2023 Adult R&B Year-End Rankdown (Winner Revealed!)

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #27

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 28 ⬇️
Mayman : 22
singingrulebritannia : 20
beyoncelover : 16
wrip : 19
jtd Thee Stallion : 21
Soulsista : 25
.indulgecountry : 25
wheatsquares33 : 22
samo🦕 : 22
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 22
emerald : 24
Leo ✔ : 24
BB🌕 : 22
• Господин Умљеновић • : 22
Kanenrá:ke : 25
wavey. : 25
#LisaRinna : 28
Troublemaker : 28
HamedM1 💔 : 27

Highest Rank: #10
Lowest Rank: #50
SD: 17th-Highest

[SHOOTER]

27. PJ Morton x Susan Carol - "Good Morning"

Points: 512
Avg: 26.62
St. Dev: 12.43 (17th-Highest)

wheatsquares33 : 10

SHOOTER : 11
samo🦕 : 12
singingrulebritannia : 13
wrip : 13
BB🌕 : 14
Mayman : 17

• Господин Умљеновић • : 22
HamedM1 💔 : 23
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 25
Troublemaker : 26
wavey. : 27
Soulsista : 28

Kanenrá:ke : 32
.indulgecountry : 34
jtd Thee Stallion : 34
Leo ✔ : 36

Fire : 41
emerald : 45
beyoncelover : 46
#LisaRinna : 50

Although it was not included on his last studio album (2022's Watch the Sun) nor sent to radio, PJ Morton and Susan Carol's Good Morning did snag the 2024 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance, his second win in that category and fifth win overall.

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #26

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 44 ⬇️
Mayman : 43
singingrulebritannia : 47
beyoncelover : 38
wrip : 44
jtd Thee Stallion : 38
Soulsista : 32
.indulgecountry : 30
wheatsquares33 : 32
samo🦕 : 31
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 29
emerald : 30
Leo ✔ : 32
BB🌕 : 32
• Господин Умљеновић • : 31
Kanenrá:ke : 29
wavey. : 30
#LisaRinna : 29
Troublemaker : 26
HamedM1 💔 : 26

Highest Rank: #8 (x2)
Lowest Rank: #47
SD: 9th-Highest

Missed the top-half by 6 points…

[SHOOTER]

26. Usher - "GLU"

Points: 521
Avg: 26.19
St. Dev: 14.27 (9th-Highest)

Troublemaker : 8
#LisaRinna : 8
beyoncelover : 9
Soulsista : 9
Kanenrá:ke : 10
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 10

jtd Thee Stallion : 14
• Господин Умљеновић • : 19

.indulgecountry : 21
emerald : 24
samo🦕 : 28
HamedM1 💔 : 30

SHOOTER : 31
wavey. : 32
wheatsquares33 : 33
BB🌕 : 40

Mayman : 41
Leo ✔ : 45
Fire : 45
singingrulebritannia : 46
wrip : 47

GLU is oddly missing from the 20 tracks that comprise Usher's ninth studio album, COMING HOME, despite it becoming his seventh #1 on Adult R&B.

Congrats to Mayman for clearing his bottom-10!

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B: Top-25



Always (Daniel Caesar)
As a matter of fact (Babyface)

Back to Your Place (October London)
Better Thangs (Ciara x Summer Walker)
Bloody Samaritan (Ayra Starr x Kelly Rowland)

CUFF IT (Beyoncé)
Changed (Tamar Braxton)
Come for Me (Alicia Keys feat. Khalid & Lucky Daye)

Free Mind (Tems)

I Need to Know (Ledisi)
ICU (Coco Jones)

Kill Bill (SZA)

Last Night Was Good for My Soul (The Shindellas)
Letters (Monica)
Lipstick Lover (Janelle Monáe)
Lucky (Avery*Sunshine)

Nothing Even Matters (SiR)
Nowhere But Up (Phony Ppl)

Right Back in It (Leela James)

