Sad News: Usher has been announced dead as he was involved in a plane crash today

Tragedy strikes: Frank Ocean of R&B has been confirmed dead as he was involved in a fatal car crash

Every so often, music industry executives, artists and fans will say, “R&B is dead” and then questions start to emerge, comparing today’s R&B to its counterpart in the past. Where are the love ballads? Why don’t men plead for their love while singing in the rain anymore? Who are the powerhouse singers of today? However, it’s not so much that R&B has completely disappeared into a musical abyss but rather that the genre has changed over time. One of the best eras of R&B music is arguably the ’90s.

During that decade, music fans were gifted with a surplus of groups with distinct styles, the emergence of subgenres such as New Jack Swing and neo soul and classic songs being crafted by producers and songwriters such as Babyface, Timbaland, Jermaine Dupri and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to name a few. Although the R&B sound has changed over the last 30 years, the ’90s sound is still sampled and appreciated by today’s rising stars. In honor of one of music’s most timeless eras, here’s a list of 25 of the greatest R&B songs of the ’90s.

There is no doubt that Mariah Carey was a ruler of the ’90s as one of top-selling artists of all time. By the time Carey released her fifth album, “Daydream,” in 1995, the singer wanted to incorporate more hip-hop into her sound. She did just that on the album’s lead single, “Fantasy,” and recruited rapper ODB to bring the finesse. It was a sound that not only changed her career with the mesh of R&B and hip-hop but also influenced other artists.

R&B king Usher’s breakout single was the 1997 hit “You Make Me Wanna…” from his second album, “My Way.” The song was produced by Usher’s longtime collaborator Jermaine Dupri and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2019 rising star Summer Walker sampled the classic hit and featured Usher on her song “Come Thru.”

In the mid-’90s, Aaliyah experimented with new sounds, thanks to the likes of Static Major, Missy Elliott and Timbaland. On her 1998 single “Are You That Somebody?” Timbaland gave her a unique production that included a baby cooing. Timbaland is known for making sounds out of anything, and this single from the “Dr. Doolittle” soundtrack showcased a young Timbo in his prime — not to mention, the “Are You That Somebody?” video was one of Aaliyah’s signature dance sequences.

Throughout Michael Jackson’s career, each of his albums had a distinct sound. During the King of Pop’s “Dangerous” era, he decided to experiment with a little bit of New Jack Swing. The Teddy Riley-produced track “Remember The Time” reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. In addition to showcasing a new sound, the song’s visual will always be remembered as one of MJ’s best dance videos, directed by John Singleton and acting cameos from Iman, Magic Johnson and Eddie Murphy.