Recently we've had reports on country stars and photo pinups. Today let's see who's hot in the world of R&B.
We scanned last week's top 50,000 queries for the names of R&B artists. (Contemporary only -- sorry, no Smokey Robinson.) The top 10?
1. Sisqo
2. Destiny's Child
3. Aaliyah
4. TLC
5. Ginuwine
6. Li'l Wayne
7. Macy Gray
8. Will Smith
9. Whitney Houston
10. Toni Braxton
Aaliyah is getting a special boost right now from her starring role in the movie Romeo Must Die. (Rapper DMX is getting a similar boost from the same film.) Sisqo's "Thong Song" is a hot request on our search logs, thanks to extensive MTV play of its bikini-laden video.
Destiny's Child's double-platinum album "The Writing's On the Wall" has pushed them past the former girl-group champs, TLC. In the list's second five it's the smooth, sexy menfolk who take over: Ginuwine, Li'l Wayne, and Will Smith (who looks like an old-timer next to most of the names on this list).
R&B is a tricky category to define. We omitted rappers (see our bonus list for those). On the other hand, we included Whitney Houston. She seems like a pop star to us, but the National Acadamy of Recording Arts and Sciences did nominate her for a Grammy in the R&B category this year. Whatever NARAS says is good enough for us.
Note: all search spellings and variations are included in each artist's total; for instance, the Macy Gray entry includes searches for both Macy Gray and Macy Grey. This list reflects actual terms entered into our search engine by Lycos users during the week ending April 8th; it does not imply endorsement by Lycos of MTV or Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, God bless 'em. Please consult a qualified professional before making any album purchases.
