List of Billboard number-one R&B singles of the 1950s

The first Billboard R&B chart appeared in the issue dated October 24, 1942, as the "Harlem Hit Parade".[1] Reportedly, chart positions were determined by an informal poll of record store owners in Harlem, New York.[2] In February 1945, the primary R&B chart became the Most Played Juke Box Race Records, which was based on reports from juke box operators throughout the United States. A companion chart, Best Selling Retail Race Records, was introduced in May 1948 and compiled based on a survey of record stores nationwide in which the majority of customers purchased R&B records. In June 1949, the term "race" in the two charts was replaced with "rhythm and blues".[3] In October 1958, the two charts – the "Best Sellers" and "Juke Box Jockey" charts – were combined as Hot R&B Sides.[4]

Below is the list of songs that reached number one on these charts from January 1950 through December 1959. Because of the existence of multiple charts over most of the period, some dates have more than one number-one song for the week.[4]

An asterisk (*) after a song title means that the song lost and then regained the number-one spot.