In 2004 every Billboard number one came from African-American artists
Contemporary R&B grew out of 1970s soul, softened disco's pulse, borrowed hip-hop's beats and became, for a stretch of the early 2000s, simply what pop music was. Its defining trait, as one critic put it, is texture and mood: voice fused with sound more than voice carrying a song.
Its roots lie in the progressive soul of the early 1970s, when Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder stretched what the music could say and sound like. Norman Whitfield's productions at Motown thickened simple hooks with heavy backbeats, harmonies and orchestras, and Gaye's What's Going On in 1971 loosened the form with jazz. The nearest direct ancestor came as disco faded: Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones added electronic sheen to create the smooth dance sound of Off the Wall in 1979.
The 1980s pulled in hip-hop. Janet Jackson's Control in 1986, made with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, mixed funk and disco rhythms with synthesisers and a rap sensibility, and the same year Teddy Riley began producing what became known as new jack swing. The 1990s brought colossal sales: Whitney Houston's Bodyguard soundtrack passed 45 million copies, the best-selling soundtrack ever, and Mariah Carey's duet with Boyz II Men, One Sweet Day, set the record for the longest run at number one on the Hot 100. The Grammys created a Best R&B Album award in 1995, and neo soul artists such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill reached back to 1970s warmth, while producers Timbaland and The Neptunes redrew the sound.
Then R&B and hip-hop took over the charts. Alicia Keys's debut single Fallin' topped the Hot 100 in 2001, and Usher's Confessions sold 1.1 million copies in its first week in 2004 and produced four consecutive number ones. That year all 12 songs to top the Hot 100 were by African-American artists, prompting the critic Chris Molanphy to observe that urban music had become pop. Carey's We Belong Together held the top spot for 14 weeks the following year.
Since then the genre has leaned into machines. Electro-R&B, built on computerised synths and Auto-Tune, gradually came to dominate, trap rhythms shaped hits such as Beyonce's Drunk in Love, and Latin artists like Rauw Alejandro have carried R&B-inflected singles in Spanish to a global audience.
Source: Contemporary R&B
