Welcome to the first edition of Chart Brief, Rated R&B’s weekly column tracking the latest movements across R&B charts. Each week, we’ll break down and analyze the R&B artists making waves on the Billboard, radio, and streaming charts. This edition covers the charts dated Jan. 17, 2026.
Billboard Charts
Adult R&B Airplay
Tracks the week’s top Adult R&B hits via 24/7 airplay data from Mediabase and Luminate.
No. 1: “In Your Feelings” – Mariah Carey (MARIAH/gamma.)
THE BRIEF: Mariah Carey holds strong at No. 1 for a fourth consecutive week on the Adult R&B Airplay chart. Lifted from her 16th album, Here For It All, “In Your Feelings” first reached the top of the summit on the chart dated Dec. 27, 2025. It’s her fourth No. 1 on the chart. She previously topped the list with “Type Dangerous” in August 2025, which spent three weeks at No. 1. The latter marked her first victory since 2006’s “Fly Like A Bird” (six weeks at No. 1).
ON THE VERGE: Tank’s “Control” is eyeing a top 10 entry, with its move from No. 14 to No. 12 in its seventh week. Considering his 10 No. 1s — the most among male R&B artists, tying with Charlie Wilson and Usher — it’s very likely that the R&B General will nab his 16th top 10 in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Houston-based R&B group Sentury’s “Forever” rises one spot to No. 11 in its 16th week. In 2025, they achieved their first No. 1 with their cover of Jeffrey Osborne’s “Only Human.”
CHART NOTE: October London occupies two spots in the top 5 this week, as a lead and featured guest.
Top 5 Hits on Adult R&B Airplay
1. “In Your Feelings” – Mariah Carey (MARIAH/gamma.)
2. “It Depends” – Chris Brown feat. Bryson Tiller (CBE/RCA)
3. “Touch On Me” – October London (Death Row/gamma.)
4. “Head Over Heels” – Jenevieve (Interscope)
5. “Just A Matter Of Time” – J. Brown feat. October London (Mocha Music)
R&B Streaming Songs
Calculates the most-streamed R&B songs of the week across digital service providers.
No. 1: “Folded” – Kehlani
THE BRIEF: Kehlani has the R&B Streaming Songs on lock with her breakout hit “Folded.” The Grammy-nominated song spends its 11th week at No. 1 on the chart.
Top 5 Hits on R&B Streaming Songs:
1. “Folded” – Kehlani (Atlantic)
2. “Purple Rain” – Prince And The Revolution (NPG/Warner Bros./Rhino)
3. “Timeless” – The Weeknd & Playboi Carti (XO/Republic)
4. “Snooze” – SZA (Top Dawg Ent./RCA)
5. “Mutt” – Leon Thomas (EZMNY/Motown)
Hot 100
Tracks the week’s most popular songs across all genres via streaming, radio airplay and sales data.
Highest-Charting R&B Songs on Hot 100 This Week
4. “Man I Need” – Olivia Dean (Last Week: 4)
7. “Folded” – Kehlani (LW: 6)
10. “Mutt” – Leon Thomas (LW: 9)
13. “Where Is My Husband!” – RAYE (LW: 13)
18. “It Depends” – Chris Brown feat. Bryson Tiller (LW: 17)
23. “Love Me Not” – Ravyn Lenae (LW: 24; No. 5 peak)
27. “Purple Rain” – Prince And The Revolution (re-entry; No. 2 peak)
30. “Is It A Crime” – Mariah The Scientist & Kali Uchis (LW: 22)
85. “Who Knows” – Daniel Caesar (LW: 89)
CHART NOTE: Pop-soul singer Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” maintains a strong presence on the Hot 100, holding at its No. 4 peak for a second consecutive week. Having already secured the No. 1 spot at pop radio, it’s gaining more traction on the R&B format with a new peak of No. 22 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart this week.
Top R&B Albums
Tracks the week’s top-selling R&B albums using sales and streaming data.
No. 1: SOS – SZA
THE BRIEF: SZA’s sophomore album, SOS, hasn’t left this chart since its 2022 release. The 8x-platinum project is now in its 128th week at No. 1 — the longest-running No. 1 in this chart’s history.
DEBUTS: Chris Brown’s self-titled debut album (2005) enters at No. 25, marking its first appearance on this chart, which launched in 2012. Brown spent last summer celebrating his 20th anniversary on his Breezy Bowl XX Stadium Tour.
