Soul Train Music Award for Best Song of the Year

This page lists the winners and nominees for the Soul Train Music Award for Best Song of the Year. The award was originally entitled Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Song of the Year and first awarded during the 1989 ceremony. It was later retitled to its current title in 1993, before being renamed again to R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year in 1995. The award was retired following the 1996 ceremony, seeing the separated categories for male, female and group artists returning in its place. The award returned in 2009, along with its current title.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

1980s

Year	Artist	Song	Ref
1989
	Anita Baker	"Giving You the Best That I Got"	[1]
		" Winners l"
	Michael Jackson	"Man in the Mirror"
	Keith Sweat	"I Want Her"

1990s

Year	Artist	Song	Ref
1990
	Soul II Soul (featuring Caron Wheeler)	"Keep On Movin'"	[2]
	Paula Abdul	"Straight Up"
	Bobby Brown	"Every Little Step"
	Luther Vandross	"Here and Now"
1991
	MC Hammer	"U Can't Touch This"	[3]
	Mariah Carey	"Vision of Love"
	En Vogue	"Hold On"
	Johnny Gill	"My, My, My"
1992
	Color Me Badd	"I Wanna Sex You Up"	[4]
	Boyz II Men	"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"
	Jodeci	"Forever My Lady"
	BeBe & CeCe Winans	"Addictive Love"
1993
	Boyz II Men	"End of the Road"	[5]
	Arrested Development	"Tennessee"
	En Vogue	"My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)"
	Vanessa Williams	"Save the Best for Last"
1994
	Whitney Houston	"I Will Always Love You"	[6]
	Toni Braxton	Breathe Again
	Janet Jackson	That's the Way Love Goes
	Tony! Toni! Toné!	Anniversary
1995
	Barry White	"Practice What You Preach"	[7]
	69 Boyz	"Tootsee Roll"
	Boyz II Men	"I'll Make Love to You"
	R. Kelly	"Bump n' Grind"
1996
	The Notorious B.I.G. (featuring Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige)	"One More Chance"	[8]
	Whitney Houston	"Exhale (Shoop Shoop)"
	Method Man (featuring Mary J. Blige)	"I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By"
	TLC	"Waterfalls"
1997 – 1999	—

2000s

Year	Artist	Song	Ref
2009
	Beyoncé	"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"	[9]
	Keri Hilson (featuring Lil Wayne)	"Turnin Me On"
	Jennifer Hudson	"Spotlight"
	Mary Mary	"God in Me"
	Maxwell	"Pretty Wings"

2010s

Year	Artist	Song	Ref
2010	B.o.B (featuring Bruno Mars)	"Nothin' on You"	[10]
	Alicia Keys	"Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)"
	Monica	"Everything to Me"
	Sade	"Soldier of Love"
	Usher	"There Goes My Baby"
2011	Kelly Rowland (featuring Lil Wayne)	"Motivation"	[11]
	Adele	"Rolling in the Deep"
	Chris Brown	"She Ain't You"
	Miguel	"Sure Thing"
	Jill Scott (featuring Anthony Hamilton)	"So in Love"
	Kanye West (featuring Rihanna)	"All of the Lights"
2012	Tyrese	"Stay"	[12]
	Estelle	"Thank You"
	John Legend (featuring Ludacris)	"Tonight (Best You Ever Had)"
	Trey Songz	"Heart Attack"
	Usher	"Climax"
	Wale (featuring Miguel)	"Lotus Flower Bomb"
2013	Robin Thicke (featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams)	"Blurred Lines"	[13]
	Tamar Braxton	"Love and War"
	Chris Brown	"Fine China"
	Kendrick Lamar (featuring Drake)	"Poetic Justice"
	Rihanna	"Diamonds"
	Justin Timberlake (featuring Jay Z)	"Suit & Tie"
2014	Pharrell Williams	"Happy"	[14]
	Beyoncé (featuring Jay Z)	"Drunk in Love"
	Chris Brown (featuring Lil Wayne and Tyga)	"Loyal"
	Drake (featuring Majid Jordan)	"Hold On, We're Going Home"
	Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake	"Love Never Felt So Good"
	John Legend	"All of Me"
2015	Mark Ronson (featuring Bruno Mars)	"Uptown Funk"	[15]
	Common and John Legend	"Glory
	Jidenna and Roman GianArthur	"Classic Man"
	Rihanna	"B**** Better Have My Money"
	The Weeknd	"Earned It"
2016	Beyoncé	"Formation"	[16]
	Adele	"Hello"
	Drake	"Controlla"
	Rihanna (featuring Drake)	"Work"
	Bryson Tiller	"Don't"
2017	Bruno Mars	"That's What I Like"	[17]
	Childish Gambino	"Redbone"
	DJ Khaled (featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller)	"Wild Thoughts"
	Khalid	"Location"
	Solange	"Cranes in the Sky"
2018	Ella Mai	"Boo'd Up"	[18]
	Bruno Mars (featuring Cardi B)	"Finesse (Remix)"
	H.E.R.	"Every Kind of Way"
	SZA	"The Weekend"
	The Internet	"Come Over"
2019	Chris Brown (featuring Drake)	"No Guidance"	[19]
	Beyoncé	"Before I Let Go"
	Ella Mai	"Shot Clock"
	Khalid	"Talk"
	Lizzo	"Juice"
	Summer Walker (featuring Drake)	"Girls Need Love (Remix)"

2020s

Year	Artist	Song	Ref
2020	Chris Brown and Young Thug	'"Go Crazy"'	[20]
	Beyoncé	"Black Parade"
	Chloe x Halle	"Do It"
	H.E.R. (featuring YG)	"Slide"
	Summer Walker and Usher	"Come Thru"
	Usher (featuring Ella Mai)	"Don't Waste My Time"
2021	Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, Silk Sonic	"Leave the Door Open"	[21]
	Blxst (featuring Ty Dolla Sign and Tyga)	"Chosen"
	H.E.R.	"Damage"
	Jazmine Sullivan	"Pick Up Your Feelings"
	Wizkid (featuring Tems)	"Essence"
	Yung Bleu (featuring Drake)	"You're Mines Still"
2022	Beyoncé	"Break My Soul"	[22]
	Mary J. Blige	"Good Morning Gorgeous"
	Burna Boy	"Last Last"
	Steve Lacy	"Bad Habit"
	Ari Lennox	"Pressure"
	Lizzo	"About Damn Time"
	Muni Long	"Hrs and Hrs"
2023	SZA	"Snooze"	[23]
	Coco Jones	"ICU"
	October London	"Back to Your Place"
	Janelle Monáe	"Lipstick Lover"
	Victoria Monét	"On My Mama"
	SZA	"Kill Bill"
	Toosii	"Favorite Song"
	Usher, Summer Walker and 21 Savage	"Good Good"

See also

• Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single – Male
• Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single – Female
• Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo