In February, we launched Spotify CLASSICS, our first-ever program to celebrate catalog music. Our inaugural list focused on the Classic Hip-Hop and R&B Albums of the Streaming Era and featured timeless bodies of work like Beyonc 's Lemonade, Frank Ocean's Blonde, SZA's Ctrl, Rihanna's ANTI, and Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales, to name a few.
Today we're unveiling the second chapter of our CLASSICS program: The 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the Streaming Era. Spotify defines the Streaming Era as a timeframe that spans 2015 until present day.
R&B went through an identity crisis during the first half of the 2010s, but the genre found its footing during the streaming era. R&B morphed into a style of music that absorbed hip-hop, pop, Afrobeats, electronic, alternative, and indie into its sound, breathing new life into the genre.
Spotify's U.S. editorial team-along with Carl Chery, Creative Director, Head of Urban Music at Spotify-has taken on the ambitious task of corralling all shades of R&B under one umbrella, and in the end, this list offers a snapshot of all the genre has offered in the streaming era. Based on criteria such as quality, impact, replay value, influence, and cultural significance, Spotify CLASSICS is 100% qualitative. The program is driven by our editors' music and cultural expertise-and not by data-meaning that massive streaming numbers were not a requirement for the 100 songs you see below.
Note: All songs were released on Spotify after January 1, 2015. The Spotify streams are current as of April 8, 2024.
100. Mahalia ft. Ella Mai What You Did 5K/Sony, 2019
Spotify Streams: 119,207,837
Fun Fact: The song samples Rose Royce's I'm Going Down. Mary J. Blige and Cam'ron previously sampled the song. Cam'ron appears on the remix to What You Did.
99. Libianca People 5K/Sony, 2022
Spotify Streams: 599,870,162
Fun Fact: Jakarta, India, is the top city listening to People on Spotify.
98. Lucky Daye ft. Alex Isley, Masego & Jack Dine Good & Plenty (Remix) Isley & Dine, 2021
Spotify Streams: 51,032,263
Fun Fact: Joey Badass sampled Good & Plenty on his song Passports & Suitcases.
97. PJ Morton ft. JoJo Say So Morton/Empire, 2019
Spotify Streams: 35,878,123
Fun Fact: Say So won Best R&B Song at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. PJ Morton has won five Grammys as an R&B artist.
96. Kali Uchis Moonlight Geffen, 2023
Spotify Streams: 640,798,930
Fun Fact: Kali Uchis first teased the song on her TikTok account on November 20, 2022.
95. SiR D'Evils Top Dawg Entertainment, 2018
Spotify Streams: 119,009,859
Fun Fact: Jay-Z released a song with the same title on his debut album, Reasonable Doubt.
94. Sampha (No One Knows Me) Like the Piano Young Turks, 2017
Spotify Streams: 91,697,106
Fun Fact: (No One Knows Me) Like the Piano is Sampha's most-streamed solo song on Spotify.
93. Ravyn Lenae ft. Steve Lacy Skin Tight Atlantic, 2022
Spotify Streams: 23,727,173
Fun Fact: Skin Tight was a late addition to Ravyn Lenae's album, Hypnos. Steve Lacy brought it to Ravyn's attention as they were starting to mix the album.
92. Yebba Distance RCA, 2021
Spotify Streams: 31,535,923
Fun Fact: Distance was recorded in New York City's legendary Electric Lady Studios. D'Angelo's Voodoo, Bilal's 1st Born Second, and The Roots' Phrenology were also recorded at Electric Lady.
91. Tiana Major9 ft. EARTHGANG Collide Motown, 2019
Spotify Streams: 45,894,014
Fun Fact: Collide was nominated for Best R&B Song at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
90. Thundercat Them Changes Brainfeeder, 2020
Spotify Streams: 302,994,988
Fun Fact: Them Changes borrows its drums from The Isley Brothers' Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1&2.
89. Kelela LMK Warp, 2017
Spotify Streams: 12,352,417
Fun Fact: Stereogum, Noisey, and Highsnobiety all ranked Kelela's LMK at #7 on their Best Songs of 2017 lists.
88. Oxlade KU LO SA Troniq Music/Epic, 2022
Spotify Streams: 18,882,490
Fun Fact: The A COLORS SHOW version of Oxlade's KU LO SA has over 81 million views on YouTube.
87. Kehlani ft. Masego Hate the Club Atlantic, 2020
Spotify Streams: 34,330,901
Fun Fact: Kehlani name-checks Shabba, a popular reggae/dancehall party now known as Donovan's Yard. Young Thug also shouts out Shabba on Metro Boomin's Trance.
86. Janelle Monae Only Have Eyes 42 Atlantic, 2023
Spotify Streams: 8,967,190
Fun Fact: Only Have Eyes 42 samples reggae artist Derrick Harriott's The Loser.
85. Snoh Aalegra I Want You Around ARTium/AWAL, 2019
Spotify Streams: 147,258,213
Fun Fact: I Want You Around is Snoh Aalegra's first Platinum single certified by the RIAA.
84. Ro James Permission ByStorm/RCA, 2015
Spotify Streams: 69,369,232
Fun Fact: Permission samples Willie Hutch's Brother's Gonna Work It Out. The sample was previously used on Chance The Rapper's Lost.
83. Ty Dolla $ign ft. Musiq Soulchild, Tish Hyman & 6LACK Your Turn Atlantic, 2020
Spotify Streams: 14,684,668
Fun Fact: Your Turn was originally included on the tracklist for a Ty Dolla $ign album slated to be released before the COVID-19 pandemic.
