Kem captures the No. 1 rank on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart for the first time since 2022 as “Rock With Me” leads the radio ranking dated Nov. 1. The single, released on the singer-songwriter’s own Kemistry label after a two-decade career with Motown, jumped 4-1 and was the most played song on panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations in the tracking week of Oct. 17-23, according to Luminate.
The new champ surged 27% in plays for the tracking period compared with the previous frame, securing it the Greatest Gainer honor, which is awarded to the song with the biggest weekly increase in play count. Four stations under Connoisseur Media’s umbrella contributed the most spins for the week, with WMJM-FM (Louisville, Ky.) in first place, followed by WMJM-FM (Columbia, S.C.); WROU-FM (Dayton, Ohio) and KDKS-FM (Shreveport, La.).
“Thank you all for rocking with me for all of these years,” Kem shared in part in an exclusive reaction with Billboard, acknowledging his team, “friends at radio fans.” “It feels really good. God bless you, have a great day and keep love on the one.”
With “Rock With Me,” Kem improves to nine No. 1s on Adult R&B Airplay. He ties Maxwell for the fourth-most leaders among male artists; the pair trail Charlie Wilson (11), Tank and Usher (10 each) in that category. Alicia Keys leads all artists, with 14 champs, dating to the list’s launch in September 1993.
Here’s a review of Kem’s No. 1 collection on Adult R&B Airplay:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Kem), Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1
- “Love Calls,” two, Sept. 13, 2003
- “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” seven, May 21, 2005
- “Why Would You Stay?,” two, Sept. 25, 2010
- “It’s You,” four, Sept. 6, 2014
- “Nobody,” nine, Feb. 21, 2015
- “Lie to Me,” seven, June 27, 2020
- “Live Out Your Love,” feat. Toni Braxton; two, Jan. 2, 2021
- “Stuck on You,” one, April 16, 2022
- “Rock With Me,” one, Nov. 1, 2025
Elsewhere, “Rock With Me” advances 18-14 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop stations. There, the track soars to 6.2 million in audience, up 26% from the prior week’s total of 4.9 million.
Radio gains spark the single’s No. 21 debut on the multimetric Hot R&B Songs chart, which combines radio airplay figures with streaming and sales data for its calculations. It becomes Kem’s sixth entry to reach the ranking, which began in October 2012.
