After going through the Top 100 songs on the Billboard chart of each 90's years and comparing them with the 80s, 00s, 10s, I now believe that the 90s most prominent genre was R&B.

Share your favorite 90s R&B songs here!

Yeah, I'll be honest, when I think of 90's music, I tend to think of R&B opposed to grunge, teen pop, etc., but I thought that could've just been because I like it more. I think there already is a 90's R&B thread, but I'll post some songs here.

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R&B topped out in the 90s........ Some pretty good R&B songs then!!!

Yeah, it seems like the 90s was when R&B was at it's peak.

It was certainly a big decade for contemporary r&b, at least in North America. In the UK and the rest of Europe, as well as Australia, only a few songs made it across the sea to become big hits, like "Bump n' Grind" and "Pony." Unless your song was a melodious power ballad by an artist like Toni Braxton or Mariah Carey, you weren't likely to find very much success all around the world, where acts like Take That, East 17, and Kylie Minogue thrived instead.

I would say the 1970s were a far more successful decade for r&b music on an overall, global level. Musicians like Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Al Green took the world by storm on levels that Dru Hill, Xscape, and Keith Sweat never could.

It was certainly a big decade for contemporary r&b, at least in North America. In the UK and the rest of Europe, as well as Australia, only a few songs made it across the sea to become big hits, like "Bump n' Grind" and "Pony." Unless your song was a melodious power ballad by an artist like Toni Braxton or Mariah Carey, you weren't likely to find very much success all around the world, where acts like Take That, East 17, and Kylie Minogue thrived instead.

I would say the 1970s were a far more successful decade for r&b music on an overall, global level. Musicians like Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Al Green took the world by storm on levels that Dru Hill, Xscape, and Keith Sweat never could.


Uh, I'm American. Of course, I only meant the U.S. Still...

what about Boys II Men, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson ( I don't care if people considered Houston and Jackson 80s. They were important in the 90s, too.) Are there global equivalents equal to all the artists were listened...when it also applies to the U.S.? ;D

Uh, I'm American. Of course, I only meant the U.S. Still...

I'm not implying you're not American, I'm just pointing out that contemporary r&b was far less internationally successful in the '90s than other genres of music were. If you're coming from a non-North American perspective, the '90s certainly weren't the decade of r&b.

what about Boys II Men, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson ( I don't care if people considered Houston and Jackson 80s. They were important in the 90s, too.) Are there global equivalents equal to all the artists were listened...when it also applies to the U.S.? ;D


Boyz II Men had some sizable hits internationally such as "End of the Road" and "I'll Make Love to You," but they did not completely and utterly swallow up the singles charts in other countries like they did in the United States. I agree, Whitney and Janet were both still huge in the 1990s. However, Whitney's most successful songs in the '90s were power ballads like "I Will Always Love You." Janet also recorded a lot of songs that frankly strayed from the typical contemporary r&b style; most of the singles from janet. were new jack swing, with only "Anytime, Anyplace" being a true contemporary r&b song; The Velvet Rope's most successful hit was a house song, while "I Get Lonely" was the only full-on contemporary r&b song to make it big. Whatever the case, Whitney and Janet were able to score international hits throughout the '90s precisely because they had already made huge names for themselves in the '80s.

Yes! I genuinely think this genre along with adult contemporary was one of the significant forms of music throughout the era. It was not grunge or even hip-hop that dominated most people make it out to be. In fact, I remember R&B songs more from the 90s followed by the combinations of adult contemporary, then hip-hop/teen pop, then the variations of rock.


Yeah, I'll be honest, when I think of 90's music, I tend to think of R&B opposed to grunge, teen pop, etc., but I thought that could've just been because I like it more. I think there already is a 90's R&B thread, but I'll post some songs here.

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You are correct sir. There was already one although it was made 2 years ago, and hasn't been commented on in a little over a year.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=53059.0

I was a big fan of 90s r&b. In fact two of my favourite singers are still Brandy and Toni Braxton.


