Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular rhythm and blues and hip-hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by Billboard. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity.

The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul, and funk, it is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip hop. Since its inception, the chart has changed its name many times in attempts to accurately reflect the industry at the time.

History

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 when Billboard determined it unnecessary because that there was so much crossover of titles between the R&B and pop charts in light of the rise of Motown. The chart was reinstated with the issue dated January 30, 1965, as "Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles" when differences in musical tastes of the two audiences, caused in part by the British Invasion in 1964, were deemed sufficient to revive it.^{[citation needed]}

Beginning August 23, 1969, the rhythm and blues was replaced in favor of "soul", and the chart was renamed to "Best Selling Soul Singles". The move was made by a Billboard editorial decision that the term "soul" more accurately accounted for the "broad range of song and instrumental material which derives from the musical genius of the black American". In late June 1982, the chart was renamed again, this time to "Black Singles" because the music that African-Americans were buying and listening to had a "greater stylistic variety than the soul sound" of the early 1970s. Black was deemed an acceptable term to encompass pop, funk, and early rap music popular in urban communities.

R&B returned to the name of the chart in 1990, and hip hop was introduced to the title in the issue dated December 11, 1999, when Billboard changed the name to "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks" to recognize the influence and relationship of hip hop to the genre. That lengthy title was shorted to Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs on April 30, 2005. The chart's methodology was changed starting with the October 20, 2012, issue to match that of the Billboard Hot 100, incorporating digital downloads and streaming data and combining it with airplay of R&B and hip-hop songs across all radio formats to determine song position.

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 above)
October 1958 – November 1963	Hot R&B Sides
November 1963 – January 1965	No chart published (see above)
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 – January 1999	Hot R&B Singles
January 1999 – December 1999	Hot R&B Singles & Tracks
December 1999 – April 2005	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
April 2005 – present	Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Chart statistics

Artists with the most number-one hits

1. Aretha Franklin – 20 (tie)

1. Stevie Wonder – 20 (tie)

3. Louis Jordan – 18

4. James Brown – 17

5. Janet Jackson – 16

6. The Temptations - 14

7. Michael Jackson – 13 (tie)

7. Marvin Gaye – 13 (tie)

9. Usher – 12

9. R. Kelly – 12

10. Ray Charles - 11

Songs with most weeks at number one

• 18 Weeks

Joe Liggins - "The Honeydripper" (1944)

Louis Jordan - "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" (1946)

• 15 Weeks

Mary J. Blige - "Be Without You" (2006)

• 14 Weeks

Deborah Cox - "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" (1998-1999)

Mariah Carey - "We Belong Together" (2005)

Jamie Foxx ft. T-Pain - "Blame It" (2009)

Maxwell - "Pretty Wings" (2009)

Rihanna - "Diamonds" (2012-2013)

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz - "Thrift Shop" (2013)

• 13 Weeks

Trey Songz - "Can't Be Friends" (2010-2011)

• 12 Weeks

R. Kelly - "Bump N' Grind" (1994)

Beyoncé - "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008-2009)

Alicia Keys - "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)" (2010)

• 11 Weeks

Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" (1992-1993)

Usher - "You Make Me Wanna..." (1997)

Mario - "Let Me Love You" (2005)

DJ Khaled ft. Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne - "I'm On One" (2011)

Usher - "Climax" (2012)

Songs with most weeks on the chart

• 76 weeks - "God In Me" - Mary Mary (2009)
• 75 weeks – "Be Without You" - Mary J. Blige (2005)
• 73 weeks – "On the Ocean" - K'Jon (2009)
• 71 weeks - "You Make Me Wanna..." - Usher (1997), "There Goes My Baby" - Usher (2010)
• 70 weeks - "Step in the Name of Love" - R. Kelly (2003)
• 59 weeks - "Pretty Wings" - Maxwell (2009), "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)" - Alicia Keys (2010)
• 57 weeks - "Love on Top" - Beyoncé (2011)
• 56 weeks - "Until the End of Time" - Justin Timberlake & Beyoncé (2008)
• 55 weeks - "Heaven Sent" - Keyshia Cole (2008), "Drank in My Cup" - Kirko Bangz (2011) Miguel - Adorn (2012)
• 54 weeks - "Stay" - Tyrese (2011)
• 52 weeks - "We Belong Together" - Mariah Carey (2005), "Up!" - LoveRance Feat. IamSu & Skipper or 50 Cent (2011), "Thinkin Bout You" - Frank Ocean (2013)

Other achievements

• Usher is the only artist to have two songs spend 11 or more weeks at number one.
• Joe Liggins' "The Honeydripper" (1945) and Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" (1946) both hold the record for the longest stay at the top of the chart: eighteen weeks.
• Among more recent releases, Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" (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" by Usher for most weeks on the chart.
• "Step in the Name of Love" 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" by Mary Mary 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," "On the Ocean" (K'Jon), "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 and Michael Jackson hold 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 Control 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)
• Drake has the most number-one hits for a rapper in the chart's history with 10.
• Beyoncé has the most top 10 songs among female artists since 2000 with 19. Alicia Keys (the charts artist of the 2000s decade) is second with 15 top 10s in that time span.

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 rhythm and blues hits (United States)
• Rhythm and blues
• Hip-hop music
• Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay

External links

• Current Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart