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Mary J. Blige's 50 Best Songs - Mary J. Blige's career and life have truly been a voyage. From poverty, heartbreak and abuse to love, happiness and self-acceptance, Mary's worn her life's ups and downs on her sleeve. And on the way, she's accumulated millions of records sold, multiple awards and accolades, sold-out tours, and most important, seemingly countless amazing songs. Here, we take a look back at the Queen of Hip Hop Soul's legendary catalog and choose her 50 best, most powerful, most timeless classics. —Alex Gale & BET Staff (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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50. "I Am" - This song is a perfect showcase of Mary's brighter outlook in the new millennium. Looking back at all the drama and pain of the '90s—both in her music and in her personal life—it's hard not to smile hearing her newfound confidence and optimism here. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

Photo By Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records

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49. "When We" - Mary reconnected with Diddy on her 2003 chart-topper Love & Life, and this song updates their pioneering hip-hop-R&B mash-up for the new millenium, combining her raw emotions with a Kanye-esque, chipmunk-soul-meets-boom-bap backdrop. (Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

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48. "Stay Down" - One of Mary's strongest assets is her relatability—she always makes the listener feel like each song could be about their own life. And for anyone who's struggled to keep a long-term relationship going, this earnest single from 2007's aptly titled Growing Pains will seem all too real. Don't miss the hilariously random Weezy reference. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

Photo By Photo: MCA Records

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47. "Ooh" - Mary J. Blige and Diddy's revolutionary hip hop soul pairing was first inspired by DJs such as like Ron G and Kid Capri, whose mixtapes featuring blends of R&B acapellas and rap breakbeats were hugely popular in Dinkins-era New York. "Ooh," one of the highlights of Blige's and Combs's reunion on 2003's Love & Life, is a triumphant celebration of those heady days, pairing Mary with Ed O.G.'s 1991 classic "I Gotta Have It." (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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46. "Hurt Again" - This is Mary's wheel house: Raw sadness, earnest pleading and an all-too-real meditation on the pain that love can bring, set to a gorgeously plaintive piano line. (Photo: Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup)

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45. "Shake Down" - With Mary and Usher duetting lovingly over a glossy track from Jazze Pha and The-Dream, it's shocking that this all-star meeting of the minds from 2007's Growing Pain wasn't released as a single. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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44. "Baggage" - A pivotal song in Mary's emotional maturation—and another example of the relatable, everyday realness of her music—this soaring standout from 2005's The Breakthrough finds Mary reflecting on the "Baggage" from her painful past and vowing not to let it get in the way of new, happier times. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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43. "Give Me You" - With 1999's Mary, Blige positioned herself firmly within the classic soul-diva tradition and reached for mainstream success like never before. On this beautiful song, bolstered by pop songwriter Diane Warren and Eric Clapton's guitar licks, a polished Mary begs for no-holds-barred love to heartbreaking effect.(Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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42. "Time" - Mary first won us over with her unbashedly raw evocation of hurt and yearning. But on "Time," a rapidly maturing Mary takes a resigned, almost Zen perspective on pain and drama over a hip hop flip of Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise." (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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41. "My Love" - On this slinky cut from her trail-blazing debut album, Mary steps back from her patented hip hop mash-ups and expertly takes on more straight-ahead early '90s R&B. It's easy to imagine this song inspiring a young Aaliyah. (Photo: Brenda Chase/Online USA/Newsmakers/GettyImages)

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40. "Just Fine" - This 2007 hit cheerfully channels Off the Wall MJ, perfectly encapsulating new-millennium Mary's hard-earned transformation into a persevering, you-go-girl optimist who declares, "I like what I see when I'm looking at me when I'm walking past the mirror." (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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39. "Work That" - Another Oprah-style affirmation anthem from Growing Pains, this triumpant song features an updated Mary sound, complete with a G-Unit-esque, piano-driven beat and a surprisingly painless incorporation of Auto-Tune. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

Photo By Photo: MCA Records

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38. "Be Happy" (Remix) feat. Keith Murray - Mary's breakthrough sophomore album My Life featured a more accessible classic R&B sound that backed away slightly from the edgy hip hop hybrids on her debut. But this Bad Boy remix to her hit "Be Happy" brought Mary back to her roots with a well-known Jimmy Spicer sample, Diddy ad libs and a hilarious wild-card verse from Keith Murray.  (Photos from left: Photo by Scott Gries/ImageDirect, Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

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37. "Feel Like Makin Love" - A classic turn-out-the-lights steamer, this song is easily the most seductive to arise from Mary and Diddy's storied partnership. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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36. "Feel Like a Woman" - Another emotive highlight from Growing Pains, "Feel Like a Woman" finds Mary aching for an old-fashioned kind of love, pleading to her new man, "I want you to lead the way." (Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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35. "The One" feat. Drake - With its of-the-moment digital sheen, complete with Auto-Tune and a Drake feature, this song features an amped-up Mary successfully updating her sound yet again. Though it angered some long-time fans, "The One" nonethless led Stronger With Each Tear to a No. 2 debut on Billboard. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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34. "Love No Limit" - An MJB trademark, this Devante-produced classic is early '90s R&B at its finest, proving off the bat that Mary's talents extended far beyond her harder-edged signature hip hop soul hybrids. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

