Here are the number one songs on the black music charts in America for each year since 1946 (except 1964 where there was a break in the Billboard charts). This is something I have always wanted to do: list all the number one songs for as far back in time as possible and have a way to listen to each one. Thanks to the Wikipedia and YouTube that is now possible without going through old record shops and so on.
I am using “R&B” as the nearest catch-all term. As you will see it is not one particular style of music – below are blues, doo-wop, rock and roll, soul, disco, hip hop and what many would regard as just plain music.
Given how YouTube is, the links will probably start rotting in like six months, so enjoy them now while you still can!
Click on the picture to listen to a song. YouTube will put in ads on some but not all the songs.
1946: Lionel Hampton: “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop”
1947: Louis Jordan: “Ain’t Nobody But Us Chickens”
1948: Sonny Thompson: “Long Gone”
1949: Paul Williams: “Hucklebuck”
1950: Joe Liggins: “Pink Champagne”
1951: The Dominoes: “Sixty Minute Man”
1952: Lloyd Price: “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
1953: Ruth Brown: “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean”
1954: Midnighters: “Work With Me Annie”
1955: Johnny Ace: “Pledging My Love”
1956: Bill Doggett: “Honky Tonk”
1957: Elvis Presley: “Jailhouse Rock”
1958: Chuck Willis: “What Am I Loving For”
1959: Lloyd Price: “Stagger Lee”
1960: Brook Benton: “Kiddio”
1961: Bobby Lewis: “Tossin’ and Turnin”
1962: King Curtis: “Soul Twist”
1963: Little Johnny Taylor: “Part Time Love”
1964: -
1965: Four Tops: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)”
1966: Sam & Dave: “Hold On! I’m Comin’”
1967: Aretha Franklin: “Respect”
1968: James Brown: “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”
1969: Jr Walker and the All Stars: “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)”
1970: Jackson 5: “I’ll Be There”
1971: Jean Knight: “Mr Big Stuff”
1972: Al Green: “Let’s Stay Together”
1973: Marvin Gaye: “Let’s Get It On”
1974: Roberta Flack: “Feel Like Makin’ Love”
1975: Isley Brothers: “Fight the Power, Pt. 1″
1976: Johnnie Taylor: “Disco Lady”
1977: The Floaters: “Float On”
1978: Earth, Wind & Fire: “Serpentine Fire”
1979: Chic: “Good Times”
1980: Jermaine Jackson: “Let’s Get Serious”
1981: Diana Ross & Lionel Richie: “Endless Love”
1982: Stevie Wonder: “That Girl”
1983: Marvin Gaye: “Sexual Healing”
1984: Prince: “When Doves Cry”
1985: Freddie Jackson: “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)”
1986: Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald: “On My Own”
1987: Luther Vandross: “Stop to Love”
1988: Keith Sweat: “I Want Her”
1989: Karyn White: “Superwoman”
1990: En Vogue: “Hold On”
1991: Rude Boys: “Written All Over Your Face”
1992: Jodeci: “Come and Talk to Me”
1993: Whitney Houston: “I Will Always Love You”
1994: R. Kelly: “Bump n’ Grind”
1995: TLC: “Creep”
1996: Toni Braxton: “You’re Makin’ Me High”
1997: Dru Hill: “In My Bed”
1998: Next: “Too Close”
1999: Maxwell: “Fortunate”
2000: Jagged Edge: “Let’s Get Married”
2001: R. Kelly ft Jay-Z: “Fiesta”
2002: Ashanti: “Foolish”
2003: 50 Cent: “In Da Club”
2004: Alicia Keys: “If I Ain’t Got You”
2005: Mario: “Let Me Love You”
2006: Mary J. Blige: “Be Without You”
2007: Robin Thicke: “Lost Without You”
2008: Alicia Keys: “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”
2009: Jamie Foxx ft. T-Pain: “Blame It”
2010: Alicia Keys: “Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready)”
2011: Miguel: “Sure Thing”
See also:
- Billboard’s list of year-end singles
- 1986 Mixtape - an old cassette tape of mine I found from the summer of 1986. It had the number one R&B song for that year!
there are some great songs on this list! ! great stuff i still remember en vogue and listening to en vogue it’s weird to think when some of these songs were hits I wasn’t even in existence and what a different world it was in 1946 vs. 2012 what a different world and that difference is reflected in the music style of those times
Hi Abagond,
You have made me smile.
