All-Time R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Eras

[Private Dancer]

All-Time R&B/Hip-Hop Single Eras

• This is just like the Hot 100 one except it's for R&B/Hip Hop Chart.
• Only radio releases were included, so any album tracks that charted were not included
  Soundtracks are included, however soundtracks only soundtracks that are credited to an artist were included. For example, Waiting To Exhale would not be eligible due to it being credited to various artists   and the Bodyguard and Purple Rain were credited to only one artist.
• Re-releases, features, & remixes were included as well
• R&B/Hip-Hop chart is a lot more competitive than the pop one, because a lot of artists/acts were getting 3-4 hits from an album era, which is why the point cut off is very high.

This is based on singles points from the All-Time R&B/Hip-Hop formula. The tracking date is October 20, 1958- April 18, 2023.

Ranking	-	Artist	Singles Era	Total Points of Singles
1		Michael Jackson	Bad	4,317,000
2		Janet Jackson	Control	4,138,000
3		Drake	Views	3,906,000
4		Janet	Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814	3,727,000
5		Boyz II Men	CooleyHighHarmony	3,562,000
6		Macklemore	The Heist	3,557,000
7		Freddie Jackson	Just Like The First Time	3,411,000
8		Drake	Scorpion	3,364,000
9		Keyshia Cole	Just Like You	3,355,000
10		Karyn White	Karyn White	3,289,000
11		Michael Jackson	Thriller	3,274,000
12		Post Malone	Beerpongs & Bentleys	3,257,000
13		Bobby Brown	Don't Be Cruel	3,214,000
14		Usher	Confessions	3,168,000
15		Whitney Houston	Whitney Houston	3,131,000
16		Toni Braxton	Toni Braxton	3,116,000
17		SWV	It's About Time	3,082,000
18		Tony! Toni! Tone!	The Revival	3,057,000
19		Janet Jackson	janet.	3,035,000
20		Regina Belle	Stay With Me	3,030,000
21		Alicia Keys	The Diary Of Alicia Keys	2,995,000
22		Usher	Raymond Vs. Raymond	2,959,000
23		Drake	Take Care	2,924,000
24		Tevin Campbell	T.E.V.I.N	2,905,000
25		Mary J. Blige	The Breakthrough	2,867,000
26		The Spinners	Spinners	2,842,000
27		Brandy	Brandy	2,836,000
28		Bruno Mars	24k Magic	2,825,000
29		The Weeknd	Beauty Behind The Madness	2,788,000
30		Jodeci	Forever My Lady	2,788,000
31		Babyface	Tender Lover	2,770,000
32		Freddie Jackson	Do Me Again	2,765,000
33		Monica	The Boy Is Mine	2,744,000
34		Al B. Sure	In Effect Mode	2,743,000
35		Monica	Miss Thang	2,741,000
36		TLC	CrazySexyCool	2,730,000
37		Usher	My Way	2,718,000
38		Bell Biv Devoe	Poison	2,715,000
39		Whitney Houston	Whitney	2,712,000
