The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songschart ranks the most popular
R&B and
hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by Billboard. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity.[1] The chart had 100 positions but was shortened to 50 positions in October 2012.[2][3]
The chart is used to track the success of
popular music songs in
urban, or primarily
African-American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by
jazz,
rhythm and blues,
doo-wop,
rock and roll,
soul, and
funk, it is today dominated by
contemporary R&B and hip hop. Since its inception, the chart has changed its name many times in order to accurately reflect the industry at the time.
History
Beginning in 1942, Billboard published a chart of bestselling
African-American music, first as the Harlem Hit Parade, then as Race Records. Then in 1949, Billboard began publishing a Rhythm and Blues chart, which entered "R&B" into mainstream lexicon.[4] These three charts were consolidated into a single Hot R&B Singles chart in October 1958.
From November 30, 1963, to January 23, 1965, there were no Billboard R&B singles charts.[5][6] The "Hot R&B Singles" chart was discontinued when Billboard determined it unnecessary due to so much crossover of titles between the R&B and pop charts in light of the rise of
Motown. The chart was reinstated as Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles on January 30, 1965.[7]
Beginning August 23, 1969, the rhythm and blues was replaced in favor of "soul", and the chart was renamed to Best Selling Soul Singles. The move was made by a Billboard editorial decision that the term "soul" more accurately accounted for the "broad range of song and instrumental material which derives from the musical genius of the black American".[8][9] In late June 1982, the chart was renamed again, this time to Hot Black Singles because the music that African-Americans were buying and listening to had a "greater stylistic variety than the soul sound" of the early 1970s. Black Singles was deemed an acceptable term to encompass pop, funk, and early rap music popular in urban communities.[10]
Beginning October 27, 1990, the Hot Black Singles chart was returned to the Hot R&B Singles name first used in 1958.[11] Hip hop was introduced to the chart beginning with the December 11, 1999 issue, when Billboard changed the name to Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks to recognize the influence and relationship of
hip hop to the genre.[12] Within a few years, the crossover of R&B titles onto the pop chart was so significant that all Top Ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 11, 2003, were by black artists.[13] The lengthy title was shortened to "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs" on April 30, 2005.
The chart's methodology was changed starting with the October 20, 2012 issue, to match the Billboard Hot 100's---incorporating digital downloads and video streaming data (R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs) and combining it with airplay of R&B and hip-hop songs across all radio formats, to determine song position. Also at this time, the chart was shortened to 50 positions.
Date range
Title
October 1942 – February 1945
The Harlem Hit Parade
February 1945 – June 1949
Race Records
June 1949 – October 1958
Rhythm & Blues Records (two or three separate charts—see above)
Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[64] was a chart composed of 25 positions that represented songs making progress to chart on the main R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Many times, songs halted their progress at this chart and never debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart could have also been seen as a 25 position quasi-addendum to the chart, since the chart represented the 25 songs below position number 50 that had not previously appeared on the main chart.
^"This Day in Music". Billboard. 4 February 2007.
Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018. He is the record holder of most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's R&B charts with 113.