Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Artist

This page lists the winners and nominees for the Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Artist. This category was one of the first created and has been given out since the award's conception in 1990. R. Kelly holds the record for most wins in this category with four.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

1990s

Year	Artist	Ref
1990
	Janet Jackson	[1]
1991
	Whitney Houston	[2]
1992
	Jodeci	[3]
	R. Kelly and Public Announcement
	LeVert
	Michael Jackson
1993
	Dr. Dre	[4]
	Janet Jackson
	Silk
	SWV
1994
	R. Kelly	[5]
	Babyface
	Toni Braxton
	Tevin Campbell
1995
	TLC	[6]
	Boyz II Men
	Brandy
	The Notorious B.I.G.
1996
	R. Kelly	[7]
	Mariah Carey
	LL Cool J
	Monica
1997
	Dru Hill	[8]
	112
	Toni Braxton
	Tupac Shakur
1998
	Usher	[9]
	Jon B.
	Mase
	Next
1999
	R. Kelly	[10]
	Faith Evans
	Lauryn Hill
	Jay Z

2000s

Year	Artist	Ref
2000
	Sisqó	[11]
2001
	R. Kelly	[12]
	Ja Rule
	Jay Z
	Musiq
2002
	Ashanti	[13]
	B2K
	Clipse
	Tweet
2003
	50 Cent	[14]
	Aaliyah
	Jay Z
	R. Kelly
2004
	Usher	[15]
	R. Kelly
	Alicia Keys
	Kanye West
2005
	50 Cent	[16]
	Mariah Carey
	Destiny's Child
	Fantasia
2006
	Mary J. Blige	[17]
	Jamie Foxx
	Ne-Yo
	T.I.
2007–09	—

2010s

Year	Artist	Ref
2010	—
2011
	Usher	[18]
	Alicia Keys
	Monica
	Rihanna
	Trey Songz
2012
	Chris Brown	[19]
	Beyoncé
	CeeLo Green
	Miguel
	Rihanna
2013
	Rihanna	[20]
	Chris Brown
	Alicia Keys
	Ne-Yo
	Usher
2014
	Justin Timberlake	[21]
	Beyoncé
	Rihanna
	Robin Thicke
	Pharrell Williams
2015
	Pharrell Williams	[22]
	Beyoncé
	Chris Brown
	John Legend
	Trey Songz
2016
	The Weeknd	[23]
	Chris Brown
	Jeremih
	Rihanna
	Bryson Tiller
2017
	Beyoncé	[24]
	Bruno Mars
	Frank Ocean
	Rihanna
	The Weeknd
2018
	Bruno Mars	[25]
	Chris Brown
	Khalid
	SZA
	The Weeknd
2019
	Ella Mai	[26]
	H.E.R.
	Khalid
	The Weeknd
	XXXTentacion

2020s

Year	Artist	Ref
2020
	Khalid
	Chris Brown
	Lizzo
	Summer Walker
	The Weeknd
2021
	The Weeknd
	Jhené Aiko
	Justin Bieber
	Chris Brown
	Doja Cat
2022
	Doja Cat
	Giveon
	Silk Sonic
	Summer Walker
	The Weeknd
2023
	SZA
	Beyoncé
	Chris Brown
	Rihanna
	The Weeknd
2024
	SZA
	Brent Faiyaz
	Tommy Richman
	Tyla
	The Weeknd

Multiple wins and nominations

Wins

4 wins R. Kelly 3 wins Usher

2 wins 50 Cent SZA The Weeknd

Nominations

9 nominations The Weeknd 8 nominations Chris Brown 7 nominations Rihanna 6 nominations R. Kelly 5 nominations Beyoncé 4 nominations Usher 3 nominations Jay Z Alicia Keys Khalid SZA

2 nominations 50 Cent Toni Braxton Mariah Carey Doja Cat Janet Jackson Bruno Mars Monica Ne-Yo Trey Songz Summer Walker Pharrell Williams