Did anyone else notice how r&b declined a lot on pop stations in the late '00s? I remember 2000-2005 pop stations played a lot of r&b, granted a lot of it was still pop leaning but much less so than it became after 2006 and especially after 2008. I remember thinking slow jams were dead in the mid '00s, but really they weren't when you think of songs like "Burn", "We Belong Together", Beyonce's "Me Myself and I". I even remember Monica's "U Should Have Known Better" being played a lot on my pop station back in 2004. Nowadays there's hardly any r&b crossovers, except for the really upbeat songs like "Bottoms Up" or "Down On Me". The most telling thing is when artists like Usher have to make electropop songs to get pop hits and separate r&b songs to get urban hits, compared to back in 2004 when his r&b singles were hits on ALL formats.  Really it's equivalent to the decline of rock on pop stations and follows the same timeline almost.

Did anyone else notice how r&b declined a lot on pop stations in the late '00s? I remember 2000-2005 pop stations played a lot of r&b, granted a lot of it was still pop leaning but much less so than it became after 2006 and especially after 2008. I remember thinking slow jams were dead in the mid '00s, but really they weren't when you think of songs like "Burn", "We Belong Together", Beyonce's "Me Myself and I". I even remember Monica's "U Should Have Known Better" being played a lot on my pop station back in 2004. Nowadays there's hardly any r&b crossovers, except for the really upbeat songs like "Bottoms Up" or "Down On Me". The most telling thing is when artists like Usher have to make electropop songs to get pop hits and separate r&b songs to get urban hits, compared to back in 2004 when his r&b singles were hits on ALL formats.  Really it's equivalent to the decline of rock on pop stations and follows the same timeline almost.


Yeah, it's a dying format.

I might be wrong, it might not be dying. It might just be out of style and one day come back again, just like a lot of music genres.

Yeah, it's a dying format.

I might be wrong, it might not be dying. It might just be out of style and one day come back again, just like a lot of music genres.


I guess if you want to listen to the REAL r & b,go to an internet radio station and listen from there,That's what I do.

I guess if you want to listen to the REAL r & b,go to an internet radio station and listen from there,That's what I do.


Yup. It's the era of online music! :D

Yup. It's the era of online music! :D


Does anyone turn on the radio anymore? I remember back in the late 70's and 80's people were listening to radio via boomboxes and transistors. Boy,how times have changed? :o

The most telling thing is when artists like Usher have to make electropop songs to get pop hits and separate r&b songs to get urban hits, compared to back in 2004 when his r&b singles were hits on ALL formats.  Really it's equivalent to the decline of rock on pop stations and follows the same timeline almost.


R&B.  You mean stuff like Cab Calloway, Little Richard, Fats Domino, (maybe some Bill Haley or Elvis Presley), or some Sam Cooke?

The most interesting question as to the history of R&B was "When did R&B cease to mean early rock-and-roll that slowly changed into the whole 60s/70s soul thing, and when did it become generic 'urban' music that was called R&B because there was no new word for it?"

R&B.  You mean stuff like Cab Calloway, Little Richard, Fats Domino, (maybe some Bill Haley or Elvis Presley), or some Sam Cooke?

The most interesting question as to the history of R&B was "When did R&B cease to mean early rock-and-roll that slowly changed into the whole 60s/70s soul thing, and when did it become generic 'urban' music that was called R&B because there was no new word for it?"


You're right, really it's a progressive decline since the '50s-'70s when there was real soul, now r&b is like dead.

You're right, really it's a progressive decline since the '50s-'70s when there was real soul, now r&b is like dead.


Can anyone find good R & B on the radio anymore Brian?