The 100 Best R&B Songs of the 21st Century — Music Rolling Stone

For many decades, beginning in the 1940s, artists from the world of R&B could only claim true mainstream success once they broke into Top 40 radio and the pop charts. In this century it often feels like the pop world is defecting to R&B. The genre has never been so successful, so relevant and so ambitious. Many of this century’s epochal blockbuster albums are R&B albums: from Usher’s 10x platinum album “Confessions” to Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” and Mariah Carey’s “The Emancipation of Mimi” to Rihanna’s “Anti.” R&B hits dominate the top 10, often leaving little room for others.

R&B and the indie music underground used to live on different planets; today, innovators like Frank Ocean, Childish Gambino and Solange are beloved by mass audiences and hipsters alike. Similarly, music’s towering figures, like Beyoncé and Rihanna, are able to maintain their status as mega-stars without sacrificing their identity as R&B legends, creating a balance unparalleled by Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston even in their heyday was hardly reachable. Solange exemplified this sense of aesthetic pride and self-awareness in 2013 when she famously defended the “culture of R&B” in a tweet — a concept that would have sounded strange in the mainstream of 1995 or 1985.

Through all these musical variations, what made R&B great in this era is what made it great in every era: incredible singers putting their stamp on unforgettable songs. To create our list of the 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century, ROLLING STONE convened a panel of contributors and critics who know the genre intimately. We spent less time debating what R&B is and instead let our tastes guide us to find the music we can’t live without, from big hits to lesser-known gems.

Click here for the ROLLING STONE playlist on Spotify.

“It’s official right now: In four minutes or less, we’re gonna crown ’em all,” declares Raheem DeVaughn at the start of this sprawling ode to the feminine. 2008’s “Woman” is a little above that mark, but that’s easily excused by how much the singer-songwriter wants to praise the special, beautiful, strong, adult figure at the center of that song – his full-throated admiration is so divine, that “Woman” turns into a real anthem as it fades out.

Conceived as the Jackson 5 of the 21st century, boy band B2K made a splash among black preschool and teenage girls with their hit song “Bump, Bump, Bump.” The song, produced by Diddy, had the typical characteristics of the early 2000s, such as: B. the producer’s signature intro and ad-libs, unnecessary vocals from singer Omarion (who tried to copy songwriter R. Kelly’s demo), and the type of “clubby” track that was popular at the time. “Bump, Bump, Bump” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week and was B2K’s second-to-last top 40 hit before they disbanded in 2004.

In a decade when too many R&B innovators struggled to crack the pop charts, Ryan Leslie stood out. The multi-talented songwriter and producer responsible for Cassie’s memorable debut and an early YouTube star has worked with artists such as Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige. However, his solo works sold only moderately, although his single “Addiction” became a cult classic, sampled by Clipse and Wiz Khalifa. In the track, RLS chills amidst a tangle of electronic keyboards like a new generation puff daddy while heaping praise on a lover. “It started with a kiss / I never expected this,” he sings in falsetto. “Addiction” feels clubby and fresh, the kind of jam that fits on any dance floor, mainstream appeal or not.

“Makin’ Good Love” is a turgid lullaby that fully reflects the direction R&B was heading in the late ’90s and early 21st century. With the rise of bands like Jodeci and Tank, R&B love songs became more explicit, and this single from Avant’s second album, Ecstasy, was a prime example of this trend. With lyrics like “I got your legs spread all over the bed/Hands clenched in the sheets,” “Makin’ Good Love” is an early entry into the space that artists like Chris Brown and Trey Songz would occupy.

Afrobeats star Tems looks to a higher power to ease her struggles in “Free Mind,” a 2020 breakout hit from the Nigerian artist on US radio. Accompanied by delicate electric keys and a gentle, syncopated beat, Tems skillfully articulates what it’s like to deal with mental illness: “I try to be fine but I can’t be/the noise in my mind wouldn’t leave me”, she sings as she falls deeper and deeper into the darkness. She’s trying to find hope in God, and the song doubles as a prayer for deliverance (“I need a free mind now,” she pleads), but the unexpected melodic shift toward the end suggests the fight is far from over is.

Durrell “Tank” Babbs had an extensive career as a songwriter and producer, collaborating with Aaliyah, Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Pitbull and others, and also had a solo career of his own, which included the minor 2007 hit “Please Don’t Go.” Tank may not be the most inviting stage name for a romantic crooner, but here he delivers a sultry performance in which he chastises himself for his infidelity and urges all men to do better. After a sudden hearing loss kept Tank from music, he continues to mentor and co-host the R&B Money Podcast. -JD

After his debut single “Birthday Sex” became an unlikely hit in 2009, Jeremih deviated from the script and recorded a psychedelic masterpiece called “Late Nights,” about a dimension where the sun never rises. The major label follow-up, Late Nights: The Album, had the same basic idea but went broader in vision, and Planez functions as an aesthetic thesis statement that is as seductive as it is shameless. Vinylz’s beat feels as airy and weightless as a plane crashing through the clouds into the night sky. Jeremih finds half a dozen different hooks to play with before gifting J. Cole with an instantly infamous verse that has become central to the track’s enduring appeal.

“Jackie Brown,” whose title references Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 blaxploitation homage, is a perfect blend of melodic R&B and rap that has become Brent Faiyaz’s trademark. The song begins with a high-pitched voice that evokes the feeling of reckless freedom and flows into a pounding track with lyrics from the Tarantino film such as “Crib by the beach like Ordell/No Beaumont, my killas don’t tell.” Faiyaz’s 2022 album Wasteland explored Generation Z’s hasty obsession with luxury, cool and defiance, and that sentiment reached an epic peak on Jackie Brown.

Goapele released her independent EP just as the neo-soul movement, with its retro and future elements, was on the rise. The environment was ripe for the ethereal breakthrough track “Closer” to gain attention outside of an underground or indie niche, eventually landing on Bay Area radio station KMEL’s nightly countdown. The song’s smooth, simple production and accessible narrative about a long-held dream coming within reach elevated “Closer” from a groove to a mantra for both the original fans and subsequent generations. The theme of “I’m so close I can see” resonates universally, even in hip-hop. Rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake are among those who sampled the song.

On his fast-paced single “OTW,” Khalid is in town for just a moment and has no time to waste. The singer takes a big step forward, driving through the streets in a drop top (with proof of purchase) as if sending a late-night “Are you awake?” text message. As she glides over Nineteen85’s slick ’90s production, the singer gets reinforcements in the form of 6lack’s stirring promise and Ty Dolla $ign’s amorous urgency. It’s not a pure R&B boy band team, but the threesome are a masterful reinforcement.