Has American business and finance magazine Forbes written a critical check it can’t cash? R&B enthusiasts sure seem to think so!
The money mag took a break from counting coins to counting down the “25 Greatest R&B Artists of All Time,” a list that saw Queen of NeoSoul Erykah Badu crowned its reigning monarch.
And while expected names like Anita Baker, Sade, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Mariah Carey, and Brandy all made the cut (albeit in arguable positions and mostly below relative newcomer SZA), readers were stunned to see some of music history’s biggest names omitted.
See who inside.
Taking to press recently, Forbes rolled out its list of 25 Greatest R&B Acts ever – a tally that includes names like Queen of Rock Tina Turner as well as TLC, SWV, En Vogue, Brownstone, Al Green, and Frank Ocean.
And while not clarifying if the rankings’ criteria was anything more than editorial opinion, the count was still enough to get tongues wagging – namely from the fanbases of absent stars like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Maxwell, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Beyonce, Toni Braxton, R. Kelly, Ray Charles, Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, Luther Vandross, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Chris Brown, Prince, Patti LaBelle, Monica, and many other game-changing acts of the genre.
Forbes’ Top 10 R&B Artists of All Time
- Erykah Badu
- D’Angelo
- Mary J. Blige
- Sade
- SZA
- Frank Ocean
- Aaliyah
- Usher
- TLC
- Mariah Carey
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Chatter around the list exploded on social media – a conversation exacerbated by a recent weigh in from ‘The Breakfast Club’ (seen above).
See the full list here then tell us…
OVERRATED:
3. Mary J. Blige
4. Sade
5. SZA
6. Frank Ocean
9. TLC
ALL have a mostly MID catalog & none of them TALENTED.
But Erykah Badu is a DECENT take but why Algreen isn’t also top 5?
Go take your insulin because you don’t need to talk about tlc!!!
LMAOOOO SHE MAD CUZ THAT FLOPPED ROACH DIDN’T MAKE YET ANOTHER GOAT LIST LMAOOO 🤣
This looks RANDOM as hell. Like 1 individual decided to conjure up their own narcissistic Top 10 FAV artist of all time 😆 🤣 😂
I’ve seen a plethora of terrible list like this one buy this 1 here is by far the worse.
Almost noone belongs in the top 10 & almost Everyone in their top 10 is OVERRATED to hell and back (starting with MJB to SZA to TLC)… only exceptions are Usher, Mariah & Aaliyah, each of whom deserving of top 10.
I guess TALENT wasn’t the prerequisite.
Something about this screams racist… Like there were trying to be funny. Wonder if a black writer put this together… Cuz I don’t think it was…
They know what they’re doing with this “list”…..Forbes has what they want, more clicks, views, user engagement… same for Rolling Stones. A list like this is never going to please everyone. Needs to be more specific. Like R&B artists who’ve made the most impact. Like how people here are OBSESSED with who’s the greatest performer LOL funny though. Anyway…..This is poor for Forbes. The list is ridiculous. They should justify each placement. Someone check Beyoncé see if she’s okay.
What list is that ? Erykah Badu is amazing but definitely not the e greatest of all
Where’s Michael and Janet Jackson in that list ? That’s a crime. Sza and frank ocean is great too but they don’t belong on those spots . I don’t want to bring any negativity but definitely this list based on something else I don’t get and not the greatest rb of all time. Sorry.
White people came up with this list, Chile. Pay it no mind. 🧐💅🏿
right…. It would’ve been all White R&b artists on the list then.. I don’t see Robin thicke, George Michael or Justin Timberlake.. All I can see is some ashly elbows and saggy b******.
Why SZA and Frank Ocean are even on the list? Imagine how much they paid to Forbes.. Industry plants are everywhere in this generation.
I agree there was some very glaring omissions and this list is ridiculous but for anyone to say that Mary J. Blige is overrated has to be a millennial who doesn’t understand her impact on the culture. MJB was the soundtrack to most of our lives growing up and get catalog cannot be denied.
So true! And millennials that have today’s artist really aren’t qualified to create a list ! 🤣
Janet is not on the list but SZA.. lame.. I remember SZA said she hate to be called an R&B artist…
I agree with everyone that this list needs some revising. However, many people throw artists into the R&B category just because they are black. For example, MJ and Prince are AMAZING but are not R&B artists. Again, this list is still sad but we can’t categorize people as R&B artists just because they are black as much as we can’t categorize Beyoncé as a country artist for delivering one country-esque album. And for the record Beyoncé is phenomenal in my opinion.
It us giving BET award coz they are all Black artists on the list.
These lists are a fu<kin joke. Behind all these stupid articles there's journalists and they are like you and I. They just think their opinion is above the pack. Fu<k this BS.
Love Erykah, and I’m happy they showed her love but this is the mist ridiculous list I’ve ever seen. In addition to those obvious omissions already named, where’s Chaka, Patti, or Gladys, what about New Edition or Bobby Brown? They should have just called it, “A List of Some of Our Favorite R&B Artists.” It’s clearly not a comprehensive list.
This list is clearly for R&B artists that didn’t go pop or changed music style to make big hits