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Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Mariah Carey, and more

For many decades, going as far back as the 1940s, artists from the world of R&B couldn’t really claim mainstream success until they’d crossed over to Top 40 radio and the pop charts. This century, it often feels more like the pop world is crossing over to R&B. The genre has never been more successful, relevant, or ambitious. Many of this century’s epochal blockbuster albums are R&B records: from Usher’s 10-times platinum Confessions, to Beyonce’s Lemonade, to Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi, to Rihanna’s Anti. R&B hits omnivorously dominate the Top 10, often leaving room for little else. Aesthetically, it’s a sound that contains multitudes — there’s the organic traditionalism of neo-soul acts like Bilal, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu, and the new piano-driven classicism of Alicia Keys and John Legend, to the futurism of Janelle Monáe, the goth moodiness of the Weeknd, the unapologetic realness of Monica and SZA, the trap soul of Bryson Tiller, and much more. Hip-hop and R&B, which began to merge in the Nineties, have enjoyed a symbiotic cohabitation, so much so that in December 1999, Billboard changed the name of its R&B chart to the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. You can hear that in many of the songs that made this list, including entrants from Outkast, Pharrell, and Drake. R&B and the indie-music underground used to exist on different planets; today innovators like Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino, and Solange are beloved by the mass audience and the hipsterati alike. Similarly, the music’s most towering figures, such as Beyoncé and Rihanna, can maintain their status as maga-stars without sacrificing their identity as R&B royalty, striking a balance that was nearly impossible to attain for Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston, even in their heydays. Solange exemplified that sense of aesthetic pride and self-assurance in 2013 when she famously tweeted in defense of the “culture of R&B,” a concept that would’ve seemed odd in the mainstream of 1995 or 1985. Through all these musical variants, what’s made R&B great in this era has been what’s made it great in every era: incredible singers putting their stamp on unforgettable songs. To make our list of the 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century, Rolling Stone convened a panel of staffers and critics with deep knowledge of the genre. We spent less time debating what R&B was then letting our taste guide us to the music we couldn’t live without, from massive hits to lesser-known gems. We’ve included a playlist to help tell the story, and set the mood. We hope you have as much fun listening to it as we did making it. “It’s official right now: In four minutes or less, we’re gonna crown ‘em all,” Raheem DeVaughn declares at the outset of this stretched-out ode to the feminine. “Woman,” from 2008, clocks in a little bit over that mark, but that can easily be excused by how much the singer-songwriter wants to praise the special, beautiful, strong, grown figure at this song’s center — his full-throated admiration is so divine that “Woman” turns into a full-on hymn as it fades out . — M. Johnston Designed to be the Jackson 5 of the 21st century, boy band B2K made a huge splash with Black preteen and teenage girls thanks to their hit “Bump, Bump, Bump.” Produced by Diddy, the song featured quintessential early 2000s staples such as the producer’s signature intro and ad-libs, unnecessary vocal runs from singer Omarion (who was trying to replicate writer R. Kelly’s demo), and the kind of “clubby” track that was popular at the time. “Bump, Bump, Bump” reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week and was B2K’s second-to-last Top 40 hit before they disbanded in 2004. — K.T. In a decade when too many R&B innovators struggled to crack the pop charts, Ryan Leslie stood out. A multi-talented songwriter and producer who famously masterminded Cassie’s memorable debut and was an early YouTube star, he earned credits with the likes of Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige. Yet his solo work sold moderately, even as his single “Addiction” became a cult classic sampled by Clipse and Wiz Khalifa. The track finds RLS chilling amidst a flurry of electronic keyboards like a new-gen Puff Daddy as he lavishes praise on a lover. “It started out with a kiss/I’m never expecting this,” he sings in falsetto. “Addiction” feels clubby and fresh, the kind of jam that fits on any dance floor, mainstream appeal or not . — M.R. “Makin’ Good Love” is a sultry lullaby that fully encapsulates the direction R&B would be heading in the late Nineties and early 21st century. With the rise of acts such as Jodeci and Tank, R&B love songs became more explicit, and this single from Avant’s sophomore album, Ecstasy , was a prime example of that trend. With lyrics such as “I got your legs spread all over the bed/Hands clenched in the sheets,” “Makin’ Good Love” is an early entry into the space artists like Chris Brown and Trey Songz would inhabit. — K.T. Afrobeats star Tems looks to a higher power to Read more