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These are the Billboard R&B albums that reached number-one in 1971.
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These are the Billboard R&B albums that reached number-one in 1971.
| Issue date | Album | Artist(s) |
|---|---|---|
| January 2 | ...To Be Continued | Isaac Hayes |
| January 9 | ||
| January 16 | ||
| January 23 | ||
| January 30 | ||
| February 6 | Curtis | Curtis Mayfield |
| February 13 | ||
| February 20 | ...To Be Continued | Isaac Hayes |
| February 27 | ||
| March 6 | ||
| March 13 | Curtis | Curtis Mayfield |
| March 20 | ||
| March 27 | ...To Be Continued | Isaac Hayes |
| April 3 | ||
| April 10 | Live in Cook County Jail | B.B. King |
| April 17 | ||
| April 24 | ||
| May 1 | Curtis | Curtis Mayfield |
| May 8 | Maybe Tomorrow | The Jackson 5 |
| May 15 | ||
| May 22 | ||
| May 29 | ||
| June 5 | ||
| June 12 | ||
| June 19 | Aretha Live at Fillmore West | Aretha Franklin |
| June 26 | ||
| July 3 | ||
| July 10 | ||
| July 17 | ||
| July 24 | What's Going On | Marvin Gaye |
| July 31 | ||
| August 7 | ||
| August 14 | ||
| August 21 | ||
| August 28 | ||
| September 4 | ||
| September 11 | ||
| September 18 | ||
| September 25 | Shaft | Soundtrack / Isaac Hayes |
| October 2 | ||
| October 9 | ||
| October 16 | ||
| October 23 | ||
| October 30 | ||
| November 6 | ||
| November 13 | ||
| November 20 | ||
| November 27 | ||
| December 4 | ||
| December 11 | ||
| December 18 | ||
| December 25 | ||
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records subsidiary label Tamla. Recorded between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California, it was Gaye's first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.
Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocalists called the Ikettes. The Ike & Tina Turner Revue was regarded as "one of the most potent live acts on the R&B circuit."
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, and ten Billboard Music Awards. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
Deniece Williams is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs "Free", "Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two Billboard Hot 100 No.1 singles "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late". Williams has won four Grammys with twelve nominations altogether.
"A Song for You" is a song written and originally recorded by rock singer and pianist Leon Russell for his first solo album Leon Russell, which was released in 1970 on Shelter Records. A slow, pained plea for forgiveness and understanding from an estranged lover, the tune is one of Russell's best-known compositions. Russell not only sings and plays piano on the recording, but also plays the tenor horn that is accompanying. It has been performed and recorded by over 200 artists, spanning many musical genres. Elton John has called the song an American classic.
Maybe Tomorrow is the fifth studio album by the Jackson 5, released on April 12, 1971 by Motown Records. Released after the success of the hit ballad "I'll Be There", most of the tracks on the album are ballads, with few dance numbers. The album includes the hit singles "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Maybe Tomorrow". While not as financially successful as the Jackson 5's first three outings, Maybe Tomorrow still sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide, and contains some of the most often-sampled and covered material in the group's catalogue. The album also spent six weeks at No. 1 on the US Soul Albums chart.
"Family Affair" is a 1971 number-one hit single recorded by Sly and the Family Stone for the Epic Records label. Their first new material since the double a-sided single "Thank You "/ "Everybody Is a Star" nearly two years prior, "Family Affair" became the third and final number-one pop single for the band. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song 57th on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The cover version by John Legend, Joss Stone, and Van Hunt, won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
Diana Ross is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on June 19, 1970 by Motown Records. The ultimate test to see if the former Supremes frontwoman could make it as a solo act, the album was overseen by the songwriting-producing team of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, who had Ross re-record several of the songs the duo had recorded on other Motown acts. Johnny Bristol, producer of her final single with The Supremes, contributed on The Velvelettes cover "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You."
"Abraham, Martin and John" is a 1968 song written by Dick Holler. It was first recorded by Dion, in a version that was a substantial North American chart hit in 1968/69. Near-simultaneous cover versions by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Moms Mabley also charted in the U.S. in 1969, and a 1969 version by Marvin Gaye was the hit version in the UK. It was also a hit as part of a medley for Tom Clay in 1971, and has subsequently been recorded by many other artists.
"The Thrill Is Gone" is a slow minor-key blues song written by West Coast blues musician Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell in 1951. Hawkins' recording of the song reached number six in the Billboard R&B chart in 1951. In 1970, "The Thrill Is Gone" became a major hit for B.B. King. His rendition helped make the song a blues standard.
"I've Been Loving You Too Long" is a soul music ballad written by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler. Considered by music critics and writers to be one of Redding's finest performances and a soul classic, it is a slow, emotional piece with Redding's pleading vocals backed by producer Steve Cropper's arpeggiated guitar parts and a horn section.
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow", sometimes known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song with words written by Gerry Goffin and music composed by Carole King. It was originally recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles, who took their single to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is also notable for being the first song by a black all-girl group to reach number one in the United States. It has since been recorded by many artists over the years, including a 1971 version by co-writer Carole King.
"Got to Be There" is the debut solo single by the American recording artist Michael Jackson, written by Elliot Willensky and released as a single in October 7, 1971 on Motown Records. The song was produced by Hal Davis and recorded at Motown's Hitsville West studios in Hollywood.
"Superstar" is a 1969 song written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell with a songwriting credit also given to Delaney Bramlett that has been a hit for many artists in different genres and interpretations in the years since; the best-known versions are by the Carpenters in 1971, and by Luther Vandross in 1983.
Live in Cook County Jail is a 1971 live album by American blues musician B.B. King, recorded on September 10, 1970, in Cook County Jail in Chicago. Agreeing to a request by jail warden Winston Moore, King and his band performed for an audience of 2,117 prisoners, most of whom were young black men. King's set list consisted mostly of slow blues songs, which had been hits earlier in his career. When King told ABC Records about the upcoming performance, he was advised to bring along press and recording equipment.
"Make It with You" is a song written by David Gates and originally recorded by the pop-rock group Bread, of which Gates was a member. Gates and drummer Mike Botts are the only members of the group to appear on the recording which was a #1 hit.
...To Be Continued is the fourth studio album by American soul musician Isaac Hayes, issued in 1970 on Stax Records' Enterprise label. The LP includes Hayes' cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition "The Look of Love", which was issued as a single in an edited form, peaking at #79 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hayes had covered Bacharach/David songs on his previous albums Hot Buttered Soul and The Isaac Hayes Movement.
"Lonely Teardrops" is a song written by Berry Gordy Jr., Gwen Gordy and Roquel "Billy" Davis, first recorded and released as a single in 1958 by R&B singer Jackie Wilson on the Brunswick label. It is a 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee. The recording became an across-the-board national Top 10 Pop smash, a # 1 hit on the R&B charts, and is ranked #315 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is ranked as the 57th biggest U.S. hit of 1959. "Lonely Teardrops" is also listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".
"Share Your Love with Me" is a song written by Alfred Braggs and Deadric Malone. It was originally recorded by blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland. Over the years, the song has been covered by various artists, most notably Aretha Franklin who won a Grammy Award for her 1969 rendition. Other artists who covered the song include The Band in 1973, Kenny Rogers in 1981, and most recently, Van Morrison in 2016.