RE-ENTRIES: Prince And The Revolution’s 1984 classic Purple Rain (Soundtrack) returns to Top R&B Albums at No. 3. The title track and “When Doves Cry” were featured in the finale of Netflix’s hit sci-fi series Stranger Things, bringing a nice streaming boost to the diamond-selling album, which previously topped the chart in 2017. Elsewhere, Daniel Caesar’s 2017 debut album, Freudian, makes its way back at No. 23 (No. 6 peak), while I Will Always Love You: The Best Of Whitney Houston enters at No. 24 (No. 8 peak).
CHART NOTE: The Weeknd claims three spots in the top 10 alone, stretching from 2016’s Starboy (No. 10) to 2025’s Hurry Up Tomorrow (No. 8).
Top 5 on R&B Albums
1. SOS – SZA (Top Dawg Ent./RCA)
2. $ome $exy $ongs 4 U – PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake (OVO Sound/Republic)
3. Purple Rain (Soundtrack) – Prince And The Revolution (NPG/Warner Bros./Rhino)
4. The Highlights – The Weeknd (XO/Republic)
5. Ctrl – SZA (Top Dawg Ent./RCA)
MediaBase Radio Charts
R&B Radio
Tracks the week’s top R&B hits via 24/7 radio monitoring data from Mediabase, ranked by total weekly spins. (Dates: Jan. 4 – Jan. 10)
No. 1: “In Your Feelings” – Mariah Carey
THE BRIEF: Carey’s “In Your Feelings” remains No. 1 for another week at R&B radio. The Anderson .Paak-produced hit received 1,797 spins this week (up 61) for an audience impression of 6.96 million.
CHART NOTE: Chris Brown has two songs in the top 5.
ON THE VERGE: Dvsn’s “Excited” is looking to break into the top 10 at No. 11. Their first single under Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def/HYBE received 1,047 spins this week — up 51 spins from last week.
Top 10 Hits at R&B Radio
1. “In Your Feelings” – Mariah Carey (MARIAH/gamma.)
2. “It Depends” – Chris Brown feat. Bryson Tiller (CBE/RCA)
3. “Residuals” – Chris Brown (CBE/RCA)
4. “Touch On Me” – October London (Death Row/gamma.)
5. “Head Over Heels” – Jenevieve (Interscope)
6. “Have To” – Brent Faiyaz (ISO Supremacy/UnitedMasters)
7. “Just A Matter Of Time” – J. Brown feat. October London (Mocha Music)
8. “Have A Baby (With Me)” – Daniel Caesar (Hollace/Republic)
9. “Country Girl” – Tonio Armani (Death Row/gamma.)
10. “Mutt” – Leon Thomas (EZMNY/Motown)
Urban Radio
Tracks the week’s top hip-hop/R&B hits via 24/7 radio monitoring data from Mediabase, ranked by total weekly spins. Chart Brief focuses on R&B. (Dates: Jan. 4 – Jan. 10)
No. 1: “Folded” – Kehlani
THE BRIEF: Kehlani remains No. 1 at urban radio with “Folded,” which received 5,954 spins that garnered 21.39 million audience impressions.
CHART NOTE: R&B songs occupy the majority of the top 10. Mariah The Scientist appears twice with her Kali Uchis-assisted “Is It a Crime,” which rises from No. 3 to No. 2, and “Burning Blue,” which slips from No. 6 to No. 7. Other top 10 appearances include Chris Brown and Bryson Tiller’s “It Depends” (No. 4), Leon Thomas‘ “Mutt (No. 7) and JayDon‘s “Lullaby” featuring Paradise (No. 9).
ON THE VERGE: Brent Faiyaz’s “Have To” is showing signs of a top 10 entry soon. Even though it remains at No. 11 for another week, it received 346 more spins (3,105 total), the second biggest gain this week behind Ye’s “Preacher Man,” which had 542 more spins (2,621 total). Although JayDon’s “Lullaby” has already cracked the top 10, with 289 additional spins this week, it looks like it’s picking up enough steam to rise steadily. We’re also keeping an eye on kwn’s steamy track “Back of the Club,” which jumped from No. 31 to No. 25 this week with 1,397 spins (up 140).
Chart rankings are sourced from Billboard’s weekly tallies. Radio airplay metrics, including spin counts and audience impressions, are provided by Mediabase.
