R. Kelly Greatest Hits

R. Kelly Overview

Color Photo of R. KellyThis is a review of R. Kelly greatest hits as a solo singer. He is known as the “King of R&B”. R. Kelly is an American song-writer and record producer. Kelly has written, produced, and remixed songs for other artists such as Aaliayah, Michael Jackson, Nas, Sean Combs and Fat Joe to name a few. He has sold over 40 million copies of his songs in the United States and over 60 million world-wide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the United States.

He is the only fifth black artist to crack the top 50 in the list of best-selling artists. He was also named the most successful R&B artist in the last 25 years by Billboard. In total he released 12 studio albums, 65 singles, 5 video albums, 52 music videos, 4 soundtracks, 5 compilation albums, and 1 live album. This is his story…

Early Life

He was born Robert Sylvester Kelly on January 8, 1967, on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. Kelly was the third of four children. Kelly’s mothers name is Joanne, and was single while Kelly was growing up. His father was absent most of Kelly’s life. When Kelly was eight years old, he began singing at church.

Kelly entered Kenwood Academy in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood in the fall of 1980 and met his music teacher Lena McLin. She encouraged Kelly to perform “Ribbon in the Sky” by Stevie Wonder in the high school talent show. As a teenager, Kelly began street performing under the Chicago ‘L’ tracks and formed a group with his friends Marc McWilliams, Vincent Walker, and Shawn Brooks. In 1989, Kelly, McWilliams, Walker and Brooks formed the group MGM (Musically Gifted Men). In 1990, MGM recorded and released their first single “Why You Wanna Play Me” and did not do well and the group disbanded.

R. Kelly Photo in ColorIn 1991, Kelly signed with Jive Records and teamed with a new group from Chicago called Public Announcement. R. Kelly played high school basketball with the late high school basketball player Ben Wilson. With Public Announcement they had four singles to hit the Hot 100 chart and “Dedicated” was the highest ranked single at #31 in 1993, and “She’s Got That Vibe” was their first single at #59 in 1992.

Solo Singing Career

Kelly separated from Public Announcement in January 1993. He signed a contract with Jive Records and released his first studio album titled “”12 Play”. That album went on to sell over 6.2 million records world-wide and is 6 times platinum.  His first solo single came from that album to reach Billboard’s Hot 100 chart was “Sex Me” at #20 in October 1993. The next single from that album was R. Kelly’s first #1 hit “Bump N’ Grind” in February 1994 and was in the top spot for 4 weeks. A third single from that album was “Your Body’s Callin’” at #13.

R. Kelly Celine Dion Im Your Angel PhotoHis next studio album titled “R Kelly” had three more top-ten hits “You Remind Me Of Something” at #4, “Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)” at #4, and “I Can’t Sleep Baby” at #5. His next single “I Believe I Can Fly” in 1996, was #2 for 4 weeks, and number one in 6 countries outside the U.S. The song was number one for twelve weeks on the R&B chart. This was his all-time biggest hit record. His last #1 song on the Hot 100 chart was “I’m Your Angel” with Celine Dion which was in the top spot for 6 weeks in 1998 and was from his album called “R.”.

In 1999, he released “Satisfy You” with Puff Daddy and went to #2 for 3 weeks. From his album “TP-2.com he had another top-ten hit “Fiesta – Remix” in 2001 and went to #6. In 2002, he had another top ten hit “Ignition” at #2 for five weeks. In August of 2003, he released another top ten hit single “Step in The Name Of Love” at #9. In December of 2003, he released “Hotel” with Cassidy and went to #4. His last top ten hit to date was “Wonderful” with Ja Rule at #5 in 2004.

R. Kelly’s last Hot 100 single to date is “Love Letter” at #107 in January 2011. All told, R. Kelly had a total of 2 #1’s, 13 Top 10, 26 Top 20, 37 Top 40 hit songs. He also has 13 top ten albums. He also has 12 #1’s on the R&B chart. Billboard has ranked R. Kelly as the #7 artist from 1990-1999, the #23 artist from 200-2010 and the #31 artist of all-time from 1955-2010.

R. Kelly’s Top Ten & Number One Songs

Below is a complete listing of R. Kelly’s top ten and #1 songs in chronological order showing the title, date, peak position #, number weeks at #1 & #2 in () with #1’s in bold.

