Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, and SZA‘s songs have all las among the 100 Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century.
According to Rolling Stone, Queen Bey has delivered memorable tracks like “1+1” (No. 27) and “Dangerously in Love” (No. 3) as a solo artist, but she certainly did her part with “Cater 2 U” (No. 21) back in her Destiny’s Child days.
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Meanwhile, ex-Odd Future‘s Frank Ocean came in at No. 6 with “Thinkin’ About You,” and SZA certainly was no slouch with “Snooze,” which came in at No. 19. Ginuwine, Bruno Mars, and Mariah Carey all took spots on the list, as well. The top spot, however, belonged to Usher, who shut it all down with “Confessions Pt. 2.”
Check out the playlist of the Greatest R&B Songs of the 21st Century below.
Back in November, HipHopDX came up with its own list of the top R&B albums of 2023, with PinkPantheress coming in at the top spot.
On her anticipated debut album, Heaven Knows, PinkPantheress crafts her own Shakespearean tragedy, but doesn’t quite evolve from the themes or sounds of her past work. She utilizes heaps of avant garde synths, electronic dance, and percussion beats that add a sparkly gloss to lyrics which touch on heavier themes of death, love lost and unrequited, and grief.
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In doing so, she brings to light the darker sides of a young soul attempting to navigate heartbreak. It’s a poetic and dramatic compilation of breakup songs that will leave a listener dancing around their living room while yearning for their toxic ex.
SZA also made the list with her record-breaking sophomore album SOS.
While she delivered her second project five years since her debut album CTRL, SZA didn’t go completely missing in action during that time. She appeared on projects by Summer Walker, DJ Khaled, and Doja Cat, to name a few.
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However SOS was the first time fans got to hear her perspective on her absence and everything that was going on in her world; not through Twitter interpretations, or he said/she said drama, direct from the source.
The project went on to eclipse milestones by the likes of Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige, a with the hit single “Snooze” becoming the only song to spend all of 2023 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
