .rap as a replacement string for .jazz; an operator with existing web-publishing distribution could modestly help adoption, which is why the score sits in the upper half of the band rather than at the floor. Exact registration figures for the analogue TLDs are unknown here and are not asserted. Main market uncertainty: whether hip-hop's scale as a culture translates into any meaningful web-address demand at all, given the genre's identity lives mostly on platforms rather than domains.