Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.
The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul, and funk, it is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip hop. It lists the most popular R&B and hip hop titles as follows:[1]
| Date range | Title |
|---|---|
| October 1942 – February 1945 | The Harlem Hit Parade |
| February 1945 – June 1949 | Race Records |
| June 1949 – October 1958 | Rhythm & Blues Records (two or three separate charts—see below) |
| October 1958 – November 1963 | Hot R&B Sides |
| November 1963 – January 1965 | No chart published (see below) |
| January 1965 – August 1969 | Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles |
| August 1969 – July 1973 | Best Selling Soul Singles |
| July 1973 – June 1982 | Hot Soul Singles |
| June 1982 – October 1990 | Hot Black Singles |
| October 1990 – 1999 | Hot R&B Singles |
| 1999–2005 | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks |
| 2005–present | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs |
| 2009–present | R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard.com only) |
Between 1948 and 1955, there were separate charts published for Best Sellers and Juke Box plays, and in 1955 a third chart was added, the Jockeys chart based on radio airplay. These three charts were consolidated into a single R&B chart in October 1958.
From November 30, 1963, to January 23, 1965, there was no Billboard R&B singles charts. The chart was discontinued in late 1963 when Billboard determined it unnecessary because that there was so much crossover of titles between the R&B and pop charts in the light of the rise of Motown.[2] The chart was reinstated in early 1965 when differences in musical tastes of the two audiences, caused in part by the British Invasion in 1964, were deemed sufficient to revive it.
On December 11, 1999, Billboard modified the chart's title to Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and changed it again in 2005 to Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Following an update to the billboard.com website in 2009, the chart name was slightly modified to R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In its print edition and business site, billboard.biz, the name remains Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
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The Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles is a chart composed of 25 positions that represent songs that are making progress to chart on the main R&B/hip-hop chart. Many times, singles halt their progress at this chart and never debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart can also be seen as a 25 position addendum to the chart, but the chart only represents the 25 songs below position #100 that have not yet appeared on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.