Lists
What a difference 10 years can make. That was the last time Billboard tackled the monumental feat of ranking the top R&B artists, dating back to the ‘50s. Michael Jackson, whose grew from his R&B roots to capture the King of Pop crown, ruled over that 2015 tally. Now as the music industry and fans celebrate Black Music Month 2025, Billboard is picking up the “best of all time” gauntlet once again.
Expanding from 35 to 75 entries and substituting artists with singers, this latest iteration begins its rollout with today’s (June 16) reveal of the singers ranked 75-51. The unveiling will continue over the next several days — Nos. 50-26 followed by Nos. 26-11 — with the curtain raising on Juneteenth (June 19) to reveal the top 10 honorees.
Staff discussions on how to go about determining the entries and rankings were, to say the least, heated. Helping to fuel these illuminating and sometimes raucous discourses were generational debates over old school vs. new school. At the same time, “Mount Rushmore” debates were also raging on the social media front as fans weighed in on which R&B artists — like Jackson, Chris Brown, Luther Vandross, R. Kelly and Usher — truly deserve to have their images carved in stone for all time.
In the end, Billboard staffers agreed on the following criteria: vocal prowess, body of work, career longevity, industry achievements, game-changing influence and enduring generational/cultural impact. While some singers who made the list are also known for their lyrical skills, songwriting wasn’t a major deciding factor in this instance. And legendary singers best known for fronting groups versus their solo work were not included — which means a ranking of the best R&B groups of all time is no doubt in the offing.
In the meantime, any best-of compilation automatically invites naysayers to the party. As these 75 singers are revealed, the expectant clamor will rise in response to our staff’s effrontery in deciding who’s now on or off the list, who’s risen or been dropped or who still has never made this latest version or the 2015 ranking.
More crucial, however, is understanding a chief intention behind Billboard’s 75 Best R&B Singers of All Time. It’s a teachable moment at a time when Black history, culture and its achievements are being erased or revised across the board. Black Music Month originated in 1979 via the efforts of the observance’s co-founders Dyana Williams, Kenneth Gamble and Ed Wright. And each year it drives home an insightful comment made by author/activist Maya Angelou: “You can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been.”
So here’s to the rich past and the unlimited future of the multifaceted jewel that is R&B.
75. Ruth Brown
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
For many artists, there is something even more powerful than filling stadiums, pulling all-nighters in recording studios, topping charts, or receiving awards: being a father. On Father’s Day 2025, celebrated this Sunday (June 15), we recognize not the touring singer or the hitmaker, but the man behind the microphone. He who lovingly combs his daughter’s […]
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It’s officially Lil Wayne week. Weezy is set to return with the sixth installment of arguably rap’s most decorated album series with Tha Carter VI arriving on Friday (June 6).
Seven years after C5, Wayne hopes to make more history and add to his decorated legacy. The project’s slated to be another star-studded affair with a range of rumored features from Miley Cyrus, Bono, MGK, Wyclef Jean, Andrea Bocelli and more.
Three decades into a hall-of-fame career, Lil Wayne changed the aesthetic of rappers and the genre’s sound in the 21st century. Take a look at all the “Lil”s in the rap game, the tattoos and dreadlocks, that can be attributed to Weezy’s influence. His intoxicating Auto-Tune-laced rhymes and witty punchlines that seemingly never end ushered in a new archetype of rapper.
“Before I stepped into music, everyone looked a certain way and everyone did a certain thing. Look at me. Now look at music. They all look like me,” he said in 2020. “I love it.”
At the end of every concert, Lil Wayne expresses gratitude to his fans, saying, “I ain’t s–t without you.” But Weezy wouldn’t but the artist he is without Tha Carter series—a staple in his discography and an artifact of hip-hop history. “Welcome back hip-hop, I saved your life,” he raps on Tha Carter 3’s “Dr. Carter.”
Lil Wayne’s prime heading into C3 circa ‘07-’08 was something you had to see to believe. In a genre with goliaths like Kanye West, Jay-Z and Eminem dominating, Weezy stood tall at 5’5”, in a league of his own. At times, his greatness was impossible to measure through sheer commercial numbers, with the droves of leaks and mixtape files being shared online between fans in a pre-streaming world.
“You scare me, man, every time you spit,” Ye told Wayne on stage at the 2008 BET Awards while referring to Weezy as his “fiercest competition.”
The New Orleans rap deity will take a bow and a well-deserved victory lap on Friday night when he celebrates Tha Carter VI’s arrival with his first headlining solo show at Madison Square Garden. How is that possible?
Billboard sifted through all five installments of Tha Carter and attempted to do the impossible, filing down a list to the 10 best tracks from the acclaimed series. (And a quick honorable mention to “Mirror,” “This is the Carter,” “I Miss My Dawgs,” “Got Money,” “Mona Lisa,” “Fly In” and “Comfortable.”)
“Tha Mobb”
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With RuPaul’s Drag Race bringing back their Rate-a-Queen system for season 17, Billboard decided to rate each of the new queens every week based on their performance. Below, we look at the final main stage challenge of the season to see who made the cut for the finale. Spoilers ahead for episode 14. Fourteen episodes […]