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Billboard's 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time MJ #1

D'Angelo? Maxwell? Erykah Badu? Usher? Out of around 80 years of R&B music, how did they make the list? It must have been compiled by neo soul fans. :rofl: No Isley Brothers, who've been around since the 1950s, but someone who was influenced by them (R. Kelly) is there. What I've noticed about the list is that most of these acts had some level of crossover success. There's many acts that were mainly known to the R&B audience and not the Top 40 pop audience like Tyrone Davis and Cameo.
 
^^^Happy to see Smokey, Stevie, and Michael were the top 3.


Under the piece "Best Pop Hooks of All Time" they had a nicely written (and true) paragraph on Michael-"Beat It" got #2 and Jackson 5's "ABC" got #4.


http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6731053/greatest-pop-hooks-of-all-time


2. “Beat It,” Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson understood how to fashion, bend and deliver a hook better than nearly anyone in the history of modern music; “Beat It,” more than any of his other smashes, is his hook-stuffed opus. The fiery chant of the chorus is not just a battle cry, but a challenge for the music world at large to top him. We’re still waiting for someone to come close.
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I can't believe they did not include the Dangerous Album cover on their ''Best Album Cover of All Time''.
 
barbee0715 said:
^^^Happy to see Smokey, Stevie, and Michael were the top 3.
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Even if this is going by hits, there's no way D'Angelo is more popular than The Spinners, Teddy Pendergrass, The Temptations, Freddie Jackson, Gap Band, Funkadelic, LTD/Jeffrey Osborne, Lou Rawls, George Benson, Deniece Williams, Johnnie Taylor, Louis Jordan, Ben E King, Jackie Wilson, Brook Benton, Ohio Players, New Edition, Teena Marie, Millie Jackson, Booker T & The MGs, Roberta Flack, War, The Dramatics, and many other acts.
 
DuranDuran said:
D'Angelo? Maxwell? Erykah Badu? Usher? Out of around 80 years of R&B music, how did they make the list? It must have been compiled by neo soul fans. :rofl: No Isley Brothers, who've been around since the 1950s, but someone who was influenced by them (R. Kelly) is there. What I've noticed about the list is that most of these acts had some level of crossover success. There's many acts that were mainly known to the R&B audience and not the Top 40 pop audience like Tyrone Davis and Cameo.
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Like I said in this thread: http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/136974-Billboard-Greatest-Of-All-Time-Michael-in-top-10 these Billboard charts published this week seem to disproportionately favour current acts. That's why you will see neo soul acts there but not the old (much bigger) legends of R&B. It is so on their other charts as well. In the greatest albums ever list they have 21 by Adele at #1, tons of Taylor Swift albums, Frozen soundtrack etc. - well just a disproportional amount of current acts in disproportionately high places IMO. My guess is that Billboard probably tries to appeal to current young fans, so they made up a scoring system that somehow favours these current acts.
 
^^i think so too. All of these lists seem odd. Really odd not to see Teddy Pendergass, Jackie Wilson and Mary Wells not on the R&B one.
 
respect77 said:
Like I said in this thread: http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/136974-Billboard-Greatest-Of-All-Time-Michael-in-top-10 these Billboard charts published this week seem to disproportionately favour current acts. That's why you will see neo soul acts there but not the old (much bigger) legends of R&B. It is so on their other charts as well. In the greatest albums ever list they have 21 by Adele at #1, tons of Taylor Swift albums, Frozen soundtrack etc. - well just a disproportional amount of current acts in disproportionately high places IMO. My guess is that Billboard probably tries to appeal to current young fans, so they made up a scoring system that somehow favours these current acts.
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Even if you only count newer acts, D'Angelo makes no sense. I'm pretty sure Rihanna, Boyz II Men, Sade, & Mariah Carey had more success on the R&B charts than him. And Sade rarely releases anything, lol. D'Angelo only has 3 studio albums in 20 years and there was a 14 year gap between the newest one in 2014 and the previous one. D'Angelo is mostly known for that nude music video.
 
That is a great list of artists, glad they focussed on proper R & B and soul legends, rather than rappers and flashy spacesuit wearing funk bands (Not that I mind them). Thought Prince should be a bit higher than #8 and where is the Time? Don't feel Michael should be #1, some like James Brown, Stevie or Marvin should, sorry but I feel their legacy is a bit larger.

The only major ones I felt they missed were Smokey Robinson, Toni Braxton, Roberta Flack and of course Rick James.
 
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