20 Best R&B Albums of 2025: Staff Picks

Billboard chooses its top R&B albums of the year, featuring sets from SZA, Summer Walker, GIVEON and many more.

R&B's next vibe shift is here. These 2025 albums are proof

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 ...
The Grio

Spotify treats R&B fans in Washington, D.C. to intimate live music with ‘RNB X After Hours.’

R&B isn’t just a genre; it’s a deeply personal experience. It’s the soundtrack to late-night conversations, unspoken confessions, and moments that linger long after the music fades. On a crisp Tuesday ...
SheBudgets on MSN

8 iconic R&B and soul songs that still define the 1970s sound

The 1970s brought a revolution to R&B and soul music that changed everything. Artists started blending funk rhythms, social ...
Los Angeles Times

In the new R&B, the future is female. A closer look at artists re-igniting the genre

Hip-hop’s takeover of R&B over the past decade altered its sound as soul artists aggressively pulled away from the genre’s conventional boundaries and embraced rap. Given the boys’ club culture of rap ...
Los Angeles Times

‘Real R&B’ seemed like a lost art. Fresh voices have changed that — but is it enough?

At this year’s Grammy Awards in February, the narrative was tightly focused on rap’s prominence among nominees in the major categories after historically being overlooked. So when Bruno Mars, one of ...
Forbes

25 R&B Artists To Include In Your Collection

Host Erykah Badu attends the 2016 Soul Train Music Awards at the Orleans Arena on November 6, 2016 in Las Vegas. The combination of rhythm and blues spurred the development of the culture and genre ...
Rolling Stone

The 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century

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 ...
The New York Times

The Women Who Are Reinventing R&B

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 ...

R&B music’s heartbreaking 2025: A look at the singers who have died this year

The R&B world has had its share of heartbreak in 2025. And, sadly, another legend’s name has joined the list of those lost this year. As the clock quickly winds down and we approach 2026, the ...
Essence

How Did Hip-Hop And R&B Become One Genre?

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 ...