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It was certainly a big decade for contemporary r&b, at least in North America. In the UK and the rest of Europe, as well as Australia, only a few songs made it across the sea to become big hits, like "Bump n' Grind" and "Pony." Unless your song was a melodious power ballad by an artist like Toni Braxton or Mariah Carey, you weren't likely to find very much success all around the world, where acts like Take That, East 17, and Kylie Minogue thrived instead.


I'm from the UK - and whilst I kind of agree to some extent, I also disagree. UK really did embrace RnB from 1992 onwards. But yes the UK charts have always been very diverse.

And let's not forget homegrown UK rnb 90s talents who were huge in the 90s...

Craig David
Michelle Gayle
Blue
Gabrielle
Shola Ama
Samantha Mumba
Eternal
Beverley Knight
Damage
Cleopatra
Des'ree
Honeyz
Kelly Le Roc
All Saints
MN8
Another Level
Mark Morrison


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I'm not implying you're not American, I'm just pointing out that contemporary r&b was far less internationally successful in the '90s than other genres of music were. If you're coming from a non-North American perspective, the '90s certainly weren't the decade of r&b.


I was just mocking myself for being a myopic American. :P

I really wasn't thinking about the rest of the world tho. lol

I was a big fan of 90s r&b. In fact two of my favourite singers are still Brandy and Toni Braxton.


Thanx for posting that Brandy song! I was into Brandy back then, too. I remember the release of Waiting to Exhale being kind of a big thing back then.

A lot of UK rnb groups covered US rnb hits for the UK market. Another Level did a popular version of Silk's "Freak Me".

This reached number 1 in the UK charts by the way.


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Here's the original from 1993...


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Here's the original from 1993...

A #1 itself in the US!

I'm from the UK - and whilst I kind of agree to some extent, I also disagree. UK really did embrace RnB from 1992 onwards. But yes the UK charts have always been very diverse.

And let's not forget homegrown UK rnb 90s talents who were huge in the 90s...

Craig David
Michelle Gayle
Blue
Gabrielle
Shola Ama
Samantha Mumba
Eternal
Beverley Knight
Damage
Cleopatra
Des'ree
Honeyz
Kelly Le Roc
All Saints
MN8
Another Level
Mark Morrison


I suppose the issue was really more that few musicians of the r&b genre (or rock, for that matter) crossed over from one side of the pond to the other during the '90s. Even so though, the groups you listed mostly sound pretty different from each other. Many of the hit songs by Eternal, All Saints, Cleopatra, and Damage were really more new jack swing or just straight-up pop, with occasional forays into the Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston-type ballads that were more internationally popular than the Jodedci-style sex jams that mostly remained in the US. I don't know, I suppose the r&b genre in general is pretty diverse, but for the most part, the songs that were popular in the UK often sounded pretty different that those that caught on the most in the US during the decade.

By the way, Craig David, Samantha Mumba, Blue, and Beverly Knight were not '90s, they were early 2000s. Yes, the 2000s were a real decade. Actually, Craig David made an unusual comeback this decade and has a big hit on the UK Singles Chart right now, a collaboration with Bastille, though you may know that.

Ah crap, you're right with those 00s acts lol. I kept wondering why no-one mentioned Blue in my Google searches and that's probably why lol. And yes I thought you might call a few of those acts "pop" too. I suppose it's hard to categories R&B... do you include rap, soul etc? Sometimes just because an artist is black they're straight away labelled r&b.

Anyway back to the topic, Beverley Knight had a great 1995 track called "Flavour of the Old School".

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I'm from the UK - and whilst I kind of agree to some extent, I also disagree. UK really did embrace RnB from 1992 onwards. But yes the UK charts have always been very diverse.

And let's not forget homegrown UK rnb 90s talents who were huge in the 90s...

Craig David

Samantha Mumba

Des'ree



I remember these guys the most.