The Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance is a weird one, honestly. If you look at the history of the Recording Academy, they’ve spent decades trying to figure out how to box in "soul" music without making it sound like a relic of the 1960s.
It hasn’t always been easy.
In the early days, you had these massive splits between male and female categories, then group performances, and then they just smashed them all together in 2012 to create the powerhouse category we have now. It’s the "Hunger Games" of R&B. You have legends like Beyoncé going up against newcomers like Coco Jones, and sometimes, the results are genuinely shocking.
The Chaos of the All-In-One Category
Before 2012, if you were a male R&B singer, you competed against men. If you were a woman, you competed against women. Simple, right? But the Academy decided to trim the fat, and now the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance is a free-for-all. It doesn't matter if you're a solo act, a duo, or a full-blown group—everyone is fighting for the same trophy.
Look at the 2024 win by Coco Jones for "ICU."
That was a huge moment. It wasn't just about a great song; it was a signal that the Academy was finally paying attention to "true" R&B again, the kind that feels like it belongs in a dim-lit room with a lot of feelings. She beat out SZA’s "Kill Bill" and Victoria Monét’s "How Does It Make You Feel," which felt impossible at the time.
Then you jump to 2025. Muni Long took it home for "Made for Me (Live on BET)."
That's a wild detail most people miss. It wasn't even the studio version that won; it was a live performance. This category rewards the delivery. It’s not just about the writing—that’s what the Best R&B Song category is for. This one is about how the singer makes you feel when that specific recording hits your ears.
Why Some Artists Keep Winning (and Others Don't)
There is a clear divide in how these awards are handed out. You’ve got your "Academy Darlings"—the artists who could hum into a microphone and get a nomination—and then you have the disruptors.
- Beyoncé is the undisputed queen here, obviously. She’s won this specific iteration multiple times, including "Drunk in Love" and "Black Parade."
- Jazmine Sullivan finally got her flowers recently with "Pick Up Your Feelings," a win that felt like a collective sigh of relief from the R&B community.
- Snoh Aalegra and Lucky Daye are constantly in the mix, representing that "new-age" soul that blends traditional vibes with modern production.
But wait. There’s a catch.
Many people confuse this with "Best Traditional R&B Performance." That is a completely separate award. While the main performance award is for the contemporary, radio-ready stuff, the "Traditional" category is where the "real" soul heads live. In 2025, Lucky Daye won Traditional for "That's You," while Muni Long took the main Performance award.
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The Politics of the Vote
Let's be real: the Grammys are a bit of a popularity contest.
Because the voting body is so large, names with massive branding often have an edge. However, the R&B field has become one of the most scrutinized. Artists like The Weeknd have famously boycotted the ceremony because of how these "urban" categories (a term the Academy finally moved away from) were handled.
Today, the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance is supposedly judged on "artistic achievement, technical proficiency, and overall excellence." Sales aren't supposed to matter. In practice? A viral TikTok hit like "Made for Me" definitely has a head start because the voters have actually heard it.
How to Tell the Categories Apart
If you’re trying to track your favorite artist, don't get tripped up by the nomenclature.
- Best R&B Performance: Think contemporary. Modern beats, current stars, usually the songs you hear on the radio or Spotify's "Are & Be" playlist.
- Best Traditional R&B Performance: Think "old school." This is for the artists keeping the Motown or 90s soul flame alive.
- Best R&B Song: This goes to the songwriters, not necessarily the singer.
What This Means for the Future of Soul
R&B isn't a monolith anymore.
We’re seeing a massive influx of "Progressive R&B" (which has its own album category) bleeding into the performance space. When you see someone like SZA or Tems nominated, they are pushing the boundaries of what the genre even sounds like.
The Academy is slow to change, but they are changing.
The fact that a live version of a song can beat out high-budget studio singles proves that "performance" is being taken literally again. It’s about the vocal. It’s about the grit.
If you want to keep up with who is actually dominating the genre, look at the nomination lists rather than just the winners. The nominations tell you who the industry respects; the winners tell you who the industry is currently obsessed with.
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To really understand the impact of the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance, you should go back and listen to the 2024 and 2025 winner tracks side-by-side. Notice the difference between the polished studio production of the nominees and the raw, vocal-heavy wins of Coco Jones and Muni Long. That shift tells you everything you need to know about where R&B is headed in 2026 and beyond.