Sweet.
I know a lot of them – unfortunately not the most recent ones (though I may recognise them if I hear them). My kids will be disgusted lol
Stevie Wonder: That Girl, LOVE THAT SONG! The bass line, the drums just crazy good all around.
From 1999-2002
Brings back memories….
Abagond you just made me wish i was back in high school
Very nice. Elvis Presley, Robin Thicke.
Interesting list w/ a few favorites of mine. I suppose a lot of other songs didn’t quite make it that were considered classics as well.
I nv really liked R&B. There’s only a few songs/artist I can f*ck with
I don’t understand. There would be multiple #1′s in each year; or more than one anyway. By the #1 for the year, what do we mean? The number of singles sold or the number of weeks spent at #1 chart position.(which maybe is determined by the units sold anyway).
I haven’t flipped through Billboard since adolescence, but I seem to recall their were #1′s based on many categories. There may have been an R&B radio play list; there may have been an R&B sales list. What is the definition you were using.
And what do we mean by “black music charts”. We mean R&B charts? Abagond, did you stick with R&B charts from the first year to the last year in the list? Sorry if I’m daft, it’s not clear to me from the post.
——————————-
•As I scrolled, I thought for sure I’d see a Rick James entry; really surprised not to see him. But the real shocker, where is Teena Marie!? Lovergirl, was a gigantic piece of fierce music!! (did it go to the funk charts?) Surprised not to see Love Train too, by the O’Jays. (too lazy to look up the respective years >< )
•It's easy to forget just how wonderful Sexual Healing is because it’s so overplayed (in pop culture). But when you play it in the privacy of your home, it is such a great song. I think Marvin produced the whole album. (too lazy to go over to my CD rack and check; how do i make a smiley with it’s tongue sticking out?)
r.i.p. Lady T
Thanks Abagond!
I miss En Vogue.
@ SW6
They are the number one songs for each year, based on whatever Billboard’s formula is, some combination of air play and record sales, I believe. I got the list from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Year-End_number-one_singles_and_albums
The number one tends to be the song that was number one for the most weeks but not always. For example, in 1980 Stevie Wonder’s “Master Blaster” was at number one longer than Jermaine Jackson’s “Let’s Get Serious”.
R&B is my name but it is based on Billboard’s most common name for the black music charts. By black music they seem to mean music that does best among blacks: They can, for example, have Elvis or Robin Thicke at the top, but when “too many” white artists were getting to the top of the chart in 1964, they stopped reporting it for about a year. Some believe they adjusted their formula before restarting the chart. That is my understanding.
thx.
My FAVE is #1 from 1978. If you listen and really hone in on that NASTY bassline, you’ll start to FEEL it in your spine. Straight up KUNDALINI. EWF knew exactly what they were doing. Peace & blessings to ALL! *smiling*
ugh i cant believe people made that dumbass blame it on the alcohol song the no1 song of that year. easily the worst song on that list
I enjoyed listening to almost all of the songs, thank you.
Thank you Abagond, for compiling this. I would love to see a complete survey of black music, but this list…I don’t know. What’s Billboard’s criteria for determining #1 for the year?
Only one act from Motown during it’s heyday? That’s interesting. Stevie and Diana didn’t make the list until the 1980s, and the Temptations weren’t on the list at all. In 1964, The Supremes had at least three number one hits: Baby Love, Where Did Our Love Go, and Come See About Me. Also, The Temptations released The Way You Do the Things You Do, and My Girl — both of which went to number 1 — so it’s odd that there are no entries for that year.
Frankly, I’m surprised that Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder didn’t have multiple listings. Really, Stevie should have dominated that list during the 1970s…he and Earth, Wind and Fire.
And almost no funk groups like The Gap Band, Cameo, The Ohio Players, Parliament/Funkadelic…
It’s interesting to see some of the people who made the list (including several one-hit wonders), but mostly the glaring omissions stand out. No Temptations, no Rick James, no Teena Marie, no funk, no Commodores, no Chuck Berry, no Donna Summer, no Gladys Knight and the Pips, no Curtis Mayfield, no Sly and the Family Stone, no Emotions, no Minnie Ripperton…
R. Kelly makes the list twice, but only one mention each for the likes of Prince, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, EWF, and Aretha Franklin? What? Come on! That doesn’t even seem right.
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