Photo By Photo: MCA Records

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33. "Love Is All We Need" - Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis sampled Rick James's "Moonchild" for this vibrant, uplifting 1997 single, a sharp contrast to Mary's pain-laden early material that hinted of the life-affirming songs down the road. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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32. "What the 411? (Remix)" feat. The Notorious B.I.G. - One of the high points from the dope What's the 411? remix album, this Diddy-produced number combines a well-placed, well-worn Johnny "Guitar" Watson sample, Biggie interpolating his classic "Dreams (Just Playin')" verse and Mary effortlessly switching from rapping to singing. (Photos: Michael Benabib / Retna Ltd)

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31. "Our Love" - Mary's powerful take on this Natalie Cole signature placed her firmly in the classic soul music tradition, and showed that MJB was expanding far beyond her urban, hip hop-soul comfort zone. (Photo: Ron Wolfson /Landov)

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30. "Not Today" (feat. Eve) - Another dope Mary J. Blige–Dr. Dre collabo, "Not Today" features an over-it MJB (and Eve in razor-sharp form) finally on the attack after years of heartbreak. This is one of the first and strongest appearances of Mary's now-familiar aggressive and empowered side. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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29. Friends - The pain, the frustration, the disappointment in Mary's music isn't just reserved for lovers, as heard on 2003's "Friends." Bolstered by a slowly simmering Barry White sample, the betrayal in her voice is so real you can practically feel the knife in her back. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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28. "Share My World" - On her 1997 album Share My World—her first to debut at No. 1 on Billboard—Mary shunned her producer/mentor Diddy for established soul maestros like Babyface and R. Kelly. The resulting album skewed away from her hip hop/soul sweet spot in favor of straight-up R&B—and as heard on the Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins–produced title track, the new direction helped Mary refine her vocals to new levels of maturity, tenderness and compassion. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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27. "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" - Mary J. takes on the Mary Jane Girls expertly on the lead-off track from her classic breakthrough album, My Life. Though the song gives only the slightest taste of the tortured, hurtful depths that Mary would plumb on the rest of the LP, it did signal that her vocal skills were already rapidly improving and evolving. (Photo: GERARDO SOMOZA/Landov)

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26. "Love @ First Sight" feat. Method Man - A newly reunited Diddy and Mary made their intentions perfectly clear on the first single from 2003's Love & Life: With a borrowed rap backdrop (A Tribe Called Quest's "Hot Sex on a Platter") and a verse from Method Man, her old "You're All I Need to Get By" partner-in-crime, this song skillfully updated the pair's hip hop-soul heyday for the new millennium. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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25. "I Love You" feat. Smif-N-Wessun - This classic skillfully polished up the tortured sorrow of My Life for the club, lacing a familiar Isaac Hayes piano loop with a melodic bass line and a back-and-forth cameo from BK backpackers Smif-N-Wessun that somehow works despite Mary's unavoidably tormented performance. (Photos from left:  De Sota/Newsmakers/GettyImages, Duck Down Records)

