Showing posts with label R and B. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R and B. Show all posts

Saturday, December 4, 2021

The Top 100 R&B Songs of All Time

R&B:

Top 100 Songs

Like most DMDB lists, this was created by aggregrating multiple genre-specific lists. In this case, 33 R&B-focused best-of lists were aggregrated. Here are the results:

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968)
2. The Temptations “My Girl” (1965)
3. Aretha Franklin “Respect” (1967)
4. Al Green “Let’s Stay Together” (1971)
5. Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (1968)
6. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)
7. Percy Sledge “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1966)
8. The Miracles “The Tracks of My Tears” (1965)
9. Marvin Gaye “Let’s Get It On” (1973)
10. Sam Cooke “A Change Is Gonna Come” (1965)

11. James Brown “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (1965)
12. Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961)
13. Marvin Gaye “Sexual Healing” (1982)
14. Four Tops “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” (1966)
15. Prince “When Doves Cry” (1984)
16. Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” (1992)
17. Martha Reeves & the Vandellas “Dancing in the Street” (1964)
18. Stevie Wonder “Superstition” (1972)
19. Gladys Knight & the Pips “Midnight Train to Georgia” (1973)
20. James Brown “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (1965)

21. Lionel Richie with Diana Ross “Endless Love” (1981)
22. Aaron Neville “Tell It Like It Is” (1966)
23. The Temptations “Just My Imagination Running Away with Me” (1971)
24. Ray Charles “What’d I Say” (1959)
25. Bill Withers “Lean on Me” (1972)
26. The Supremes “Baby Love” (1964)
27. Jackie Wilson “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher” (1967)
28. Sam & Dave “Soul Man” (1967)
29. The Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love” (1966)
30. The Temptations “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (1966)

31. Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (1983)
32. Wilson Pickett “In the Midnight Hour” (1965)
33. Usher with Lil’ Jon & Ludacris “Yeah!” (2004)
34. Four Tops “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” (1965)
35. Mary Wells “My Guy” (1964)
36. Marvin Gaye “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” (1971)
37. Boyz II Men “I’ll Make Love to You” (1994)
38. The Jackson 5 “I Want You Back” (1969)
39. Boyz II Men “End of the Road” (1992)
40. The Jackson 5 “I’ll Be There” (1970)

41. Puff Daddy with Faith Evans & 112 “I’ll Be Missing You” (1997)
42. The Drifters “Under the Boardwalk” (1964)
43. Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” (1972)
44. The Flamingos “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1959)
45. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (1967)
46. Booker T. & the MG’s “Green Onions” (1962)
47. Sam Cooke “You Send Me” (1957)
48. Etta James “At Last” (1961)
49. Brandy with Monica “The Boy Is Mine” (1998)
50. Ray Charles “Georgia on My Mind” (1960)

51. Barry White “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” (1974)
52. Fats Domino “Blueberry Hill” (1956)
53. Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1962)
54. Junior Walker & the All Stars “Shotgun” (1965)
55. Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (1973)
56. Toni Braxton “Un-Break My Heart” (1996)
57. The Platters “The Great Pretender” (1955)
58. Mariah Carey “We Belong Together” (2005)
59. The Miracles “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” (1962)
60. Tina Turner “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” (1984)

61. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (1956)
62. The Supremes “Stop! In the Name of Love” (1965)
63. The Penguins “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” (1954)
64. R. Kelly “I Believe I Can Fly” (1996)
65. The Isley Brothers “It’s Your Thing” (1969)
66. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas “Heat Wave” (1963)
67. The Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman” (1961)
68. The Miracles “Shop Around” (1960)
69. Jimmy Ruffin “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” (1966)
70. The Drifters “Save the Last Dance for Me” (1960)

71. Commodores “Three Times a Lady” (1978)
72. Otis Redding “Try a Little Tenderness” (1966)
73. Sister Sledge “We Are Family” (1979)
74. The Jackson 5 “ABC” (1970)
75. Janet Jackson “That’s the Way Love Goes” (1993)
76. Aretha Franklin “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” (1967)
77. Lionel Richie “All Night Long (All Night)” (1983)
78. Al Green “Love and Happiness” (1977)
79. Otis Redding “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (1965)
80. Chubby Checker “The Twist” (1960)

81. Isaac Hayes “Theme from ‘Shaft’” (1971)
82. Chuck Berry “Maybellene” (1955)
83. The Shirelles “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (1960)
84. Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive” (1978)
85. Gladys Knight & the Pips “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1967)
86. Fats Domino “Ain’t That a Shame” (1955)
87. Mariah Carey with Boyz II Men “One Sweet Day” (1995)
88. Sly & the Family Stone “Everyday People” (1968)
89. Little Richard “Long Tall Sally” (1956)
90. The Temptations “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (1972)

