• To skip the long and drawn-out intro, scroll down to “MAIN ALBUMS LIST (START HERE)”.

• This post will be locked, but there will be a pinned comment from the creator for discussion of the list.

• This post will also be linked in the subreddit wiki for easy and immediate access to the community.

Greetings! The mod team of r/rnb has recently noticed that many users tend to come into the sub to ask for recommendations as a new or “unseasoned” listener of the genre.

While we generally accept and even encourage users to request recommendations (that’s why we have the post flair), we also realize that something must be done about the recurrence of new and “unseasoned” listener requests in particular. These are a common trend in the subreddit, and we would like to address this proactively.

There is a broad difference between asking for general recommendations as an avid fan of the genre (to expand tastes) and asking for introduction to the genre as someone who has barely or never looked into it, and we hope that this list will help the latter group acquaint themselves with this wonderful genre of music without putting too much on the community to come up with recommendations every time one of these posts comes up.

We appreciate the community for consistently providing new listeners with recommendations, and we encourage the community to continue doing so in the future.

There will be three lists. The first list will consist of 50 albums: 25 will be common recommendations from the community (based on posts under the “RECOMMENDATIONS” flair), while the other 25 will be moderator suggestions. The second list will consist of 30 albums from R&B/Soul groups (15 from 1980-2009, and 15 from 1960-1979). The third list will consist of 20 multi-artist albums and movie soundtrack albums.

MAIN ALBUMS LIST (START HERE)

COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi
2. Maxwell - Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite
3. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
4. D’Angelo - Voodoo
5. Janet Jackson - The Velvet Rope
6. Usher - Confessions
7. Brandy - Full Moon
8. Donell Jones - Where I Wanna Be
9. Whitney Houston - My Love Is Your Love
10. Joe - All That I Am  
11. Aaliyah - One In A Million  
12. Johnny Gill - Johnny Gill  
13. Mary J. Blige - My Life  
14. Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life  
15. Sade - Love Deluxe  
16. Luther Vandross - The Night I Fell In Love  
17. Erykah Badu - Baduizm  
18. Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On  
19. Faith Evans - Keep the Faith  
20. Prince - Sign O’ The Times  
21. Mariah Carey - Butterfly  
22. D’Angelo - Brown Sugar  
23. Alicia Keys - The Diary Of Alicia Keys  
24. Babyface - For The Cool In You  
25. Toni Braxton - Toni Braxton

  

MODERATOR RECOMMENDATIONS (MAIN LIST CONTINUED):

26. Tevin Campbell - I’m Ready

27. Stephanie Mills - If I Were Your Woman

28. Musiq Soulchild - Aijuswanaseing

29. India.Arie - Voyage To India

30. Teddy Pendergrass - TP

31. Deborah Cox - Deborah Cox

32. Keith Sweat - Make It Last Forever

33. Natalie Cole - Good To Be Back

34. Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July

35. Patti LaBelle - Burnin’

36. Freddie Jackson - Rock Me Tonight

37. Gladys Knight - Just For You

38. Ne-Yo — In My Own Words

39. Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814

40. Maxwell - BLACKsummers’night

41. Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul

42. Peabo Bryson - Reaching For The Sky

43. Mary J. Blige - Share My World

44. Jon B. - Cool Relax

45. Teena Marie - Starchild

46. Billy Ocean - Love Zone

47. Chaka Khan - Naughty

48. Rick James - Street Songs

49. Dionne Warwick - Finder of Lost Loves

50. Musiq Soulchild - Juslisen

R&B/SOUL GROUP ALBUMS (1980-2009)

1. SWV - New Beginning
2. Boyz II Men - II
3. En Vogue - Born to Sing
4. New Edition - Heart Break
5. Xscape - Traces Of My Lipstick
6. Jodeci - Diary Of A Mad Band
7. TLC - Crazysexycool
8. Troop - Attitude
9. Destiny’s Child - Destiny Fulfilled
10. DeBarge - In A Special Way  
11. Brownstone - From The Bottom Up  
12. Guy - Guy  
13. The S.O.S. Band - Sands Of Time  
14. Jagged Edge - J.E. Heartbreak  
15. Total - Kima, Keisha & Pam

  

R&B/SOUL GROUP ALBUMS (1960-1979)

16. The Temptations - Gettin’ Ready

17. The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go

18. Four Tops - Reach Out

19. The Emotions - Rejoice

20. The Isley Brothers - Go for Your Guns

21. Sister Sledge - We Are Family

22. The Stylistics - The Original Debut Album

23. The Jones Girls - The Jones Girls

24. Earth, Wind & Fire - I Am

25. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Neither One Of Us

26. The O’Jays - Back Stabbers

27. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Dance Party

28. Commodores - Commodores

29. The Marvelettes - Playboy

30. The Miracles - Hi We’re The Miracles

MULTI-ARTIST & SOUNDTRACK

(Note that some artists of some of these albums are not R&B. However, the majority of the artists on each album selected are R&B. It is up to you to figure out and ascertain which artists on these albums—for both “Multi-Artist” and “Soundtrack”—are R&B and which are not.)

