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Jeremih quickly rose to fame in 2009 with his Top Ten debut single "Birthday Sex," a lewd lullaby of sorts that sounded like nothing else at the time, optimizing the R&B artist's slinking vocals and explicit wordplay. The slow jam effectively launched the Chicago native's career, one that has been studded with additional and quite different Top Ten hits "Down on Me" and "Don't Tell 'Em," among several more gold and platinum singles. Jeremih (2009), All About You (2010), and Late Nights: The Album (2015), his first three LPs, were similarly awarded, while "Planez," off the latter, was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Performance. Since that run, Jeremih has partnered with Ty Dolla $ign for the duo album Mih-Ty (2018), issued a handful of headlining singles, and been a prolific featured collaborator, appearing on tracks spanning pop, rap, and numerous forms of club music well into the 2020s.

Starting at the age of three with drums, Jeremih (Jeremy Philip Felton) learned to play several instruments during his childhood, continuing with percussion and keyboards. He performed in the marching band and jazz band in high school, graduated a year early, and briefly studied engineering before he opted to enter the music business program at Columbia College Chicago. While at Columbia, he performed at a campus talent show that emboldened him to pursue singing, a talent he hadn't taken seriously until that point. Jeremih struck up a partnership with fellow Columbia student and fledgling producer Mick Schultz, and worked on material that attracted a deal with Def Jam. Jeremih debuted in February 2009 with "Birthday Sex," a slow jam that topped Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart and, more impressively, peaked at number four on the pop chart. Thanks to that multi-platinum hit, Jeremih, released that June with production handled entirely by Schultz, debuted at number six on the Billboard 200. The album yielded the singer's second platinum single, "Imma Star (Everywhere We Are)." A year later, Jeremih issued his follow-up, All About You. Like the debut, it was produced by Schultz and spawned a multi-platinum Top Ten pop hit, the club-friendly "Down on Me," featuring 50 Cent. All About You peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200.

Five years passed before the release of Jeremih's third album. The protracted gap between full-lengths involved numerous release-date changes, and the singer distanced himself from his earlier hits and blamed himself and his label for the absence. Jeremih nonetheless hardly pulled a disappearing act, issuing the high-profile mixtape Late Nights with Jeremih, scoring a Top Ten pop hit in the form of the YG collaboration "Don't Tell 'Em" (produced by Schultz and DJ Mustard), and appeared on a large number of tracks headlined by other artists, most notably DJ Khaled's Top 40 single "Hold You Down." The long-delayed third proper LP, Late Nights: The Album, finally arrived in December 2015 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 42. In addition to "Don't Tell 'Em," it contained "Planez" (with J. Cole) and "Oui," likewise multi-platinum singles produced respectively by the duos of Vinylz and Frank Dukes and Needlz and Donut. "Planez" earned Jeremih a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Performance. Late Nights with Jeremih and Late Nights: The Album became the first two parts of a trilogy with the August 2016 release of the commercial mixtape Late Nights: Europe. The slick if quickly recorded collection was highlighted by "London," featuring Stefflon Don and Krept & Konan, and "Paris (Who Taught You)," assisted by Ty Dolla $ign. Jeremih and fellow Chicagoan Chance the Rapper closed out 2016 with the collaborative holiday mixtape Merry Christmas Lil' Mama.

During 2017 and 2018, Jeremih released a handful of singles, and in the latter, more productive year, the singer bundled four new solo cuts as The Chocolate Box, and teamed up again with Ty Dolla $ign to issue the full-length project Mih-Ty. Jointly issued by Def Jam and Ty's home label, Atlantic, Mih-Ty placed at number 60 on the Billboard 200. Its single "The Light" went gold. Jeremih issued some more singles in 2020, but during that year through 2022, he was much more active in featured artist and co-headliner roles, appearing on Afrojack and Chico Rose's "Cloud 9," Kito and Zhu's "Follow," and Benny Benassi's "Lovelife," among many other tracks. The deluge of singles continued in 2023 with tracks like "Crew Thang" with DVBBS and SK8 and "Room" with Adekunle Gold and 2 Chainz. 2024's intimate, low-key "Wait On It" featured Bryson Tiller and Chris Brown. ~ Andy Kellman

Bryson Tiller is a Kentucky-born singer and rapper became one of the key breakout stars in 2010s contemporary R&B with the single "Don't" and a descriptively titled parent album, T R A P S O U L (2015), a moody if swaggering set of slow jams that neologized a subgenre Tiller took to the mainstream with multi-platinum certifications and Grammy nominations. His next two studio albums, True to Self (2017) and A N N I V E R S A R Y (2019), reached numbers one and five, respectively, on the Billboard 200. Tiller's additional hits as a featured artist and duet partner include highlights by DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts," H.E.R.'s "Could've Been," and Diddy's "Gotta Move On." Anchored by the hit single "Whatever She Wants," he released his eponymous fourth album in April 2024.

