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R&B is a genre of music that originated in the United States. It started as rhythm and blues but later evolved into modern-day R&B. The term "R&B" was coined by record company executive Jerry Wexler in 1952 when he referred to it as "rhythm and blues".

While originally a type of music for dancing, it became more popular with listening audiences after World War II than with dancers. After rock and roll came along in the 1950s, R&B had new competition from this new style of music; however, many people still considered them two different types of genres until around the 1960s. There were several notable performers during this time who helped lead to its popularity now, including Steve Wonder, Michael Jackson, and the Isley Brothers.

The 90s saw another resurgence in R&B with artists like Aaliyah, TLC, Keith Sweat, Jodeci, and Bell Biv DeVoe. But as far as who popularized R&B in this decade was Mary J. Blige, a pioneer in bringing the genre back to its first place of popularity. Some have declared this decade as "The Decade of R&B," meaning that it is getting more popular than ever with artists like Beyonce, Usher, and Chris Brown.

Other musicians had other interpretations of R&B. For instance when rock and roll came around, R&B musicians were viewed as "uncool". This change led to a new generation of musicians in the 1950s that wrote music with their own twist. Artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino had a distinctly different sound from most black vocal groups at the time. While blues music was the foundation for most American popular music, it had never been more than a minority taste until black singers like Domino and Berry began to use it. A blend of country fiddle tunes with pop rhythms and blues licks became sellout hits on both the rhythm & blues and country charts simultaneously.

This new sound paved the way for the integration of white performers into R&B, which became common by the late 1950s. However, until 1963, a true widespread stylistic change took place in black popular music. Until then, most black singers were heavily influenced by gospel and blues music. But with the help of producers like Berry Gordy, Jr., who founded Motown Records in 1959, artists started to experiment with new forms of songwriting that would later be called "soul."

The success of Motown in the 1960s became a mainstay for R&B artists from that point on. Artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, and Michael Jackson wrote successful songs on both the pop and R&B charts.

The '70s saw an increase in popularity of several types of music, including disco, funk, rock, punk, new wave, and hip-hop. These genres took elements from R&B and made them into their own type of music. Disco was a type of dance music that gained mainstream success in the 1970s. The quintessential disco sound was an extension of the Philly Soul sound pioneered by groups like The O'Jays, Harold Melvin, and the Blue Notes.