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Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.

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, rock and roll, doo wop, soul, and funk, it is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip-hop. It lists the most popular R&B and hip-hop songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stations and sales in urban record stores.

History

The chart was officially titled as follows^[1] :-

Oct 1942 - Feb 1945 The Harlem Hit Parade

Feb 1945 - Jun 1949 Race Records

Jun 1949 - Oct 1958 Rhythm & Blues Records (two or three separate charts - see below)

Oct 1958 - Nov 1963 Hot R&B Sides

Nov 1963 - Jan 1965 No chart published (see below)

Jan 1965 - Aug 1969 Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles

Aug 1969 - Jul 1973 Best Selling Soul Singles

Jul 1973 - Jun 1982 Hot Soul Singles

Jun 1982 - Oct 1990 Hot Black Singles

Oct 1990 - 1998 Hot R&B Singles

1998 - 2005 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks

2005 - Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

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 in the light of the rise of Motown and the perceived convergence of tastes of African American and European-American radio and record buying audiences, but reinstated the chart in early 1965 when differences in musical tastes of the two audiences (thanks in part to the British Invasion in 1964) were sufficient to revive it.

The chart's title was modified to Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks when, like the Hot 100, airplay-only tracks (album tracks) were allowed to enter the chart in 1998. Billboard modified the name further to its current title, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, in 2005.

Chart statistics and other facts

• Artists with the most number-one Hot R&B 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. Marvin Gaye - 13 (tie)

7. Michael Jackson - 13 (tie)

9. R. Kelly - 11

10. Mariah Carey - 10 (tie)

10. The O'Jays - 10 (tie)

Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder have had the most number one's on the R&B charts with 20 each. 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 charts: eighteen weeks. Among more recent releases, Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" (2006) has spent the longest time at number one: fifteen weeks. This feat surpasses the fourteen-week run of Deborah Cox's "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here" (1998) and Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" (2005).

See also

• List of number-one R&B hits (United States)
• Rhythm and blues
• Hip-hop music
• Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay
• R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay panel
• List of Billboard charts

References

External links

• Current Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks — Top 50 positions