Simple (Babyface x Coco Jones)
Skin Tight (Ravyn Lenae feat. Steve Lacy)
Smoke (Victoria Monét feat. Lucky Daye)
So Be It (Alex Vaughn)
Special (Lizzo feat. SZA)

Waste My Time (Ari Lennox)

[Leo ✔]

Im fine with this top half

[beyoncelover]

30. Macy Gray & The California Jet Club feat. Maino - "Every Night:" This is an enjoyable and fun song that I really liked to rank at #17. Aww wish it could have made it higher but happy it made it to the Top 30. A Macy Gray song in the Top 10 highest SD is hardly surprising though, lol. And ah yeah I do remember this song on American Song Contest and that was where I first heard this.

29. Kevin Ross - "Look My Way:" Ahh I ranked this at #26, so dangg I was just 3 spots away from getting a perfect ranking here. I'm always so close (or so far away) but this was a nice and enjoyable song.

28. Maeta - "S(EX):" Oooh lol wow I still remember this one. I ranked this at #48, so it didn't make much of an impact on me nor did it really do anything for me. Disappointing.

27. PJ Morton x Susan Carol - "Good Morning:" Now I don't really remember this song too well but I see this is my #46 so don't think I cared much for this either. I think I cleared out my Bottom 5 now, which is fantastic!

26. Usher - "GLU:" Ugh nooooo at this song showing up as this was my #9. I thought this was a really beautiful song and Usher provided such great vocals on this. It's a shame and shocking that this song didn't make it on his latest album.

[.indulgecountry]

Macy Gray was robbed. 😩

[wrip]

I was nervous that Glu would stick around much longer so I’m glad it’s out now. I don’t like how he sings in it

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #25

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 32 ⬆️
Mayman : 34
singingrulebritannia : 33
beyoncelover : 26
wrip : 32
jtd Thee Stallion : 35
Soulsista : 33
.indulgecountry : 31
wheatsquares33 : 31
samo🦕 : 29
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 30
emerald : 27
Leo ✔ : 29
BB🌕 : 30
• Господин Умљеновић • : 30
Kanenrá:ke : 30
wavey. : 29
#LisaRinna : 27
Troublemaker : 25
HamedM1 💔 : 25

Highest Rank: #1
Lowest Rank: #48
SD: 22nd-Lowest

I have dinner plans but enough time to get us to the top-20. No need to look alive. FIRST #1 loss incoming!

[SHOOTER]

25. Monica - "Letters"

Points: 512
Avg: 26.62
St. Dev: 12.43 (17th-Highest)

wavey. : 1

#LisaRinna : 11
emerald : 15
beyoncelover : 16
.indulgecountry : 17
Soulsista : 18
Troublemaker : 19

🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 22
samo🦕 : 23
HamedM1 💔 : 25
Fire : 28
wheatsquares33 : 30

BB🌕 : 31
• Господин Умљеновић • : 31
singingrulebritannia : 32
Mayman : 33
SHOOTER : 33
Leo ✔ : 34
wrip : 38
Kanenrá:ke : 40

jtd Thee Stallion : 48

Monica makes the top-half in this series for a second time with Letters, the umpteenth single from her oft-delayed R&B album, Trenches, coming one day or possibly never.

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #24

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 31 ⬇️
Mayman : 33
singingrulebritannia : 25
beyoncelover : 29
wrip : 23
jtd Thee Stallion : 28
Soulsista : 24
.indulgecountry : 21
wheatsquares33 : 21
samo🦕 : 21
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 19
emerald : 18
Leo ✔ : 20
BB🌕 : 21
• Господин Умљеновић • : 25
Kanenrá:ke : 27
wavey. : 27
#LisaRinna : 24
Troublemaker : 24
HamedM1 💔 : 24

Highest Rank: #7
Lowest Rank: #45
SD: 21st-Highest

[SHOOTER]

24. Avery*Sunshine - "Lucky"

Points: 527
Avg: 25.90
St. Dev: 11.84 (21st-Highest)

