What does “rhythm and blues” mean?

The industry name for Black popular music from the 1940s on, adopted by Billboard in 1949 to replace the label "race records."

Entry · catalog no. 8303

rhythm and blues

/ /ˌɹɪðəm ən ˈbluːz/ /RITH-um un BLOOZ

noun · United States · 1940s

✓ Verified

A trade category and genre name for African American popular music of the 1940s and after: blues, jump blues, gospel-rooted singing and dance music sold to Black audiences. It was a record-industry word, written to replace the older label race records, and later shortened to R&B.

“Billboard's rhythm and blues chart was just the old race records list with a new name on it.”

Origin & Attribution

Credited to Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine, who is said to have coined it in 1948; Billboard began using it in its chart listings in June 1949 in place of the earlier category name, and kept it until August 1969, when the chart was renamed Best Selling Soul Singles. It replaced race music (the label record companies used), and some labels had tried sepia series as an alternative. The term appears in Billboard as early as 1943. The name came from the industry, not from the artists, but it describes music made by Black artists; the entry records it as a trade label, not a Black coinage.

1943

First appearance of the phrase in Billboard

1949

Billboard adopts Rhythm and Blues chart listings, replacing race records

1969

Chart renamed Best Selling Soul Singles

Region of origin

West

Midwest

N.East

South

Nationwide

United States · 1940s

Spoken by

Record executives and trade writers; Black and general American listeners

$RHYTHMThe Record · cultural traction

▲ Steady

6 yrs

ahead of the mainstream

45/100

peak cultural energy

Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.

Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest

First used

1943

in the culture

Mainstream crossover

1949

search interest spikes

Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.

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Atlanta, GA

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Memphis, TN

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Citations & Sources

■

Billboard magazine, rhythm and blues chart listings, June 1949 to August 1969

1949

■

Leo Sacks, The Soul of Jerry Wexler, New York Times, August 29, 1993

1993

■

Joel Whitburn, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995 (Record Research, 1996)

1996

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