82. Masego ft. FKJ Tadow EQT, 2017
Spotify Streams: 442,923,172
Fun Fact: The Tadow video was released almost two years after the song came out.
81. Jacquees B.E.D. Cash Money/Republic, 2016
Spotify Streams: 261,215,353
Fun Fact: B.E.D. s chorus interpolates the bridge of Avant's Read Your Mind.
80. Khalid Location RCA, 2017
Spotify Streams: 1,347,691,159
Fun Fact: Location has been officially remixed three times: The first including Lil Wayne and Kehlani, the second featuring Lil Simz, and the third featuring Jorja Smith and Wretch 32.
79
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
21/08/2026
Hardware-style timing shifts for software instruments
Following on from the release of Omniclock, Rapid Flow have launched a new sequencer plug-in that can ...
21/08/2026
Highly anticipated synthesizer ships in October 2026
Iceland-based Love Synthesizers have announced that their highly anticipated synthesizer is now availab...
21/08/2026
Masterpiece PBS The Forsytes has expanded its cast as its begins production in ...
21/08/2026
The BBC has unveiled first-look pictures from The Witch Farm, a new ghost story and mystery set in the Welsh countryside, coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One...
21/08/2026
The BBC and BritBox have revealed the first look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha C...
21/08/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
21/08/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
VIZ Media Takes Over Anime NYC with BLEACH, BLACK TORCH, M...
21/08/2026
Tell us a little bit about your job I'm a Marketing Manager and work across a mix of clients and projects. No two days are ever quite the same, which defini...
21/08/2026
Beat The Lotto dives into the plot behind the 1980s National Lottery scandal
24 August 2026 at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player
Beat The Lotto is the story o...
21/08/2026
The countdown to the most wonderful night of the year has officially begun!
Host Patrick Kielty is gearing up for another unforgettable Late Late Toy Show nig...
21/08/2026
Meet puppet duo Bellie and Whizz, who are about to explore all the big feelings ...
20/08/2026
Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure
SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...
20/08/2026
New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality
Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...
20/08/2026
TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...
20/08/2026
Thursday 20 August 2026
Nina Sosanya, Rizzle Kicks, Roman Kemp and Paul Whiteho...
20/08/2026
Wuppertal August 20, 2026
Transformation Church Elevates Production Communicat...
20/08/2026
The music between the notes Coming together In the middle of 2026, as conversations around artificial intelligence continue to raise questions about how musi...
20/08/2026
Arvato Systems Brings Together Digital Transformation Leaders in the Manufacturi...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
Company launch with stereo-imaging tool
Panoramic is the debut release from Panorama Labs, a new company formed by mastering engineer Nicholas Di Lorenzo. C...
18/08/2026
Control software now available for older interfaces
Focusrite have just announced the launch of an update that extends Control 2 software support for their ...
18/08/2026
Tuesday 18 August 2026
Sky Sports and The Fast and the Curious announce new partnership
Sky Sports and The Fast and the Curious have announced a new long-term...
18/08/2026
Wuppertal August 18, 2026
Riedel Brings Professional Live Production Into the Classrooms of ECURiedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan Universi...
18/08/2026
Apple today announced changes to its business terms for apps in the European Uni...
18/08/2026
THE HEALY RAES: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS AIRS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 ON RT ONE AT 9:35PM
A new documentary The Healy-Raes: Blood, Sweat & Tears airs on RT One and ...
18/08/2026
Stunning Irish performances at European Athletics and Swimming Championships rea...
18/08/2026
The two-part series begins Sunday 23 August at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player
...
17/08/2026
New MIDI processor & macro controller revealed
SHIK have announced that they have opened pre-orders for the S32, a standalone MIDI processor and macro contr...
17/08/2026
Cover extended on innovative motorised pot system
Melbourne Instruments have just revealed that the innovative motorised pot system used in their synths and...
17/08/2026
Latest firmware version now available
1010music have just released a free firmware update that brings some nice new features to their renowned Bluebox digit...
17/08/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases integrated defense and test solutions at DALO Industry...
17/08/2026
Calrec's ImPulseV Virtualised Audio Mixing Engine joins NEP Platform, the industry's largest ecosystem of trusted production software, bringing scalable...
17/08/2026
Visitors to IBC 2026 will see how FilmLight is reshaping the modern post pipelin...
17/08/2026
Visitors to Stand 1.C41 can explore innovations in areas such as addressable advertising, hybrid distribution, managed services and operational simplification.
...
16/08/2026
Virtual drummer joins line-up
The latest release from Gospel Musicians adds a virtual drummer to the company's line-up, combining a pair of meticulously...
15/08/2026
In-ear monitoring line-up gains new universal models
In-ear monitoring experts JH Audio have just announced a significant expansion of their Universal-Fit r...
14/08/2026
Latest instalment delivers disco-inspired grooves
The latest addition to UJAM's virtual drum line-up has been designed with contemporary pop, disco, dan...
14/08/2026
Elite range gains giant 24-inch powered sub
The latest expansion of Yorkville's Elite range introduces what the company say is the world's first act...
14/08/2026
Friday 14 August 2026
Breaking news! Sky releases trailer for The Paper, return...
14/08/2026
It's been one year since our client, Cotswolds Designer Outlet, opened its doors and we've loved seeing the scheme come to life. Together, we've hel...
In February, we launched Spotify CLASSICS, our first-ever program to celebrate catalog music. Our inaugural list focused on the Classic Hip-Hop and R&B Albums of the Streaming Era and featured timeless bodies of work like Beyonc 's Lemonade, Frank Ocean's Blonde, SZA's Ctrl, Rihanna's ANTI, and Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales, to name a few. 
