In 1990, Billboard (the leading music trade magazine that charts popular music) reintroduced the term R&B—the retro label that had been coined (as rhythm and blues) in the 1940s—to categorize all styles of Black popular music other than hip-hop. R&B embraces the soulful, medium-tempo ballads of Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, and Gerald Levert; the funky up-tempo songs of Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson; Whitney Houston’s soaring vocalizations and pop arrangements, as well as the vocal group harmonies of After 7, TLC, Jodeci, and Boyz II Men.

In the 1970s and into the early 1980s, Black popular music evolved in so many different directions that it prompted yet another label change. The Black Music Association, established in 1978, campaigned for the use of the term “Black music.” Record companies and the music trade press adopted the label in 1982, which became the umbrella term for all styles of Black popular music for the next ten years. Simultaneously, MTV became an important media outlet for broadening the consumer base for Black popular music.

Michael Jackson’s eclectic album Thriller (1982)—a mix of rhythm and blues, funk-rock, and funk tracks—broke through the exclusionary policies that prevented the exposure of any Black artist until 1983, when the company aired three music videos—the funk-rock “Beat It,” and the funk-derived tracks “Billie Jean” and “Thriller”—from this album. The success of this album led to the broadcast of music videos featuring other Black artists, including Prince (“Purple Rain,” 1984), and in 1988 hip-hop artists on hip-hop show Yo! MTV Raps. Through the appearance of these and other African American artists on MTV, the programming became aesthetically darker and Michael Jackson became known as the “King of Pop.” Both occurrences suggest that Black music had become a component of contemporary pop music.

Beyond MTV’s programming in the 1980s, the diverse sounds of Black music reverberated across African American communities that included the personalized ballad styles of Freddie Jackson (“You Are My Lady,” 1985), Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love” (1986), Stephanie Mills’s “I Feel Good All Over” (1987), Maze featuring Frankie Beverly’s “Before I Let Go” (1981), the synthesizer driven post-modern R&B-funk-rap style labeled New Jack Swing of singer Keith Sweat (“I Want Her,” 1987) and the group Guy (“Groove Me,” 1988). While the popularity of these artists centered in African American communities, record labels targeted a broader demographic with the release of interracial duets singing ballads in a Black style such as Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s “The Girl is Mine” (1982) and Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s “On My Own” (1986).

In the late 1990s and into the new millennium and with few exceptions, hip-hop and technology became the musical framework for R&B productions. The merger of R&B, hip-hop and older genres, and the use of new technologies appealed to a new generation of African American music consumers. They came of age during the rise of hip-hop and their appreciation for 1970s and 1980s Black music came from their parents, who played the music at home. From this group came songwriter-producer-performers such as Sean Combs (a.k.a. Puff Daddy, P. Diddy), Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, Swizz Beatz, and Rich Harrison among others, who established themselves in the 1990s. They continued to explore myriad musical possibilities, including extending, adapting, and realigning past traditions to a changing musical scene. Puff Daddy, for example, taps into Diana Ross’s hit, “I’m Coming Out” (1980) for the groove and refrain sampled in Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money Mo Problems” (1997); Harrison borrows from 1970s funk for Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” (2003); and the groove for Williams’s “Happy” (2013), although it employs a faster tempo, is similar to “Monkey Time” (1963) by Major Lance.

Collaborations between producers and artists from both hip-hop and R&B blurred the lines between these genres and became common. R&B productions incorporated hip-hop’s beats and rapping style illustrated in the recordings of TLC’s “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (1992) and Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” (1999), Usher’s “Confessions Part II” (2004) and Trey Songz’s “Say Aah” featuring Fabolous (2010). Retaining the production concepts of older styled ballads (string arrangements, gospel styled vocals and harmonies, and electric and acoustic instruments), artists added their own signature to the tradition as did singer-songwriter Alicia Keys’s “Fallin’” (2001) and “You Don’t Know My Name” (2003) and Aaliyah’s “Miss You” (2002).

A new generation of singer-songwriters added a contemporary ballad style to the eclectic mix of R&B in the second decade of the 21st century. Some fused creative vocal stylings, harmonies and arrangements with sparse instrumentations and the use of live instruments evident in Ledisi’s “Pieces of Me” (2011), Sevyn Streeter’s “Before I Do” (2017), H.E.R.’s “Focus,” and “Best Part” (2019); others delivered their unique vocals over sparsely constructed synthesized tracks such as Khalid’s “Talk” (2019). Technological collaborative experimentations with European producers of electronic dance music added yet another layer to the eclectic R&B sound. Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, for example, produced and is featured on Rihanna’s “We Found Love” (2011), and Italian DJ Benny Benassi produced and is featured on Chris Brown’s “Beautiful People” (2011).

R&B radio stations also programmed African popular music alongside American and British R&B artists. This music combines elements from hip-hop, R&B, Jamaican dancehall, Afrobeat and other African traditions that resonate with North American consumers of African and African Diasporic traditions. The Afro-fusion style of Nigerian singer Burna Boy’s “Ye” (2017) and “On the Low” (2019), American-born Nigerian singer Davido’s “Fall” (2017), and British-born Ivorian singer Afro B’s “Drogba (Joanna)” (2018) illustrate the on-going cyclical exchanges between African and African American musical traditions. Both are characterized by quasi-sung/spoken vocals, varying vocal timbers, vocal distortion using auto-tune, sparse instrumentation, and polyrhythmic structures.

With the exception of hip-hop, the term R&B encompasses all post-1980s genres and styles of African American music. Producers employ the latest technologies, and electric and acoustic instruments; they also blend elements from current and past Black traditions. Ballads tend to dominate the charts, and the repertoire of most artists includes moderate and/or up-tempo songs.

The R&B sound of the early 1990s retains many elements from the 1980s while engaging advanced technologies. Synthesizers replaced acoustic instruments as accompaniment for gospel-tinged ballad singers such as Peabo Bryson in “Can You Stop the Rain” (1991). Nevertheless, the acoustic sound returned by the mid-to late-1990s in songs like “On Bended Knee” (1994) by Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart” (1996) and India.Arie’s “Ready for Love” (2007). In “I Believe I Can Fly” (1996) R. Kelly presents a synthesized orchestral arrangement that imitates the acoustic sound in “When You’re Mad” (2006).

In the 21st century R&B artists increasingly cross genre and stylistic boundaries such as Keyshia Cole’s eclectic “I Changed My Mind” (2005) and Fantasia’s “I’m Not That Type” (2006). These songs carry the sensibilities of gospel, neo soul, and hip-hop. Artists also continue to evolve these traditions, tapping the modern gospel and hip-hop traditions. Simultaneously, artists explore myriad musical possibilities by drawing from pop, rock, and country: Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” featuring Nelly (2012), Alicia Keys’s “Girl on Fire” (2012), Miguel’s “Do You…,” (2012), and Rihanna’s “Diamonds” and “Jump” (2013). Electronic dance music provides the foundation for songs by Rihanna and Chris Brown. The newest development in the second decade of the 2000s is the Afro-fusion style popularized by Nigerian artists that blends hip-hop, R&B, Jamaican dancehall and Afrobeat (Burna Boy’s “Ye,” 2017) and the collaborations between artists of the African Diaspora. In 2019, H.E.R. teamed-up with reggae artist Skip Marley on the R&B-Reggae fusion “Slow Down.”