91. The Isley Brothers “This Old Heart of Mine” (1966)
92. The Staple Singers “I’ll Take You There” (1972)
93. The Impressions “People Get Ready” (1965)
94. James Brown “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (1966)
95. The O’Jays “Love Train” (1973)
96. Arthur Conley “Sweet Soul Music” (1967)
97. The Platters “Only You (And You Alone)” (1955)
98. The Emotions “Best of My Love” (1977)
99. The Four Tops “Baby, I Need Your Loving” (1964)
100. Mariah Carey “Vision of Love” (1990)

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 3/7/2012; last updated 12/4/2021.

at 4 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, April 2, 2012

Marvin Gaye's Top 50 Songs

image from ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com

April 2, 1939: Marvin Gaye was born. According to the DMDB, he ranks #3 on the list of top 100 R&B acts. He also rates as one of the top 100 singers of all time and one of the top 100 songwriters of the rock era. He got his start singing in his father’s Apostolic church in vocal groups the Rainbows and Marquees. He joined Harvey Fuqua in the re-formed Moonglows. He moved to Detroit in 1960 and got session work as a drummer at Motown. He first recorded under his own name in 1961. That same year he married Anna Gordy, the sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy. They divorced in 1975. On the eve of his 45th birthday – April 1, 1984 – he was tragically shot and killed by his own father after a quarrel.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

1. I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1968)
2. What’s Going On (1971)
3. Let’s Get It On (1973)
4. Sexual Healing (1982)
5. How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You (1964)

What’s Going On

6. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)
7. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology Song) (1971)
8. It Takes Two (with Kim Weston, 1966)
9. Got to Give It Up (1977)
10. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (1971)

Let’s Get It On

11. Your Precious Love (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)
12. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (1969)
13. Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
14. You’re All I Need to Get By (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
15. Ain’t That Peculiar (1965)

Sexual Healing

16. I’ll Be Doggone (1965)
17. I Want You (1976)
18. Can I Get a Witness (1963)
19. You’re a Wonderful One (1964)
20. If I Could Build My Whole World Around You (with Tammi Terrell, 1967)

How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You

21. Pride and Joy (1963)
22. That’s the Way Love Is (1969)
23. Hitch Hike (1963)
24. My Mistake Was to Love You (with Diana Ross, 1974)
25. Trouble Man (1972)

26. You’re a Special Part of Me (1973)
27. One More Heartache (1966)
28. Stubborn Kind of Fellow (1962)
29. Once Upon a Time (with Mary Wells, 1964)
30. Come Get to This (1973)

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

31. Try It Baby (1964)
32. Baby Don’t You Do It (1964)
33. What’s the Matter with You (with Mary Wells, 1964)
34. Keep on Lovin’ Me Honey (with Tammi Terrell, 1968)
35. Pretty Little Baby (1965)

Mercy Mercy Me

36. Music (with Erick Sermon, 2001)
37. Distant Lover (1974)
38. You (1968)
39. Chained (1968)
40. Your Unchanging Love (1967)

It Takes Two

41. Little Darling, I Need You (1966)
42. The End of Our Road (1970)
43. Good Lovin’ Ain’t Easy to Come By (with Valerie Simpson, 1969)
44. How Can I Forget (1970)
45. Take This Heart of Mine (1966)

Got to Give It Up

46. You’re the Man (1972)
47. You Sure Love to Ball (1974)
48. What You Gave Me (with Valerie Simpson, 1969)
49. Don’t Knock My Love (with Diana Ross, 1974)
50. Pops, We Love You (A Tribute) (with Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, & Stevie Wonder, 1978)

Inner City Blues

Awards:

Resources and Related Links:
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, July 8, 2011

Louis Jordan, the Father of R&B, Is Born: July 8, 1908



Louis Jordan has been called “The Father of Rhythm & Blues” and “The King of the Jukebox”. Jordan is one of the top 1000 music makers of all time according to Dave’s Music Database. He’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. He received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.

As a songwriter, musician, and bandleader, he blended jazz, blues, and R&B into a sound that was popular with both black and white audiences. His music expressed a joyfulness and humor which significantly influenced the development of rock ‘n’ roll. WK He played alto sax with Chick Webb in the 1930s and also did comedy routines. During the 1940s, he assembled his own band and landed 50 songs on the R&B charts; 18 of them went to #1. Three of his songs – “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” (1946), “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens” (1946), and “Boogie Woogie Blue Plate” (1947) – rank in the top 10 of the all-time #1 R&B hits with 18, 17, and 14 weeks respectively.


“Is You Or Is You Ain’t Ma Baby” as performed by “Tom and Jerry”


On the pop charts, Jordan went to #1 with 1944’s “G.I. Jive”. He had seven other top ten pop hits and four songs which were million sellers. His songs “Is You Or Is You Ain’t Ma Baby” (1944) and “Caldonia Boogie (1945) are DMDB top 1000 songs of the 20th century. The latter is also in the Grammy Hall of Fame along with “Let the Good Times Roll” (1946) and the aforementioned “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”. “Caldonia Boogie” and 1949’s “Saturday Night Fish Fry” also make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the Top 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. The latter has even been called the first rock and roll song. WK


“Saturday Night Fish Fry”


Resources and Related Links:



at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)