#LisaRinna : 7

singingrulebritannia : 11
wrip : 11
Soulsista : 12
samo🦕 : 15
.indulgecountry : 16
emerald : 18
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 18
SHOOTER : 18

wheatsquares33 : 21
wavey. : 29

HamedM1 💔 : 31
Mayman : 32
Troublemaker : 33
BB🌕 : 35
beyoncelover : 36
Kanenrá:ke : 36
Leo ✔ : 38
Fire : 40

jtd Thee Stallion : 42
• Господин Умљеновић • : 45

R&B multi-hyphenate Avery*Sunshine lands in the top-half with her first appearance here. Lucky was a single lifted from her 2023 project Four Songs & a Bootleg. She's best-known for her 2014 hit, Call My Name, which made it to #1 on Adult R&B.

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #23

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 39 ⬇️
Mayman : 38
singingrulebritannia : 32
beyoncelover : 36
wrip : 41
jtd Thee Stallion : 36
Soulsista : 36
.indulgecountry : 29
wheatsquares33 : 26
samo🦕 : 27
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 24
emerald : 23
Leo ✔ : 22
BB🌕 : 23
• Господин Умљеновић • : 23
Kanenrá:ke : 23
wavey. : 26
#LisaRinna : 23
Troublemaker : 22
HamedM1 💔 : 23

Highest Rank: #3
Lowest Rank: #49
SD: 16th-Highest

[SHOOTER]

23. Leela James - "Right Back in It"

Points: 563
Avg: 24.19
St. Dev: 12.75 (16th-Highest)

🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 3
.indulgecountry : 4
Troublemaker : 5

wheatsquares33 : 14
#LisaRinna : 15
emerald : 16
jtd Thee Stallion : 19

Leo ✔ : 21
SHOOTER : 21
• Господин Умљеновић • : 21
Kanenrá:ke : 22
singingrulebritannia : 25
Soulsista : 26
HamedM1 💔 : 27
Mayman : 30

samo🦕 : 32
wavey. : 36
BB🌕 : 37
beyoncelover : 40

wrip : 45
Fire : 49

One of our more polarizing voices from the New R&B series, Leela James manages to secure a second top-half finish with Right Back in It, the lead single from her Thought U Knew album out now.

Congrats to wrip for clearing his bottom-10!

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #22

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 13 ⬇️
Mayman : 7
singingrulebritannia : 6
beyoncelover : 10
wrip : 8
jtd Thee Stallion : 8
Soulsista : 13
.indulgecountry : 18
wheatsquares33 : 13
samo🦕 : 13
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 16
emerald : 15
Leo ✔ : 15
BB🌕 : 15
• Господин Умљеновић • : 17
Kanenrá:ke : 17
wavey. : 19
#LisaRinna : 22
Troublemaker : 23
HamedM1 💔 : 22

Highest Rank: #1
Lowest Rank: #47
SD: HIGHEST SD

Highest SD and second #1 loss incoming.

[SHOOTER]

22. Ravyn Lenae feat. Steve Lacy - "Skin Tight"

Points: 565
Avg: 24.10
St. Dev: 17.08 (Highest SD)

BB🌕 : 1
singingrulebritannia : 2
wheatsquares33 : 4
HamedM1 💔 : 5
wrip : 6
samo🦕 : 9
Mayman : 10
SHOOTER : 10

jtd Thee Stallion : 12
emerald : 20
Fire : 23
Leo ✔ : 30

wavey. : 33
Kanenrá:ke : 38
• Господин Умљеновић • : 40

#LisaRinna : 41
beyoncelover : 42
Troublemaker : 43
Soulsista : 44
.indulgecountry : 46
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 47

Alt-R&B goddess Ravyn Lenae's first-ever radio single, Skin Tight, made it all the way to #1 on Adult R&B. The track can be found on her debut album, HYPNOS.

Congrats to #LisaRinna for clearing his bottom-10!

