D’Angelo’s 10 Best Songs: Staff Picks

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Our database of the 10 champion songs by the neo-soul architect, from Brown Sugar to Black Messiah.

10/14/2025

D'Angelo performs unrecorded connected the main signifier during Day Two of the Lovebox festival astatine Victoria Park connected July 20, 2013 successful London, England.

When it comes to the past 3 decades of R&B, peculiarly the improvement of the neo-soul movement, D’Angelo‘s sanction stands heads and shoulders supra the rest. From his culture-shifting Brown Sugar debut medium and analyzable enactment awesome presumption during his Voodoo years to his Soulquarian contributions and enigmatic late-career moves, D’Angelo wielded his virtuosic songwriting and instrumental abilities to make euphony that captured life’s warmest, astir sensual and astir fleeting moments. The Virginia-bred Grammy winner’s power reverberates crossed the modern R&B scene, arsenic evidenced by some Leon Thomas‘ guitar-shredding charisma and Elmiene‘s sultry timbre.

On Tuesday (Oct. 14), D’Angelo’s household confirmed that the legendary vocalist passed astatine 51 years aged pursuing a conflict with cancer. “We are saddened that helium tin lone permission beloved memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the bequest of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind,” they wrote successful a connection to Billboard. “We inquire that you respect our privateness during this hard time, but invitation you each to articulation america successful mourning his passing portion besides celebrating the acquisition of opus that helium has near for the world.”

Boasting 2 Billboard 200 apical 10 albums — including the 2000 chart-topper Voodoo — and 4 apical 10 hits connected Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, D’Angelo’s succinct catalog houses immoderate of the astir pivotal R&B records of the past quarter-century. Whether helium was serving arsenic a duet spouse for Ms. Lauryn Hill (1999’s “Nothing Even Matters”) oregon revolutionizing the euphony video (2000’s “Untitled”), D’Angelo’s sensation for subtlety, thematic boldness and attraction to item made him a singular unit successful modern music.

On the somber time of his passing, present are our unit picks for D’Angelo’s 10 all-time top songs.