Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival).WHAT DOES IT TAKE (TO WIN YOUR LOVE) (Jr.Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival).Grazing in the Grass (The Friends of Distinction).LOVE THEME FROM ROMEO AND JULIET (Henry Mancini).TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT MY BABY (Marvin Gaye).Crystal Blue Persuasion (Tommy James and the Shondells).The 5th Dimension performs on stage in 1968.

CRIMSON AND CLOVER (Tommy James and the Shondells).BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP (The Foundations).I’LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN (Tom Jones).Hot Fun in the Summertime (Sly and the Family Stone).Everyday People (Sly and the Family Stone).I CAN’T GET NEXT TO YOU (The Temptations).Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The 5th Dimension).There were also 35 LOVE SONGS BY OTHER ARTISTS Of that 36, there were 23 LOVE SONGS BY BLACK ARTISTS On the year-end Billboard Hot 1, there were: Guide to reading the chart: Black artists are in bold and love songs are all CAPS. Here are the receipts for 1969, when black love was still big on the charts: We do not count Eminem as producing black music because his fan base is overwhelmingly white. Same for Ariana Grande, Calvin Harris, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, etc. Nothing by Post Malone is black music, even if he has a black artist performing on that particular song. Neither are songs by white artists who perform in a black style (with the non-negotiable exception of Bobby Caldwell). Songs by white performers that “feature” black artists are not counted as work by black artists on our list. We include Bruno Mars as making black music because he’s way too fonky. We recognize the subjective and malleable nature of “black music.” Is the salsa remake “I Like It” by Afro-Latino Cardi B an example of “black music”? What about work by Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny or the Colombian reggaeton artist J Balvin? Reasonable people can disagree … but Cardi says “n-a” in the song, so that’s gotta be black music. Our definition of love songs includes those dealing with dysfunctional aspects of love: domestic and emotional abuse, cheating, and other unhealthy or harmful situations. Songs that talk about heartbreak, lost love, etc., are counted as love songs. Songs that only talk about sex are not counted as love songs. Love songs give voice to humanity’s most powerful emotion, that alchemy of need, companionship and commitment that can include, but also transcends, the physical. (To see our story on the reasons behind the change, click here.) These charts show a decrease in love songs by black performers. The year-end Billboard Hot 100 charts are widely regarded as the best measure of America’s most popular songs. Where did the love go? Specifically, what happened to popular black love songs?

Billboard top 100 1969