40		Vanessa Williams	The Comfort Zone	2,711,000
41		Surface	2nd Wave	2,711,000
42		En Vogue	Born To Sing	2,702,000
43		Johnny Gill	Johnny Gill	2,692,000
44		Alicia Keys	As I Am	2,665,000
45		Keith Sweat	Make It Last Forever	2,645,000
46		Lionel Richie	Can't Slow Down	2,640,000
47		Mary J. Blige	What's The 411?	2,639,000
48		Fetty Wap	Fetty Wap	2,631,000
49		50 Cent	Get Rich' Or Die Tryin'	2,623,000
50		Trey Songz	Passion, Pain & Pleasure	2,621,000
51		Usher	8701	2,615,000
52		Gladys Knight & The Pips	Imagination	2,588,000
53		Michael Jackson	Off The Wall	2,565,000
54		Whitney Houston	I'm Your Baby Tonight	2,552,000
55		Mariah Carey	The Emancipation of Mimi	2,539,000
56		Luther Vandross	Give Me The Reason	2,537,000
57		Trey Songz	Ready	2,536,000
58		R. Kelly with Public Announcement	Born Into The 90's	2,513,000
59		Michael Jackson	Dangerous	2,512,000
60		LeVert	Just Coolin	2,487,000
61		Chris Brown	F.A.M.E	2,476,000
62		Jody Watley	Jody Watley	2,456,000
63		Aretha Franklin	Lady Soul	2,450,000
64		Freddie Jackson	Rock Me Tonight	2,434,000
65		Rihanna	Anti	2,433,000
66		Next	Rated Next	2,431,000
67		Cardi B	Invasion Of Privacy	2,410,000
68		Pebbles	Always	2,382,000
69		Nicki Minaj	Pink Friday	2,374,000
70		Marvin Gaye	Moods Of Marvin Gaye	2,365,000
71		Prince	Purple Rain	2,360,000
72		Dru Hill	Dru Hill	2,343,000
73		Jagged Edge	J.E. Heartbreak	2,338,000
74		KC & The Sunshine Band	Part 3	2,333,000
75		Lionel Richie	Dancing On The Ceiling	2,314,000
76		Rene & Angela	Street Called Desire	2,311,000
77		Mariah Carey	Mariah Carey	2,302,000
78		Beyonce	Dangerously In Love	2,282,000
79		Whitney Houston	The Bodyguard	2,280,000
80		Marvin Gaye	What's Going On	2,276,000
81		Drake	Nothing Was The Same	2,259,000
82		Nelly	Nellyville	2,259,000
83		New Edition	Heart Break	2,258,000
84		Kool & The Gang	Emergency	2,253,000
85		Keith Sweat	Keith Sweat	2,251,000
86		Keith Sweat	I'll Give All My Love To You	2,249,000
87		The Honey Cone	Soulful Tapestry	2,244,000
88		The O'Jays	Backstabbers	2,236,000
89		TLC	Ooooohhh…On The TLC Tip	2,229,000
90		Beyonce	B'Day	2,226,000
91		The Supremes	Where Did Our Love Go	2,214,000
92		Jerry Butler	The Ice Man Cometh	2,209,000
93		Cameo	Word Up!	2,190,000
94		Aretha Franklin	This Girl's In Love With You	2,188,000
95		Boyz II Men	II	2,187,000
96		Beyonce	I Am...Sasha Fierce	2,185,000
97		Melba Moore	A Lot Of Love	2,167,000
98		The Temptations	With A O' Soul	2,160,000
99		Gerald LeVert	Private Line	2,154,000
100		Jr. Walker &  The All Stars	Shotgun	2,154,000