[wheatsquares33]

Now--

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #21

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 13 ⬇️
Mayman : 7
singingrulebritannia : 6
beyoncelover : 10
wrip : 8
jtd Thee Stallion : 8
Soulsista : 13
.indulgecountry : 18
wheatsquares33 : 13
samo🦕 : 13
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 16
emerald : 15
Leo ✔ : 15
BB🌕 : 15
• Господин Умљеновић • : 17
Kanenrá:ke : 17
wavey. : 19
#LisaRinna : 22
Troublemaker : 23
HamedM1 💔 : 22

Highest Rank: #4
Lowest Rank: #49 (x2)
SD: 6th-Highest

[SHOOTER]

21. Daniel Caesar - "Always"

Points: 586
Avg: 23.10
St. Dev: 15.28 (6th-Highest SD)

• Господин Умљеновић • : 4
singingrulebritannia : 6
Mayman : 6
wrip : 7
Fire : 9
BB🌕 : 10

samo🦕 : 11
wheatsquares33 : 13
Leo ✔ : 17
Kanenrá:ke : 17
.indulgecountry : 19

#LisaRinna : 21
HamedM1 💔 : 26
jtd Thee Stallion : 27
SHOOTER : 30

emerald : 38
beyoncelover : 39
wavey. : 40

Soulsista : 47
Troublemaker : 49
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 49

Despite sabotaging his popularity in the name of YesJulz (Google it), Daniel Caesar garnered a fourth top-10 hit on Adult R&B, and was just 7 points short of finishing top-20 here, with Always, the second single from his latest album, NEVER ENOUGH.

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B: Top-20




As a matter of fact (Babyface)

Back to Your Place (October London)
Better Thangs (Ciara x Summer Walker)
Bloody Samaritan (Ayra Starr x Kelly Rowland)

CUFF IT (Beyoncé)
Changed (Tamar Braxton)
Come for Me (Alicia Keys feat. Khalid & Lucky Daye)

Free Mind (Tems)

I Need to Know (Ledisi)
ICU (Coco Jones)

Kill Bill (SZA)

Last Night Was Good for My Soul (The Shindellas)
Lipstick Lover (Janelle Monáe)

Nothing Even Matters (SiR)
Nowhere But Up (Phony Ppl)

Simple (Babyface x Coco Jones)
Smoke (Victoria Monét feat. Lucky Daye)
So Be It (Alex Vaughn)
Special (Lizzo feat. SZA)

Waste My Time (Ari Lennox)

Any guesses (or hopes) as to what will not make the top-10?

[wrip]

Skin Tight and Always missing the top 20 is such a massive L but there’s always at least 1-2 major robberies in these so it’s not too surprising. Both are so good and should’ve at least beat a couple of the remaining songs…

[beyoncelover]

25. Monica - "Letters:" Ahh it's always nice to see some Monica on here. I did really like this enough to give it a #16. It's one of those songs I would like to listen to more as I can see this growing on me with more listens. This is beautiful though and wouldn't have minded if it was a higher.

24. Avery*Sunshine - "Lucky:" This is my #36. Not familiar with this but it's okay and fine enough. It didn't really stand out that much to me but a good ranking for this.

23. Leela James - "Right Back in It:" Oooh ok this is my #40, so this is a song I ranked even lower than the other song. It's nice but not a big standout and I preferred many other songs over this one.

22. Ravyn Lenae feat. Steve Lacy - "Skin Tight:" Ahh woww okay so here comes the song with the highest SD. I was definitely curious about what song would have had that honor. It's interesting seeing so many Top 10 and Bottom 10 rankings for this. So 8 Top 10s vs. 6 Bottom 10s. Sadly, I'm in the bottom 10 group with this being #42. I guess this is a song people either love or don't care for, and I was just in the latter.

21. Daniel Caesar - "Always:" Oooh nice, I'm pleased with my #39 showing up. Happy to get these 30s/40s getting revealed now. This is another song that I am sure was nice and enjoyable enough but not a song that really stood out for me.