• MULTI-ARTIST:

1. So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute To Luther Vandross
2. Marvin Is 60: A Tribute Album
3. A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield
4. Pops, We Love You
5. Peabo Bryson & Natalie Cole - We’re The Best Of Friends
6. Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye - Diana & Marvin
7. Kenny Lattimore & Chanté Moore - Things That Lovers Do
8. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - United
9. Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
10. Stacy Lattisaw & Johnny Gill - Perfect Combination

• SOUNDTRACK:

11. Waiting To Exhale

12. Boomerang

13. The Bodyguard (Whitney Houston & Various Artists)

14. The Woman In Red (Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick)

15. Soul Food

16. The Best Man

17. Poetic Justice

18. Love Jones

19. Set It Off

20. Glitter (Mariah Carey)

Throughout the history of the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the giving of the “Oscar” at the Academy Awards, and the Tony Awards, there have been a total of twenty-two public figures in the industries of acting, producing, directing, and composing to have won all four awards. Of those twenty-two victors, Jennifer Hudson and John Legend stand out today as the only honorees to be aligned primarily with R&B/Soul music (as of May 2026). Here is a complete timeline of all of the individual EGOT awards that both artists have won:

JENNIFER HUDSON

Jennifer Hudson became the third Black competitive EGOT winner overall in 2022, after Whoopi Goldberg (2002) and John Legend (2018), and not counting Quincy Jones after his honorary 2016 Oscar win. (It’s important to distinguish between honorary and competitive awards. Counting Quincy, Jennifer became the fourth overall Black EGOT winner.) She became the second Black woman to achieve EGOT status, and she completed it within roughly 15 years from her Oscar win to her Tony win. With her Oscar win, she also became the youngest African-American at the time to win an Academy Award in a supporting category. Jennifer Hudson’s journey to EGOT status was marked by a combination of acting, music performance, and producing.

• YEARS OF AWARD WINS ⤵️

— Emmy Awards: 2021 (Daytime)

— Grammy Awards: 2009, 2017

— Oscar (Academy) Awards: 2007

— Tony Awards: 2022

(2007) — Jennifer Hudson won her first and only Oscar at the Academy Awards. She won “Best Supporting Actress” for her debut film role as Effie White in the musical Dreamgirls.

(2009) — Jennifer Hudson won her first Grammy Award. She won “Best R&B Album” for her self-titled debut album Jennifer Hudson. The award was presented by Whitney Houston, whom is known to be one of Jennifer’s greatest idols.

(2017) — Jennifer Hudson won her second Grammy Award. She won “Best Musical Theater Album” for The Color Purple.

(2021) — Jennifer Hudson won her first and only Emmy Award. It was a Daytime Emmy in the category of “Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program”, which she won for Baba Yaga.

(2022) — Jennifer Hudson won her first and only Tony Award. She received this award in the category of “Best Musical” for A Strange Loop.

• TOTAL AWARD COUNTS ⤵️

— Emmy Awards: 1 (Daytime)

— Grammy Awards: 2

— Oscar (Academy) Awards: 1

— Tony Awards: 1

JOHN LEGEND

John Legend became the second Black competitive EGOT winner overall in 2018, after Whoopi Goldberg (2002), and not counting Quincy Jones after his honorary 2016 Oscar win. (It’s important to distinguish between honorary and competitive awards. Counting Quincy, John became the third overall Black EGOT winner.) He became the second Black man to achieve EGOT status overall—after Quincy Jones—and the first Black man to achieve EGOT status competitively. He completed the status within roughly 12 years from his first Grammy win to his first Emmy win. John Legend’s journey to EGOT status was marked by a combination of music performance, songwriting, television production, and theater production.

• YEARS OF AWARD WINS ⤵️

— Emmy Awards: 2018 (Primetime), 2019 (Daytime), 2022 (two Daytime wins this year), 2023 (Children’s and Family)

— Grammy Awards: 2006 (three wins), 2007 (two wins), 2009, 2010 (two wins), 2011, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2025

— Oscar (Academy) Awards: 2015

— Tony Awards: 2017

(2006) — John Legend won his first, second, and third Grammy Awards. He won three awards that year for “Best New Artist”, “Best R&B Album” (Get Lifted), and “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance” (“Ordinary People”).

(2007) — John Legend won his fourth and fifth Grammy Awards. He won two Grammy Awards for “Best Male R&B Vocal Performance” (“Heaven”) and “Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” (“Family Affair” with Joss Stone & Van Hunt).