Tiller started singing and rapping as a high schooler in his native Louisville, Kentucky, and in his late teens released a mixtape, Killer Instinct, Vol. 1. He was just into his twenties when SoundCloud uploads such as "Don't," "Break Bread," and "Let 'Em Know" brought him greater recognition. Timbaland reached out to collaborate and convinced Tiller to quit his job to do so. Drake expressed interest in signing Tiller to his OVO Sound label, but after some deliberation, Tiller accepted an offer from RCA, and made his major-label debut in May 2015 with the commercial release of "Don't." The sparse ballad peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and eventually went multi-platinum). The full-length T R A P S O U L followed a few months later and reached number eight on the Billboard 200. Within six months, the album was certified platinum, supported by additional multi-platinum hits "Exchange" and "Sorry Not Sorry," the latter of which was co-produced by Timbaland. "Exchange," a number 26 pop hit, was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Song.

Featured appearances and non-album singles as a headliner led to the May 2017 release of Tiller's second album, True to Self. Another set dominated by thumping slow jams, it went straight to number one. Around the same time, Tiller was featured beside Rihanna on DJ Khaled's number two hit "Wild Thoughts." Additional featured appearances and other stray tracks preceded Tiller's third album. Most notable were duets with Jazmine Sullivan and H.E.R., respectively "Insecure" (for the soundtrack of the like-titled series) and the Grammy-nominated "Could've Been." Issued in October 2020, A N N I V E R S A R Y landed at number five and contained "Outta Time," featuring guest vocals by Drake and production from 40, Nineteen85, and Vinylz. A year later, coinciding with both Halloween and the tenth anniversary of his first mixtape, Tiller offered his second tape, Killer Instinct 2: The Nightmare Before. Another holiday-themed recording, A Different Christmas, was out the next month with Justin Bieber, Pentatonix, and Kiana Ledé on the guest list. The EP included mostly original songs and an update of "Winter Wonderland." In 2022, Tiller guested on Diddy's "Gotta Move On" and released the solo single "Outside," followed a year later by "Down Like That." Previously issued as part of a SoundCloud mixtape, "Whatever She Wants" was given a wider release in early 2024 and became a significant hit, reaching the Top 20 in the U.S. and U.K. Tiller included it on his self-titled fourth album in April. ~ Andy Kellman

One of the most prominent artists in contemporary R&B, Chris Brown is a dynamic vocalist whose longevity is attributable in part to his natural incorporation of hip-hop and his embrace of club sounds ranging from EDM to Afrobeats. Greeted with comparisons to Michael Jackson and Usher, Brown arrived in 2005 as a teen pop-R&B singer with "Run It!," the first debut single by a male artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in over a decade. While there was nowhere to go but down, at least in terms of chart positions, Brown was only getting started. Within a few years, he became a well-established star with Chris Brown (2005) and Exclusive (2007), multi-platinum albums that produced five more Top Ten singles, including "Kiss Kiss" and "Forever." As a featured artist or duettist, he added to the count with hits such as "No Air," a ballad with Jordin Sparks. By the end of the decade, Brown underwent a stylistic makeover during which his forebears shifted to the likes of Jodeci, R. Kelly, and 2Pac. This, and a more drastic change in his public image, did little to slow his commercial momentum. His streak of Top Ten albums was sustained with releases such as Graffiti (2009), the Grammy-winning F.A.M.E. (2011), and Fortune (2012). Brown's artistic scope continued to widen with Heartbreak on a Full Moon (2017) and Indigo (2019), albums as long as epic films, and with his tenth and 11th consecutive Top Ten albums, Breezy (2022) and 11:11 (2023). The latter was promoted with some of his warmest singles, including the Grammy-nominated "Summer Too Hot."

