Chart Brief: Chris Brown’s ‘Fallin” Hits No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay, Steve Lacy’s ‘Oh Yeah?’ Scores Top 5 Debut on R&B Albums

Welcome to Chart Brief, Rated R&B’s weekly column tracking the latest movements across R&B charts. Every week, we’ll break down and analyze the R&B artists impacting the Billboard and Mediabase charts. This edition covers the charts dated Aug. 1, 2026.

Billboard Charts

Adult R&B Airplay

Tracks the week’s top Adult R&B hits via 24/7 airplay data from Mediabase and Luminate.

No. 1: “Fallin’” – Chris Brown feat. Leon Thomas (LW: 2)

THE BRIEF: Chris Brown’s “Fallin’,” featuring Leon Thomas, becomes his eighth No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart. All eight of his chart-toppers were achieved in this decade, starting with the Drake-assisted “No Guidance,” which reigned for 11 weeks in 2020. “Fallin’” is his first leader since “It Depends” with Bryson Tiller, which ruled for four weeks in November 2025. Both songs are lifted from his 12th album, BROWN, which dropped in May. As for Thomas, “Fallin’” is his second visit to the top, following his smash hit “Mutt,” which topped this chart in May 2025. 

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Debuts

• No. 29: “The Pleasure Would Be Mine” – Raheem DeVaughn

Top 5 on Adult R&B Airplay

1. “Fallin” – Chris Brown feat. Leon Thomas (LW: 2)
2. “What You Need” – Tems (LW: 6)
3. “Folded” – Kehlani (LW: 4; Peak: 1)
4. “Energy” – Kayla Brianna (LW: 7)
5. “One Love” – Kem (LW: 3; Peak: 2)

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R&B Streaming Songs

Calculates the most-streamed R&B songs of the week across digital service providers.

No. 1: “Billie Jean” – Michael Jackson (LW: 1)

THE BRIEF: Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit “Billie Jean” spends a 12th consecutive week at No. 1 on the R&B Streaming Songs chart. It’s the King of Pop’s longest-running No. 1 on this chart. The classic, along with other songs from MJ’s discography, has seen a surge in streaming activity since the release of the blockbuster biopic Michael.

Top 5 on R&B Streaming Songs

1. “Billie Jean” – Michael Jackson (LW: 1)
2. “Chicago” – Michael Jackson (LW: 4; Peak: 2)
3. “Beat It” – Michael Jackson (LW: 5; Peak: 3)
4. “Morning Dew (Donk)” – Beyoncé (LW: 2)
5. “I Just Might” – Bruno Mars – (LW: 3, Peak: 1)

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Hot R&B Songs

Tracks the week’s most popular R&B songs based on streaming activity, sales and radio airplay impressions.

No. 1: “I Just Might” – Bruno Mars (LW: 1)

Debuts

• No. 12: “Doom” – Steve Lacy
• No. 17: “Pure Colour” – Steve Lacy

CHART NOTE: Steve Lacy lands two entries on the Hot R&B Songs chart this week. “Doom” and “Pure Colour” are lifted from The Internet member’s third solo album, Oh yeah? [Read our review] Speaking of The Internet, the band has a new album coming. Read more about it here.  

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Top 5 on Hot R&B Songs

1. “I Just Might” – Bruno Mars (LW: 1)
2. “Folded” – Kehlani (LW: 2; Peak: 1)
3. “Billie Jean” – Michael Jackson (LW: 3)
4. “What You Need” – Tems (LW: 5)
5. “Morning Dew (Donk)” – Beyoncé (LW: 4)

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Top R&B Albums

Tracks the week’s most popular R&B albums based on sales and streaming activity.

No. 1: Thriller – Michael Jackson (LW: 1)

THE BRIEF: Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking album Thriller leads Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart for an 11th consecutive week.

Debuts

CHART NOTE: Steve Lacy’s third solo album Oh yeah? debuts at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart. According to Hits Daily Double, the album sold 33,709 copies in the first week, with 7,022 from pure sales. Oh yeah? is Lacy’s second top 10 on this chart, following 2022’s Gemini Rights, which debuted at No. 2. On the Billboard 200, Oh yeah? opens at No. 14.

Top 5 on R&B Albums

1. Thriller – Michael Jackson (LW: 1)
2. Number Ones – Michael Jackson (LW: 2; Peak: 2)
3. Oh yeah? – Steve Lacy (NEW)
4. SOS – SZA (LW: 3; Peak: 1)
5. Swag – Justin Bieber (LW: 4; Peak: 1)

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Hot 100

Tracks the week’s most popular songs across all genres via streaming, radio airplay and sales activity. (Note: Chart Brief focuses on R&B only.)

Re-Entries:

• No. 77: “The Feeling” – Steve Lacy
• No. 80: “Is It Cool?” – Steve Lacy feat. SZA 

CHART NOTE: Following the release of Oh yeah?, Steve Lacy has earned a couple of re-entries on the Hot 100. 

Highest-Charting R&B Songs (Top 40)

• No. 7: “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” – Olivia Dean (LW: 9; Peak: 5)
• No. 9: “Man I Need” – Olivia Dean (LW: 8; Peak: 2)
• No. 10: “I Just Might” – Bruno Mars (LW: 10; Peak: 1)
• No. 11: “Risk It All” – Bruno Mars (LW: 13; Peak: 4)
• No. 32: “What You Need” – Tems (LW: 36)
• No. 42: “Morning Dew (Donk)” – Beyoncé (LW: 31; Peak: 26)

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Mediabase Radio Charts

R&B Radio

Tracks the week’s top R&B hits via 24/7 radio monitoring data from Mediabase, ranked by total weekly spins. (Dates: July 19 – July 25)

No. 1: “Folded” – Kehlani (LW: 4)

THE BRIEF: Kehlani’s Grammy-winning hit “Folded” is back at No. 1 this week at R&B radio. The return to the top comes just ahead of The Kehlani World Tour, which kicks off Aug. 6. 

Top 10 at R&B Radio

1. “Folded” – Kehlani (LW: 4)
2. “Fallin’” – Chris Brown feat. Leon Thomas (LW: 2)
3. “Energy” – Kayla Brianna (LW: 5)
4. “What You Need” – Tems (LW: 6)
5. “Spin” – Kevin Ross (LW: 7)
6. “Need Love” – Stokley (LW: 10)
7. “Let Em Know” – T.I. (LW: 8)
8. “Up Out & Gone” – Ne-Yo (LW: 1)
9. “One Love” – Kem (LW: 3)
10. “Let Me” – Victoria Monet (LW: 9)

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Chart rankings are sourced from Billboard‘s weekly tallies. Radio airplay metrics, including spin counts and audience impressions, are provided by Mediabase.