@monica upshaw

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

R&B is one of the more dynamic spaces in modern music—and this is where you'll find the boundary-pushing artists leading the conversation. Taking cues from hip-hop and electronic, but still anchored by tradition, here are the tracks pointing the way R&B is heading. Our editors rotate selections regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

The ’90s was a revolutionary time in R&B: Not only had the mature, quiet-storm-oriented sound evolved to its most sophisticated state, you started to really hear the influence of hip-hop—a shift that changed not only R&B, but the sound of modern pop in general. From neo-soul to new jack swing, the classic-sounding to the more cutting-edge, these are the tracks that shaped R&B in the ’90s and early 2000s. Our editors update picks regularly, so if you hear something you like, take a minute and add it to your library.

This is the space for all that’s new in R&B. Crossover ballads, modern hybrids, fresh sounds that call back to the past—if it’s got that vibe, you’ll find it here. Selections are updated regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

A hand-picked mix of hits and album cuts by the stars that shaped '90s R&B. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Like its stylistic cousin hip-hop, R&B has some major overlap with modern pop—at times, the charts are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Put another way, the biggest R&B songs are often the biggest songs in any genre, period. Whether you call it crossover R&B, pop&B, or something else entirely, this is where you’ll find its hugest new chart smashes, updated every week. We always keep this playlist refreshed with the latest tunes. If you like something, add it to your library.

Change is good, but a lot of the best R&B points back to the source. Focusing on current stuff with some classics sprinkled in, this playlist highlights grown-up R&B tunes with hints of the classic tradition: relaxed new sounds with the same old soul. Our editors are always switching things out, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Focused on the mellower, mature side of R&B, the tracks here capture the music as an offshoot of soul and jazz, of quiet storm and adult contemporary—Black pop at its most contemplative and sophisticated, but still deeply connected to real life. Our editors update picks regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Rico Love holds a heavy pen. This singer/producer got his start inking tracks with Usher and has gone on to craft lyrics for Beyoncé, Fergie, and Trey Songz. Whether he's getting romantic with Lloyd, keeping it sexual with Kelly Rowland, or getting the party started with Diddy, Rico has a song for every occasion.

Memphis-based Stax Records was the beating heart of the Southern soul scene in the ‘60s, with artists like Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. In the racially divided South, Stax was a progressive anomaly with their integrated groups—including the label's house band, Booker T. & The MG's. Isaac Hayes was an early songwriter for the label before launching his own career at the end of the decade.

Feelings of sincerity, tenderness, and sensuality are what listeners seek from great slow jams—and that's exactly what they get from the leaders of the form. While the term itself is elastic enough to include R&B ballads of many eras, the slow jam is epitomized by a more contemporary variety of love song whose rich, deep texture bears a hip-hop influence yet still boasts the sultry feel and slower tempo that allows for a full expression of emotion. For divas like Mariah Carey and Beyoncé, the key to making slow jams that connect is about balancing subtle inflections with more impassioned moments. Smooth crooners such as Marvin Gaye and Maxwell know what a falsetto can do to turn listeners into objects of desire. No matter what means these singers use, their straightforwardness and use of buttery grooves make for slow jams that go straight to the heart of the matter.