Eric Benét and Tamar Braxton‘s duet, “Something We Can Make Love To,” is No. 1 this week on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart.
The Laney Stewart-produced collaboration, which moves from No. 2 to No. 1, is Benét’s fourth No. 1 on this list and Braxton’s second.
Benét’s latest chart-topper comes 25 years after his first, “Spend My Life With You,” a duet with Tamia that led for five weeks. This Grammy-nominated song was from his 1999 album, A Day in the Life, which is also a gold-seller.
His last No. 1 hit was “Sometimes I Cry” in November 2010. It topped the charts for five weeks and was nominated for a Grammy. The song is from his Lost in Time album.
Here’s a listing of Eric Benét’s No. 1s on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart:
- “Spend My Life With You,” featuring Tamia, No. 1 for five weeks (1999)
- “You’re The Only One,” four weeks at No. 1 (2008)
- “Sometimes I Cry,” five weeks at No. 1 (2010)
- “Something We Can Make Love To,” featuring Tamar Braxton, one week at No. 1 so far (2024)
Before this, Benét’s closest attempt to reach the summit was with “Sunshine” in October 2016, reaching No. 2, but was ultimately blocked by Ro James‘ hit “Permission.”
For Braxton, “Something We Can Make Love To” marks her first hit since “Love and War,” which towered for nine weeks in 2013. The ballad was produced by Camper, who co-wrote it with Braxton, LaShawn Daniels, and Makeba Riddick.
In the 2020s, Braxton nearly captured another No. 1 hit with two songs, “Changed” and “Crazy Kind of Love,” both reaching No. 2—the former held off by Janelle Monáe’s “Lipstick Lover” in 2023 and the latter by Charlie Wilson’s “One I Got” in 2020.
Further, “Something We Can Make Love To” is the second duet by a man and woman to top the Adult R&B list this year, following Usher and H.E.R.’s “Risk It All,” which dominated the chart for two weeks in April.
“Something We Can Make Love To” is the lead track from Benét’s new project, Duets, which came out Aug. 23 via his label JBR Creative Group.
Discussing the creation of the duet, Benét told Rated R&B, “We went down to Atlanta and hung out with Tricky Stewart and Laney Stewart. Laney presented this song to us and we thought it was perfect.”
Benét added, “I can’t take credit for any of the writing, but it was one of those songs when I first heard it, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this feels like it could fit in the whole family of Eric Benét’s music. But also, it feels like something that right now, in a very timely way. It feels classic and romantic and could definitely work as a first single.
Benét’s Duets project also features collaborations with Ledisi, Chanté Moore, Corrine Bailey Rae, and LaTocha.
In other news, Benét will also headline the R&B Invitation Tour with Joe and Musiq Soulchild, starting in February 2025.
Getting back to Braxton, she is working on a new album with producer Tricky Stewart, as announced in a now-deleted August Instagram post. Her last album, Bluebird of Happiness, was released in 2017.
She also collaborated with Tyrese on “Neither One Of Us,” a cover of the 1972 classic by Gladys Knight & The Pips, featured on Tyrese’s album Beautiful Pain.
Listen to Eric Benét and Tamar Braxton’s duet “Something We Can Make Love To” below.
