1 Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson (Michael Joseph Jackson; August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, dancer, and songwriter. He passed away from cardiac arrest caused by a propofol and benzodiazepine overdose on June 25, 2009. He donated (at least) a remarkable 500,000,000 dollars to charity. Michael is also known as The King of Pop (a title given to him by Elizabeth Taylor) or under the initials MJ. Dubbed the King of Pop, he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. ...read more. King of Contempoary R&B and Pop Music. Has scored hits in every decade since the sixties. Even after his tragic death in 2009 he still continued to be popular.
Seriously? Usher and Chris Brown? I'm kinda ok with luther vandross or Marvin Gaye being in front of him but seriously he inspired more than half the people on this list
No other choice here but Michael!
I agree! No other choice!
2 Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, earning him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul". ...read more. Should be no lower than two, however, he had more of the complete package so you can make the argument for the number one position.
What has the world come to when The Man that all of these people look up to is not even in the Top 5. Ridiculous.
Understand this, there is NO ONE who sings better than Marvin Gaye other than Aretha Franklin.
More skill vocally than most realise. A monster on stage and a beast on record. Unpredictable and unmatched; his falceto is supreme.
3 Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist.
4 James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul".
5 Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Throughout his career, Vandross was an in-demand background vocalist for several different artists. This is truly comical... Vocal talent exceeds all of the artist listed 1 to 19! These polls are usually based upon popularity and have little to do with sheer vocals, lyrics, and meaning behind the words that create the songs. I can extend credit to the other artist for arriving at success in the chosen field, but none of them can hold a candle to "The Voice"!
People that were not around to hear this guy sing, are too young and don't know how to vote!
Usher is good, but Luther is the master of this genre!
The greatest singer of all time!
6 Usher
Usher Terry Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Born in Dallas, but raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee was where he lived until moving to Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 12 where his mother put him in local singing competitions all over the city. The bomb keep up the good work...
My man usher yeah
7 Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson, professionally known as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer.
8 Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive.
9 Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. Beginning in 1968, he was a member of the funk and soul band the Commodores and then launched a solo career in 1982.
10 R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), known professionally as R. Kelly, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and convicted sex offender. He has been credited with helping to redefine R&B and hip hop, earning nicknames such as "the King of R&B", "the King of Pop-Soul", and the "Pied Piper of R&B." ...read more. He is definitely #1 on my list...all hands down! I'll vote for him over and over again. I have been following this man since "Vibe" in 1992 and will continue to follow him>>>
He's one of my favorites. Every song he does is brought to life.
I like his album "Double Up" - he has good designs.
Can't argue with two decades of success
No one else on this list has the extensive catalog that Mr. kelly has
HIT AFTER HIT
The Contenders
11 Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 - April 21st, 2016) was an American musician, best known for being one of the most popular and influential artists from the 80s, with songs such as "Purple Rain", "Little Red Corvette", "1999", and "When Doves Cry" . Best of all time
12 Chris Brown
Christopher Maurice "Chris" Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. Born in Tappahannock, Virginia, he was involved in his church choir and several local talent shows from a young age. He is most well known for his physical assault towards the singer Rihanna in 2009. He is also known for many hit singles, such as "Kiss Kiss", "Run It!", "Forever", "Deuces", "Look At Me Now", "Loyal", "Ayo", and "Back to Sleep". Chris brown is the best dancer in my generation, In my opinion he should be number one! He's the best versatile artist!
Greatest r&b artist of the decade for the 2010's decade. Y'all just ignoring Chris talent because of his mistakes.
I love he is the greatest. he is a singer, dancer, entertainer, artist, fashion icon, a daddy the list can go on. there is nothing this man can't touch and not perfect. I have and will always be Teambreezy. I hope to meet him one day.
13 Joe
Wow...this dude must have racked his brain for that stage name! I can't believe he thought it all out THAT well!
Joe is the best r&b singer of the 90's! He's better than Usher, R Kelly and all of them. Usher and Kellz are good, but Joe is just on another level, one of the few singers who actually knows what r&b is all about and can actually sing his face off!
14 The Weeknd
Abęl Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionally by his stage name The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was born on 16 February 1990 in Toronto, Ontario.
He used to upload songs on YouTube in 2010, now he has 3 studio albums Kiss Land, Beauty Behind The Madness and Starboy. He has won 3 Grammy awards and 9 Juno Awards He has a lot of meaning in his songs you know? He has some deep history I would recommend listening to his old songs he's epic.
15 Trey Songz
Tremaine Aldon Neverson, born November 28, 1984, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and actor. His debut album, I Gotta Make It, was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, Trey Day, spawned his first top 20 single, "Can't Help but Wait". Songz released his third album Ready in 2009 and a single from the album, "Say Aah", peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 making it Songz's first top 10 hit. Ready was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards. The following year saw Songz's highest charting song to date, "Bottoms Up" featuring rapper Nicki Minaj from his fourth studio album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure. ...read more. Trey songz is so hot, he's hot and his music. If anything he could be #1. All the girls love him because lte's face it the man has swag and a bunch of it too. My favorite song is "Can't be friends". He's just that good.
Trey is good and deserves a spot on the list but he definitely isn't better than Joe, Luther, Brian McKnight, Marvin Gaye, and many others.
Trey Songz has so much sex appeal, it is unbelievable. That along with his singing ability would propel him to number one for me.
His newer music turned me off for a while, but I kind of underestimated him. Trey Day is a classic!
16 Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene, often known as The Reverend Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s.
17 Maxwell
Gerald Maxwell Rivera,, better known by his stage names Maxwell and Musze, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor.
18 Raheem Devaughn
19 Jeffrey Osborne
Jeffrey Linton Osborne is an American musician, singer-songwriter, lyricist, and lead singer of the band LTD. When Jeffrey is lower than the king of bad autotuned pop on an r&b singers list...
20 John Legend
John Roger Stephens, better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. John Legend, what can't be said about him. He has a beautiful soulful voice and has nominations and awards to prove it.
One of the most amazingly gifted young men I have ever heard in my life.
It is a shame that people like Chris Brown and August Alsina are getting awards that should go to TRUE rnb singers like John Legend, Musiq Soulchild, and Robin Thicke.
21 Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American jazz, blues, soul and gospel singer, songwriter, arranger and pianist.
22 Miguel
Miguel has a very artistic vibe to him that has been very appealing to a lot of people so far, he is a breath of fresh air for rnb.
23 Tank
Durrell Babbs, born January 1, 1976, is an American R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. He was also part of the short-lived group TGT along with singers Tyrese and Ginuwine. He is most known for his song Please Don't Go and his 2007 album Sex, Love & Pain. He is well known for his sad piano ballads as well as for his sexually graphic lyrics. Great voice, but he wastes it on garbage songs most of the time nowadays.
24 Mario
25 Tevin Campbell