Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine that ranks
R&B and
hip hop albums
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
based on sales in the United States and is compiled by
Nielsen SoundScan
Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, 1965 in an effort by the magazine to further expand into the field of rhythm and blues music. It then went through several name changes, being known as
Soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
LPs in the 1970s and Top Black Albums in the 1980s, before returning to the R&B identification in 1990 and affixing a hip hop designation in 1999 to reflect the latter's growing sales and relationship to R&B during the decade.
From 1965 through 2009, the chart was compiled based on reported sales at a core panel of stores with a "higher-than-average volume" of R&B and/or hip-hop album sales to monitor buying trends of the African-American community. This panel included more independent and smaller chain stores compared to the high percentage of mass merchants that account for overall album sales. The core panel of stores continued to be monitored with the advent of SoundScan technology in the early 1990s but was dissolved at the end of 2009 when the methodology of the chart changed to "recap overall album sales of current R&B/hip-hop titles."
''Billboards respective top R&B and rap albums charts, which respectively rank contemporary R&B and rap albums within their own charting positions are consolidated into the overall Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Chart name history
The chart debuted in 1965 as the Hot R&B LPs. In 1969, ''Billboard'' renamed both singles and albums contingents of the R&B charts as
Soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
charts. In 1978, they were renamed again as Hot Black Singles and Top Black Albums. In 1990, the charts returned to the R&B designation (Top R&B Albums, Hot R&B Singles). In 1999, ''Billboard'' renamed them again as Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, in an effort to recognize the growing sales of
hip hop music and the genre's influential relationship to
contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music.
The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...
.
Album achievements
Most weeks in top ten
Most weeks on chart
Top Rap Albums
''Billboard'' began the Top Rap Albums chart on the weekend of June 26, 2004, although its first publication on print commenced on the week of November 20, 2004.
's posthumous debut, ''
Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon
''Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Pop Smoke. It was posthumously released on July 3, 2020, by Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records, and a deluxe edition of the album that incl ...
'' holds the record of most weeks at number one on the chart with twenty non-consecutive weeks.
Albums with the most weeks at number one
Artists with the most number-one albums
Top R&B Albums
''Billboard'' introduced the Top R&B Albums chart in 2013 for R&B-specific albums, returning the use of the chart name for the first time since the original chart changed to its more encompassing title in 1999.
The Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...
's ''
After Hours'' leads all acts with 40 weeks at number one on the chart.
Most weeks at number one
References
*
Whitburn, Joel (2000). ''Top R&B Albums: 1965-1998.'' Record Research.
External links
Yearly Billboard Top 5 R&B Hip-Hop Albums 1966-2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Top RandB Hip-Hop Albums
Billboard charts