Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Essence Magazine Shows No “Respect” with List of Best R&B Songs that Omits Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, Most of Motown

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Essence magazine has been kinda stupid for a long time.

Now they’ve issued a list of the top R&B songs of all time.

They’ve completed omitted Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, all of Motown (Temptations? Four Tops?) and Stax Records. No Wilson Pickett, no Sam & Dave, no Isaac Hayes, not even James Brown. No Parliament? Ike and Tina? Otis Redding? 

No James Brown on the list of greatest R&B Songs? Come on, how can you even live after that decision? Essence editors, take it to the bridge!

These lists from every magazine are ridiculous, but this one is really dumb.

They also call a Michael Jackson song “Heave Can Wait.” Michael apparently didn’t want to heave. He had enough problems. They also may not know what R&B is. This is a list of easy listening songs from Black artists, songs without rhythm or blues, LOL.

Well, heave can wait. Bloody hell.

Oh yeah, just in case they’ve never heard it, Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” should be number 1. Stevie Wonder’s best R&B song? “Superstition”? “Higher Ground”? “I Wish.” “As” is lovely but really…

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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