[WolfSpear]

Fantastic, brocka! I’m definitely bookmarking this. I know R&B is probably your speciality but do you have this formula for other Billboard charts?

[Private Dancer]

Apr 18, 2023 15:15:51 GMT -5 WolfSpear said:

Fantastic, brocka! I’m definitely bookmarking this. I know R&B is probably your speciality but do you have this formula for other Billboard charts?

I can crack the formula of other charts. But atm, I don't have the formulas.

[jenglisbe]

I bet this took a lot of work, great job and thanks for sharing!

Michael and Janet benefit from releasing a lot of singles from their albums, but it's also impressive how well all of those singles did.

Ugh at Macklemore up at #7. Wow.

Love Karyn White being top 10!

Mariah is held back by releasing so few singles per album (Daydream only had 3 songs eligible to chart, Butterfly is hurt by "Butterfly" being airplay only and "My All" and "Breakdown" being on the same single).

I'm not trying to force work on anyone, but I think it would be cool at some point if the album runs were somehow combined with these singles points to truly capture the era for each project.

[Ling-Ling]

This is amazing! Thank you Private Dancer

It's insane looking at this and realizing Janet's impact. So many of these albums/artists directly broke off of the sounds Control and RN made mainstream.

[Private Dancer]

Tiny mistake guys, I accidentally added in "My Boo" for Alicia Keys on her TDO album, that would mean MJ's Thriller is now top ten. I'll edit it when it get a chance

[Private Dancer]

Thanks to jenglisbe for questioning the position of TDOAK, turns out I included "My Boo" when it wasn't on her albums. Due to this change, MJ's Thriller gets into the top ten. Him and Janet are the only people to have 2 albums in the top ten!!! Not to mention them having the top two hugest album era's ever! 

Also, referring to his hilarious comment about Macklemore (I have the same sentiments), Macklemore's position does not accurately represent how huge they were on the Urban format. From personal experience, Thrift Shop was played heavily on pop radio. I never heard Thrift Shop on urban stations, yet it's the #3 biggest song of all time.

Let's break it down:
Billboard changed it's formula where genre charts reflected the Hot 100, instead of what was actually being played and purchased within that genre. This rule changed allowed Thrift Shop to chart on R&B, where beforehand it was not previously. 

Thrift Shop peaked at #34 on urban airplay and Can't Hold Us peaked at #45, while White Walls and Same Love did not chart on R&B/Hip-Hop airplay, yet the 3/4 of those songs were top tens...

Decade End stats:
#1 Thrift Shop-1,536,799 
#15 Can't Hold Us-1,018,317
#125 Same Love-593,297
#224 White Walls-409,431
Total:3,557,844

[WolfSpear]

Do you know which albums produced the most #1’s? I’m pretty sure Janet’s Control and Michael’s Bad both have 5 (?).

[Private Dancer]

Apr 27, 2023 15:32:58 GMT -5 WolfSpear said:

Do you know which albums produced the most #1’s? I’m pretty sure Janet’s Control and Michael’s Bad both have 5 (?).

Yes, Control and Bad both have five and tie on this chart with the most #1's from one album

[gs]

I'm surprised Scorpion is so low?

[NeRD]

I thought Confessions would have been higher.

[Private Dancer]

May 1, 2023 5:30:19 GMT -5 gs said:

I'm surprised Scorpion is so low?

Thanks to your suspicion of Scorpion being low, turns out it was extremely low. Somehow, I forgot that God's Plan was included on Scorpion and not just Scary Hours. Thanks you for this correction. Drake's Scorpion is #8.

[Private Dancer]

May 1, 2023 6:14:33 GMT -5 NeRD said:

I thought Confessions would have been higher.

I thought so as well. Every single from his Confessions album (besides Caught Up) made the decade end, I think the issue in Usher's case is that a lower multiplier is being used. Had he released Confessions in the pre-soundscan era, then he would've no doubt been top ten.

(I'm working on the albums portion to include with the singles era, I have a big feeling Confessions might be top ten overall)

[Private Dancer]

I do wanna say how my girls Regina Belle and Vanessa Williams were killing the game.

Regina Belle got 5 top-ten hits from the album. 4 reaching the top 3 (including two number ones, and two top three's), and another one hitting the top ten. Also, that album is defiantly one of the best albums of all time. Every track from beginning to end is a banger.

People also forget how huge Keith Sweat And Freddie Jackson were. Freddie Jackson literally was having sooooo many hits back to back it was crazy. Not to mention his songs and albums stayed on the charts for a while. His work still gets HEAVY recurrent airplay today.

[madonnaeyes]

Can waiting to Exhale chart in top 10?

[Private Dancer]

May 5, 2023 1:58:34 GMT -5 madonnaeyes said:

Can waiting to Exhale chart in top 10?

Suprinsly, no. Waiting To Exhale would've been #24-#25 with 2,917,000 points

[WolfSpear]

So is The Bodyguard soundtrack the highest ranking soundtrack in the point system?

[Private Dancer]

May 5, 2023 16:00:20 GMT -5 WolfSpear said:

So is The Bodyguard soundtrack the highest ranking soundtrack in the point system?

No purple rain is #71.

[Private Dancer]

Just to clarify, for soundtracks I only included an era on here if it was credited to that artist and the songs that charted.

That is why The Bodyguard and Purple Rain is on here. WTE is ineligible due to the fact that it is credited to various artists.