1 singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but also landed five No. The diva not only went on to earn eight No. But no one could have expected just how big Houston would become. After all, it was in her genes: mother Cissy Houston was a respected gospel/R&B singer (and member of the Sweet Inspirations) and cousin Dionne Warwick had been a staple on the Billboard charts for decades. 5 hit "Hold Me," many knew that chart success was in her future. When Whitney Houston arrived on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1984 as the featured guest star on Teddy Pendergrass' No. She has since posted 20 top 10 tracks on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, including "Be Without You" which spent a record-setting 15 weeks atop the list, and eight chart-topping albums, the most by a female in R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart history. 1 singles "You Remind Me" and "Real Love" set the stage for Blige's illustrious career as one of the genre's most celebrated artists. On its way to spending seven weeks at the summit of Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, No. Blige by Sean "Diddy" Combs who worked her debut album "What's The 411?" as an A&R exec at Uptown Records in 1992. The Queen of hip-hop soul was the title bestowed upon Mary J. The R&B icon continued to post new chart achievements in 2010, as he notched his 56th top 40 single with "When a Woman Loves." Further cementing Kelly's hitmaker status is his staggering 11 No. 1s, including "Bump N' Grind" (12 weeks at the top) and "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" (seven weeks) with Ronald Isley. Since January of 1985, he's amassed 35 top 10 hits on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (the most of any act in the time frame) and a total of 84 charting singles. Kelly crowns our list of the top 25 R&B/hip-hop artists of the past 25 years with good reason. But each artist is an essential voice in a genre that has become the driving force in today's popular music. Our list includes recent chart-toppers as well as classic favorites, platinum-selling crossover divas and quiet-storm crooners, innovators you'd expect to see and some surprising inclusions you never saw coming. 1 earned greater value than those that spent most time at the lower end of the chart). Artists are ranked based on an inverse point system (which just means that who ever spent the most weeks at No. The tally is based on actual performance on the weekly Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts from Jan.
In honor of the incomparable artists that have helped bring urban music to the masses over the last three decades - and also to toast the success of our recently launched music column The Juice - the Billboard chart team has assembled this list of the Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop artists of the last 25 years. The Top 50 R&B / Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years