R. Kelly Bump N Grind Album Photo ColorHot 100

  1. Bump N’ Grind – April 9, 1994 #1 (4)
  2. You Remind Me of Something – November 18, 1995 #4
  3. Down Love (Nobody Has To Know) – March 2, 1996 #4
  4. I Can’t Sleep Baby – July 13, 1996 #5
  5. I Believe I Can Fly – December 14, 1996 #2 (4)
  6. Gotham City – July 19, 1997 #9
  7. I’m Your Angel – December 5, 1998 #1 (6)
  8. Satisfy You – September 25, 1999 #2 (3)
  9. Fiesta – Remix – March 31, 2001 #6
  10. Ignition – November 9, 2002 #2 (5)
  11. Step In The Name Of Love – August 23, 2003 #9
  12. Hotel – December 20, 2003 #4
  13. Wonderful – October 16, 2004 #5

R&B Songs

  1. She’s Got That Vibe – November 16, 1991 #7
  2. Honey Love – June 13, 1992 #1 (2)
  3. Slow Dance – October 3, 1992 #1 (1)
  4. Dedicated – January 23, 1993 #9
  5. Sex Me – October 39, 1993 #8
  6. Bump N’ Grind – February 26, 1994 #1 (12)
  7. Your Body’s Callin’ – May 14, 1994 #2 (2)
  8. You Remind Me Of Something – November 18, 1995 #1 (1)
  9. Down Low (Nobody Has To Know) – March 9, 1996 #1 (7)
  10. I Can’t Sleep Baby – August 3, 1996 #1 (2)
  11. I Believe I Can Fly – December 21, 1996 #1 (6)
  12. Gotham City – July 19, 1997 #9
  13. Be Careful – With Sparkle – May 16, 1998 #1 (6)
  14. I’m Your Angel – December 5, 1998 #5
  15. When A Women’s Fed Up – January 2, 1999 #5
  16. Did You Ever Think – January 9, 1999 #8
  17. If I Could turn Back The Hands Of Time – August 7, 1999 #5
  18. Satisfy You – With Puff Daddy – October 30, 1999 #1 (2)
  19. I Wish – November 25, 2000 #1 (2)
  20. Feelin’ On Yo Booty – January 27, 2001 #9
  21. We Thuggin w/Fat Joe – September 22, 2001 #5
  22. Fiesta – Remix – June 2, 2001 #1 (5)
  23. Ignition – November 2, 2002 #2 (5)
  24. Snake – March 15, 2003 #9
  25. Thola Thoing – July 12, 2003 #6
  26. Hotel w/Cassidy – October 18, 2003 #6
  27. Step In The Name Of Love – December 6, 2003 #1 (2)
  28. Happy People – March 13, 2004 #7
  29. Go Sexy w/Twista – March 13, 2004 #10
  30. Wonderful w/Ja Rule – October 2, 2004 #3 (3)
  31. Trapped In The Closet – April 23, 2005 #5
  32. That’s That w/Snoop Dogg – October 26, 2006 #9
  33. Go Getta w/Young Jeezy – December 30, 2006 #9
  34. I’m A Flirt – January 2, 2007 #2 (1)
  35. Same Girl – May 19, 2007 #4
  36. Number One – August 1, 2009 #8

On the Hot 100 chart, R. Kelly had 2 #1’s, 13 Top 10, 25 Top 20, and 36 Top 40 hits. He also had 13 top ten albums. He is ranked as the #7 artist from 1990-1999, the #23 artist from 2000-2009, and the #31 artist of all-time from 1955-2010.

On the R&B chart, R. Kelly had 12 #1’s, 36 Top 10, 41 Top 40 hits. He is ranked as the #1 artist from 1990-1999, the #3 artist from 2000-2009 and the #7 artist of all-time from 1942-2010.

Shop R. Kelly Greatest Hits

If you are a big fan of R. Kelly you can own all his #1 hits and most of his top ten with the two albums below.

As an Amazon associate I earn from qualified purchases.

R in R&B Collection 1 18 TracksR in R&B Collection 1 18 Tracks
The R. in R&B Collection, Vol. 1 2 CD’s 23 TracksThe R. in R&B Collection, Vol. 1 2 CD’s 23 Tracks

Now, you can shop for individual R. Kelly Greatest Hits by clicking on the link. You will be taken to the Amazon Try Prime Digital Music page where you can download individual R. Kelly hit songs for a small fee.

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