Chris Brown is originally from Tappahannock, Virginia. Like a lot of kids born in the mid- to late '80s, he got into his parents' favorite music but eventually fell under the spell of hip-hop. Around the time his voice changed, he discovered his singing ability and switched his focus away from MC'ing. A move to New York led to being discovered by Tina Davis, a Def Jam A&R executive who became the singer's manager shortly after losing her position in the Sony-BMG merger. The Jive label, due in part to its track record with younger artists who had established longevity (like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake), won the bidding war for Brown and lined up several production and songwriting heavy weights, including Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, Sean Garrett, and Scott Storch, for his self-titled first album. An immediate Top Ten hit when it was released in 2005, Chris Brown not only featured the number one "Run It!" but two other Top Ten singles in "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" and "Say Goodbye." Brown was subsequently nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best New Artist. Exclusive, released in 2007 and a bit of a departure from the wholesome image presented throughout his debut, was even more successful, featuring the number one single "Kiss Kiss" and two other Top Five hits. Yet another Top Five hit came with "No Air," a duet with Jordin Sparks that appeared on Sparks' own self-titled album. Brown also co-wrote "Disturbia," a number one hit for Rihanna.

In March 2009, Brown was charged with felonious assault of Rihanna, an altercation that had prevented his then-partner from taking the stage at the Grammy Awards. Brown was scheduled to perform as well, but he did not appear and maintained a low profile for several months. A fairly substantial backlash resulted in Brown's songs being pulled from rotation on several radio stations. Ultimately, however, it had little bearing on the progress of his music career and side acting gigs. The week before the December release of his third album, Graffiti, the single "I Can Transform Ya" was well on its way to reaching the Top 20 of the Hot 100, and his acting roles -- which had already included spots in Stomp the Yard and a recurring role on The O.C. -- hadn't shown any sign of drying up. Graffiti fell considerably short of gold-selling status, but it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Contemporary R&B Album, and a Tank collaboration, "Take My Time," was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Weeks after the 2011 Grammy Awards ceremony, Brown released his fourth album, F.A.M.E., which already had four singles on the charts. That record topped the Billboard 200 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts, and it took the 2012 Grammy for Best R&B Album. During the ceremony, he performed a medley of "Beautiful People" and "Turn Up the Music," the latter of which previewed Fortune, his fifth album, released in May 2012 and an immediate chart-topper in the U.S. A sequence of several singles that began with "Fine China" preceded X, released in September 2014. Less inspired by European dance-pop and more R&B-oriented than his previous release, the album included contributions from R. Kelly, Usher, and Lil Wayne, among many others. Four of its singles peaked within the R&B Top Ten. X was only five months old when Brown and Tyga, who had previously worked together on one of those hits -- "Loyal," as well as the earlier "Deuces" -- teamed up for Fan of a Fan: The Album. By the end of 2015, Brown released Royalty, his seventh proper album, which was propped up by the Top 20 pop hit "Back to Sleep."

Brown cranked out material in larger volumes and made more featured appearances through the end of the 2010s. Heartbreak on a Full Moon arrived in October 2017 with 45 songs on its deluxe edition. It entered the Billboard 200 at number three, making it the artist's eighth consecutive Top Ten album. The following year, Brown appeared on a few high-profile collaborative singles, highlighted by Lil Dicky's "Freaky Friday," another Top Ten hit.

In June 2019, Brown delivered his ninth solo album, the chart-topping double-length Indigo. A track from the LP, "No Guidance," was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Song. The commercial mixtape Slime & B, a collaboration with Young Thug, followed in May 2020 and hit number 24 on the Billboard 200.

Brown returned in June 2022 with the number four hit Breezy. Aiming to relate more directly to the women in his audience with an emphasis on slow jams and ballads, he also added the likes of Ella Mai and H.E.R. to a supporting cast that included WizKid, Jack Harlow, and Lil Durk. Despite the LP's many guests, the unassisted "Iffy" and "WE (Warm Embrace)" were its two first singles to hit the Hot 100.

Brown stayed busy in 2023, teaming up with Fridayy on the R&B anthem "Don't Give It Away," appearing on Chlöe Bailey's "How Does It Feel," and giving fans a sneak peek at his forthcoming 11th long-player with "Summer Too Hot" and the Ciara collaboration "How We Roll." 11:11, including additional collaborations with Davido, Lojay, and Future, entered the Billboard 200 at number nine upon release that November, earning a Grammy nomination for its lead single. A deluxe version of the album spawned the 2024 Hot 100 hit "Residuals." ~ Andy Kellman