Outstanding: Corinne Bailey Rae

Corinne Bailey Rae is a Grammy Award-winning R&B and soul artist from Leeds. “For my Black History Month playlist, I wanted to choose moments of Black Excellence in music,” she tells Apple Music. “This is not an exhaustive list, neither is it a list of black political anthems. There’s some history, some politics, some moments of exquisite interiority and some moments of pure fun! Thus, we have the Kendrick Lamar anthem ‘Alright’ and Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ as examples of the pure musical excellence, with the aching ‘Many Rivers to Cross’ and deeply personal ‘Ex-Factor’. Songs like Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ reminds us that a black woman was topping the charts internationally throughout the 1980s. Some tracks are also chosen for how they changed the game, like ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, and others, like ‘One Love’, for their inclusive message. Enjoy!”