Billboard's R&B/hip-hop team reveals the talented players who made major impressions this year. ‘Tis the season again: to make a list, check it twice (and a couple more times for good measure) and ...

Billboard's special salute to Black Music Month continues its rollout with the next 25 artists on our all-time top 75 list. What a difference 10 years can make. That was the last time Billboard ...

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, writer Jaelani Turner-Williams addresses claims that today’s R&B is too sexual. R&B’s ...

Ironic, then, that such a shift seems to have been ushered in by a death — not of R&B proper, mind you, but of one of its greatest modern pacesetters: The Weeknd. Since 2011, the persona inhabited by ...

For many decades, going as far back as the 1940s, artists from the world of R&B couldn’t really claim mainstream success until they’d crossed over to Top 40 radio and the pop charts. This century, it ...

From Whitney Houston’s timeless hits still leading Gen Z playlists to emerging R&B artists reshaping the genre, 2026 blends heritage with innovation. Streaming platforms are powering this mix, giving ...

D'Angelo, the visionary R&B singer who helped pioneer the neo soul sub genre, has died following a battle with cancer, according to a statement from his family published by multiple outlets. He was 51 ...

A group of young singer-songwriters have transformed the genre by looking backward, without getting stuck in the past. Here and below are seven of the many contemporary artists who are redefining and ...

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, ESSENCE editor Rivéa Ruff reports on the blending of hip-hop and R&B. Since the ...

The smoothest, strongest jams of the decade, and the visual accompaniments that went with them— these are the Best R&B Videos of the '90s.