Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
in the United States.
The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of
popular musicPopular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
songs in
urbanAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
, or primarily
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
,
rhythm and bluesRhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
,
doo-wopThe name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
,
soulSoul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and
funkFunk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, it is today dominated by
contemporary R&BContemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
and
hip hopHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. It lists the most popular R&B and hip hop titles as follows:
| Date range | Title |
| October 1942 – February 1945 |
The Harlem Hit Parade |
| February 1945 – June 1949 |
Race Records |
| June 1949 – October 1958 |
Rhythm & Blues Records (two or three separate charts—see below) |
| October 1958 – November 1963 |
Hot R&B Sides |
| November 1963 – January 1965 |
No chart published (see below) |
| January 1965 – August 1969 |
Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles |
| August 1969 – July 1973 |
Best Selling Soul Singles |
| July 1973 – June 1982 |
Hot Soul Singles |
| June 1982 – October 1990 |
Hot Black Singles |
| October 1990 – 1999 |
Hot R&B Singles |
| 1999–2005 |
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks |
| 2005–present |
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs |
| 2009–present |
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard.com only) |
Between 1948 and 1955, there were separate charts published for Best Sellers and Juke Box plays, and in 1955 a third chart was added, the Jockeys chart based on radio airplay. These three charts were consolidated into a single R&B chart in October 1958.
From November 30, 1963, to January 23, 1965, there was no Billboard R&B singles charts. The chart was discontinued in late
1963-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles start a 5-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do".*January 4 – At Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, Dalida receives a Juke Box Global Oscar for the year's most-played artist on juke boxes....
when
Billboard determined it unnecessary because that there was so much crossover of titles between the R&B and pop charts in the light of the rise of Motown. The chart was reinstated in early 1965 when differences in musical tastes of the two audiences, caused in part by the
British InvasionThe British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
in 1964, were deemed sufficient to revive it.
On December 11, 1999,
Billboard modified the chart's title to
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and changed it again in 2005 to
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Following an update to the billboard.com website in 2009, the chart name was slightly modified to
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In its print edition and business site, billboard.biz, the name remains Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Chart statistics and other facts
- Artists with the most number-one Hot R&B hits:
- 1. Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
– 20
- 2. Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
– 19
- 3. Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
– 18
- 4. James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
– 17
- 5. Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
– 16
- 7. Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
– 13 (tie)
- 7. Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
– 13 (tie)
- 9. R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
– 11 (tie)
- 9. Usher
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
– 11 (tie)
- 10. Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
- 5 (tie)
- Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
, Freddie JacksonFrederick Anthony "Freddie" Jackson is an American soul singer. He was an important figure in R&B during the 1980s and early 1990s...
, Gladys Knight & the PipsGladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...
, Kool & the GangKool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
, and The O'JaysThe O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1963 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert , Walter Williams , William Powell , Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005...
each have ten No. 1 hits a piece.
- Joe Liggins
Joe Liggins was an American R&B, jazz and blues pianist, who was the frontman in the 1940s and 1950s with the band, Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers....
' "The Honeydripper"The Honeydripper " is an R&B song by Joe Liggins which topped the US Billboard R&B chart for 18 weeks, from September 1945 to January 1946....
" (1945) and Louis JordanLouis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie"Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is a popular song first recorded in January 1946 by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five. It topped the R&B charts for 18 weeks from August 1946, a record only equalled by one other hit, "The Honeydripper"...
" (1946) all hold the record for the longest stay at the top of the charts: eighteen weeks.
- Among more recent releases, Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
's "Be Without You"Be Without You" is an R&B song written by American singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, Johnta Austin, Bryan Michael Cox, and Jason Perry for Blige's seventh studio album The Breakthrough. It was released as the album's lead single in late 2005. It was produced by Cox and released as the album's first...
" (2006) has spent the longest time at number one: fifteen weeks. Overall it spent 75 weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, surpassing the 71-week run of "You Make Me Wanna"You Make Me Wanna..." is a song by American recording artist Usher. It was released by LaFace Records and Arista Records as the lead single from Usher's second studio album, My Way on August 5, 1997. "You Make Me Wanna..." was written by Usher along with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, who both...
" by Usher for most weeks on the chart.
- "Step in the Name of Love"
"Step in the Name of Love" is the title of a hit song by R&B singer R. Kelly. Taken from the 2003 album Chocolate Factory, the song became the tenth single from Kelly to reach #1 on the R&B chart, particularly on the strength of the song's remix. It also peaked at number nine on the pop charts...
by R. Kelly took 43 weeks to reach number one on the chart, the longest trip to number one in the chart's history.
- "God In Me"
"God in Me" is the second single released for Grammy Award-winning contemporary gospel group Mary Mary's fourth studio album The Sound, and featured Kierra Sheard. The single was written and produced by both Mary Mary and producer Warryn Campbell, husband of member Erica Campbell...
by Mary MaryMary Mary is an American gospel music duo, consisting of sisters Erica Atkins-Campbell and Tina Atkins-Campbell . The duo are often credited along with Kirk Franklin for broadening the fan base of urban contemporary gospel in the 2000s by introducing elements of soul music, hip hop, funk and jazz...
took 42 weeks to reach the top ten of the chart, the longest trip to the top ten in the history of the chart.
- "Be Without You," "God in Me," "You Make Me Wanna," and "Step in the Name of Love" are the only songs to spend 70 weeks or more on the chart.
- Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
and Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
holds the record of most Top 5 entries from one album with six singles: ("What Have You Done For Me Lately," "Nasty," "Control," "When I Think of You" "Let's Wait Awhile," and "The Pleasure Principle") from her ControlControl is the third studio album by American recording artist Janet Jackson, released on February 6, 1986 by A&M Records. Her collaborations with songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis resulted in an unconventional sound: a fusion of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap vocals,...
album, ("Miss You Much" "Rhythm Nation" "Escapade" "Alright" "Come Back to Me" and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" from her Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 album and ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror," "Another Part of Me," and "Smooth Criminal") from his Bad album
Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles
The Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles is a chart composed of 25 positions that represent songs that are making progress to chart on the main R&B/hip-hop chart. Many times, singles halt their progress at this chart and never debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart can also be seen as a 25 position addendum to the chart, but the chart only represents the 25 songs below position #100 that have not yet appeared on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
See also
- List of number-one R&B hits (United States)
- Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
- Hip-hop music
- Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart is the airplay component chart of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. It is not the R&B subset of The Hot 100 Airplay, but rather a separate panel of R&B stations in urban markets used for the R&B/Hip-Hop chart...
- List of Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
External links