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #20

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 13 ⬇️
Mayman : 7
singingrulebritannia : 6
beyoncelover : 10
wrip : 8
jtd Thee Stallion : 8
Soulsista : 13
.indulgecountry : 18
wheatsquares33 : 13
samo🦕 : 13
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 16
emerald : 15
Leo ✔ : 15
BB🌕 : 15
• Господин Умљеновић • : 17
Kanenrá:ke : 17
wavey. : 19
#LisaRinna : 22
Troublemaker : 23
HamedM1 💔 : 22

Highest Rank: #3
Lowest Rank: #47
SD: 24th-Highest

If this gets any likes within the next 10 minutes, I'll do some reveals. Otherwise, next week.

[SHOOTER]

20. Alicia Keys feat. Khalid & Lucky Daye - "Come for Me"

Points: 592
Avg: 22.81
St. Dev: 11.37 (24th-Highest)

Kanenrá:ke : 3
#LisaRinna : 4
Fire : 8
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 8

wavey. : 13
SHOOTER : 15
Troublemaker : 17
HamedM1 💔 : 18
BB🌕 : 19

Leo ✔ : 22
singingrulebritannia : 26
.indulgecountry : 27
Mayman : 28
• Господин Умљеновић • : 28

samo🦕 : 31
jtd Thee Stallion : 32
wheatsquares33 : 32
wrip : 34
beyoncelover : 35
emerald : 36

Soulsista : 43

Mrs. Beatz has her best showing yet in this series with Come for Me, the fourth single from her KEYS album and her 14th #1 on Adult R&B. It also extended her record by three for most #1s on that format; Toni Braxton is second with 11.

Congrats to Soulsista for finally clearing her bottom-10!

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #19

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 36 ⬇️
Mayman : 24
singingrulebritannia : 22
beyoncelover : 19
wrip : 20
jtd Thee Stallion : 18
Soulsista : 20
.indulgecountry : 19
wheatsquares33 : 20
samo🦕 : 20
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 21
emerald : 19
Leo ✔ : 17
BB🌕 : 16
• Господин Умљеновић • : 18
Kanenrá:ke : 18
wavey. : 17
#LisaRinna : 18
Troublemaker : 21
HamedM1 💔 : 19

Highest Rank: #9
Lowest Rank: #46
SD: 19th-Highest

[singingrulebritannia]

So Be It?

[SHOOTER]

19. Alex Vaughn - "So Be It"

Points: 594
Avg: 22.71
St. Dev: 10.64 (19th-Lowest)

.indulgecountry : 9

HamedM1 💔 : 11
Mayman : 11
BB🌕 : 12
singingrulebritannia : 12
Leo ✔ : 12
jtd Thee Stallion : 13
Kanenrá:ke : 16
wavey. : 20

SHOOTER : 22
Troublemaker : 23
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 24
samo🦕 : 24
wrip : 25
emerald : 27
beyoncelover : 30

Soulsista : 31
wheatsquares33 : 31
#LisaRinna : 36

Fire : 42
• Господин Умљеновић • : 46

Newcomer Alex Vaughn cracks top-20 on her first try with So Be It, a single from her debut EP The Hurtbook.

1 point for singingrulebritannia.

[SHOOTER]

2023 Adult R&B YE-RD: #18

SPOILER: Click to show

{Movement}Fire : 18 ⬆️
Mayman : 27
singingrulebritannia : 31
beyoncelover : 25
wrip : 28
jtd Thee Stallion : 24
Soulsista : 19
.indulgecountry : 22
wheatsquares33 : 23
samo🦕 : 26
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 : 23
emerald : 22
Leo ✔ : 23
BB🌕 : 26
• Господин Умљеновић • : 24
Kanenrá:ke : 22
wavey. : 21
#LisaRinna : 21
Troublemaker : 18
HamedM1 💔 : 18

Highest Rank: #5
Lowest Rank: #48
SD: 4th-Highest

[singingrulebritannia]

"As a matter of fact"?