New Good Song: Tonight by John Legend f/ Ludacris

Here's a new good song -- "Tonight (Best You Ever Had)," by John Legend f/ Ludacris

How I found this song -- the R&B chart on iTunes. It's also featured in the film "Think Like A Man," which I did not see. But films can sometimes be a good source for new good songs as well, as can the music the theatre plays before a film begins. One of my favorite songs of 2011 was "Party For The Lonely" by Sharon Robinson, which I discovered by Shazaming it as it was playing over the pre-film ads. It's so obscure it's not even on YouTube, but it's available on iTunes. Turns out it's from 2008. It's really a beautiful song. Better than this John Legend song.

What makes this song good? Not the corny-ass video, that's for damn sure. This is just a silky, well-sung, solidly produced ditty that makes you move, and the lyrics are funny, on purpose (I think). It's a bit '90s, which I love, and it doesn't get tiresome on repeated listens. Nowadays, a good R&B song comes along about once every 2 months, so each must be celebrated. We took them for granted in the mid-'90s.

Is the R&B chart on iTunes a good source of new good songs? There are pros and cons to the R&B chart on iTunes vs. the Hip-Hop and R&B Chart on Billboard.com. The Billboard chart is by far better if one truly cares about what's new, as I do. Not only does a song necessarily have to be new to qualify for Billboard, but the chart provides information about exactly how new each song is. Billboard also orchestrates its methodology in such a way that its charts aren't unduly dominated by a particular artist; on the iTunes R&B chart, by contrast, Chris Brown has 22 songs out of the Top 200 R&B, and Usher has 18. It would seem iTunes' policy is that every time either of these men emits a sound, it will appear on the chart. Billboard is also better because it lets you listen to an entire song on its site, as opposed to just a 30- or 90-second clip.

However, Billboard has shortcomings. The website isn't user-friendly. Billboard still combines hip-hop and R&B into one chart; iTunes separates them into Hip-Hop/Rap and R&B/Soul, which is the correct answer. Billboard also doesn't include song samples with everything. And not everything on Billboard is available for purchase (e.g., "Beautiful Surprise" by Tamia, which is almost a new good song but is just a hair too boring).

If you want to go down this R&B road, I suggest using the iTunes R&B chart and Billboard in tandem. The churn in this genre is low, so you'll be up-to-date even if you don't search for new songs more than once a month.