(2009) — John Legend won his sixth Grammy Award. He won “Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” for “Stay with Me (By the Sea)” with Al Green.

(2010) — John Legend won his seventh and eighth Grammy Awards. He won two awards that year for “Best R&B Song” (“Shine”) and “Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance” (“Hang On In There” with The Roots).

(2011) — John Legend won his ninth Grammy Award for “Best R&B Album” for his album with The Roots, Wake Up!

(2015) — John Legend won his first and only Oscar at the Academy Awards. He won “Best Original Song” for “Glory” (with Common).

(2016) — John Legend won his tenth Grammy Award for “Best Song Written for Visual Media” (“Glory” with Common).

(2017) — John Legend won his first and only Tony Award for “Best Revival of a Play”. He won for Jitney.

(2018) — John Legend won his first and only Primetime Emmy Award. He won “Outstanding Variety Special (Live)” for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.

(2019) — John Legend won his first Daytime Emmy Award. He won “Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program” for Crow: The Legend.

(2020) — John Legend won his eleventh Grammy Award. He won “Best Rap/Sung Performance” for “Higher” with DJ Khaled & Nipsey Hussle.

(2021) — John Legend won his twelfth Grammy Award. He won “Best R&B Album” for Bigger Love.

(2022) — John Legend won his second and third Daytime Emmy Awards. He won two awards that year for “Outstanding Daytime Special” (Shelter Me: Soul Awakened) and “Outstanding Short Form Daytime Program” (Cornerstones: Founding Voices of the Black Church).

(2023) — John Legend won his first and only Children’s and Family Emmy Award. He won “Outstanding Non-Fiction Program” for 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.

(2025) — John Legend won his thirteenth Grammy Award. He won “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella” for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” with Jacob Collier & Tori Kelly.

• TOTAL AWARD COUNTS ⤵️

— Emmy Awards: 5 … Children’s and Family (1), Daytime (3), Primetime (1)

— Grammy Awards: 13

— Oscar (Academy) Awards: 1

— Tony Awards: 1

They both have—in my opinion—two songs where you can hear some of Mariah’s best belting.

From Glitter, “Lead the Way” and “Never Too Far” both close off with some amazing belts! LTW even gets a bonus for being one of the best songs that show off Mariah’s agility. (I can’t say the same for NTF because that song is almost entirely belting lol, but LTW gets this added bonus.)

From The Emancipation of Mimi, “We Belong Together” and “Don’t Forget About Us” also both close off with spectacular belting! And for the sake of giving a bonus quality (since I did that with LTW above), DFAU has one of Mariah’s catchiest bridges.

Mariah held out some pretty long belts on all four of these songs. If I ever had to defend Mariah’s breath control (luckily, none of us ever have to do that lol), these would be some of my go-to demonstration songs. Two pairs of awesome songs each from two of my favorite Mariah albums.

Welcome to the lounge! 🦦 — The theme song for this week’s thread is…

⭐️ SZA - Good Days

This will serve as the primary thread for all casual and sidebar conversations that take place in r/rnb for the week. Users are encouraged to share thoughts, feelings, opinions, and concerns about any R&B-related topic (including the subreddit itself) that may not suit the main feed or may not warrant an official post being made about it.

Mariah worked with Xscape on a remix to “Always Be My Baby”. Kandi Burruss is a member of that group and has made key contributions to the group’s biggest hits. Many people argue that Kandi was the most valuable member of that group.

After Xscape recorded their final album, 1998’s Traces Of My Lipstick (a great album, by the way), Kandi went on—along with co-group member Tameka “Tiny” Cottle—to write a hit for another group: together, they wrote TLC’s “No Scrubs”, which was released as the lead single for the group’s 1999 album FanMail.

Kandi Burruss then went on to write songs for Destiny’s Child. She wrote “Bug-a-Boo” and “Bills, Bills, Bills”. Both songs appeared on the group’s 1999 album The Writing’s On The Wall. Kandi also wrote “Hey Ladies”, “She Can’t Love You”, and “So Good” for this group, but the most memorable hits she wrote for them are in the second sentence.

>!This part may be irrelevant because this is from a much later time, but Kandi also wrote a more modern hit for one of today’s biggest pop stars: she wrote “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” for Ariana Grande’s 2019 album!< >!thank u, next!<>!.!<

Kandi was obviously very active in the late-1990s after Xscape’s “breakup”. (They never really broke up, except for one member.) My assumption is that Mariah saw all the great things that Kandi was doing (this was right after everything: the TLC song and the Destiny’s Child songs) and invited Kandi to collaborate… but maybe there’s something more.

Do y’all ever wonder how “X-Girlfriend” came to be?