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24. "Rainy Dayz" feat. Ja Rule - This hit was originally penned for TLC (check the "Waterfalls" and Crazysexycool namedrops), but Mary more than makes it her own, turning pain into hope in the course of a four-minute song—a major theme of both this song's album (2001's triple-platinum No More Drama) and Mary's career arc. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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23. "Be Without You" - With a beautiful piano melody and Mary in top-notch, gut-wrenching form, it's easy to see why this is one of the biggest songs of Mary's legendary career, winning two Grammys, selling more than two million copies in the U.S. alone and topping the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart for a record 15 weeks. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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22. "All That I Can Say" - Undoubtedly one of Mary's most beautiful songs, the heavenly neo-soul production and raspy, floating vocals on this Lauryn Hill–penned single are simply transcendental. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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20. "Everything" - Despite a mish-mash of recognizable ingredients—samples from James Brown and the Stylistics, an interpolation of Taste of Honey's "Sukiyaki" cover, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on the boards—this song is all Mary, doing what she does best: singing about love and devotion with her unmistakably raw, down-to-earth honesty. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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19. "Enough Cryin'" - Backed by a banging, Dr. Dre-esque beat from long-time collaborator Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Mary shows indomitable swagger here, once again singing herself away from the painful baggage of the past—and even skillfully spitting a Jay-Z-penned rap. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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18. "Take Me As I Am" - A moving summary of her career and life journey, "Take Me as I Am" is one of Mary's most poignant songs, featuring some of her most personal lyrics, a towering vocal performance and a gorgeous Lonnie Liston piano sample first popularized by Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents." (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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17. "Seven Days" - One of Mary's strengths is her ability to address real-life, we've-all-been-there situations—and her 1997 single "Seven Days," which details a friendship that accidentally turned into a love affair in picture-perfect detail, is a perfect example. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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16. "You Bring Me Joy" - Another MJB trademark from 1994's My Life, "You Bring Me Joy" felt like a revelation. In light of all the unfilled need and unadorned pain so evident on her early material, this is the first time we saw Mary this carefree and happy, and it's nothing short of infectious. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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15. "Your Child" - Mary tackles another painfully familiar everyday subject on this 1999 hit, her unmistakably powerful voice once again brimming with resigned betrayal and anguish. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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14. "What's the 411" - The title track from Mary's landmark debut, with its sparsely funky beat from Diddy and raunchy verses from Grand Puba and Mary herself, is practically a mission statement for her revolutionary hip hop-soul mash-up. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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13. "I Can Love You" feat. Lil Kim - This 1997 hit is one of the finest examples of Blige's symboitic relationship with hip hop: Here, she somehow transforms Lil Kim's cocky mission statement "Queen B---h" into another heartfelt, unmistakably Mary plea for love. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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12. "You Remind Me"/"You Remind Me" (Remix) feat. Greg Nice - Mary's debut single, "You Remind Me," which featured her soaring, raspy vocal runs set to a hip hop beat, immediately established both her trademark sound and her powerful instrument, leading many to compare her to Chaka Khan straight off the bat. And don't forget the hard-hitting remix, which introduced MJB to rap fans via a well-placed Greg Nice cameo. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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11. "Deep Inside" - With an eye on expanding beyond her "urban" roots, 1999's Mary mined pop classicists like Burt Bacharach, Stevie Wonder and even the master of the form, Elton John himself. Here she sampled his seminal "Bennie and the Jets," but the husky vocals and the lyrics' familiar search for acceptance, are undeniably "just plain ol' Mary." (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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10. "Be Happy" - Another powerful My Life standout, this 1994 hit is essential for understanding Mary's music, which has always seemingly been fueled by an arduous, life-long search for love and inner peace. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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9. "Sweet Thing" - Covering Chaka Khan is always a risky propostition; when you're already being compared to her, as Mary was when she debuted in 1992, it's even riskier. But here, Mary's earth-shaking voice more than lives up to the task—so much so that this timeless song has become associated with her almost as much as it is with Chaka. (Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

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8. "I'm Going Down" - We don't know who came up with the unlikely idea of Mary resurrecting this forgotten 1977 Rose Royce ballad, but it was a perfect match. She owned the song—one of the rare cases where a cover exceeds the O.G.—and fit in seamlessly with My Life's theme of lost and unrequited love. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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7. "Real Love" (Remix) feat. the Notorious B.I.G. - This remix of Mary's "Real Love" made her hip hop connection more explicit than ever, with classic samples from Betty Wright and Lafayette Afro Rock band and a show-stopping verse from a young BK rapper then named Biggie Smalls, his second-ever on wax. (Photos from left: Michael Benabib / Retna Ltd,Chi Modu/diverseimages/Getty Images)

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6. "Not Gon' Cry" - Written and produced by Babyface for the 1996 Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, "Not Gon' Cry" was Mary's biggest hit to date, selling 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone and peaking at No. 2 on Billboard. Even back then, few could do strength in the face of heartbreak better than Mary. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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5. "Family Affair" - This momentous Dr. Dre-produced banger may have been the first time that Mary really let her hair down and just had fun (you'd have to be having fun to come up with words like "dancery" and "hateration"). Listeners undoubtedly enjoyed themselves too, to the tune of six weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100—Mary's first No. 1 hit. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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4. "Reminisce" - Though Mary more than anyone made new-jack swing obsolete with her hip hop-soul coup d'etat, on "Reminisce," she proved she was a queen of that subgenre as well. Already, the now-familiar longing and irrepressible passion inherent to her voice was on full display. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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3. "No More Drama" - "No More Drama" is a pivotal moment in Mary's evolution. Over an epic Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis interpolation of The Young & The Restless theme, Mary lets loose like never before, tearfully wailing of moving beyond the painful struggles of her early life—and setting the stage for the uplifting, happy-to-be-me music to come.  (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records),

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2. "My Life" - "My Life" is Mary at her best, rebranding a Roy Ayers classic into her own career highlight with an introspective performance that perfectly straddles the line between hope and sorrow. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)

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1. "Real Love" - It's difficult to overestimate the impact of this undeniable classic, hip hop soul's founding document. The seemingly simple juxtaposition of Mary's massive voice and Audio Two's instantly recognizable "Top Billin'" drumbeat was nothing short of revolutionary. With that ground-breaking hybrid beat, a timeless hook and the introduction of Mary's favorite subject matter—her search for love—this song is not only Mary's best, it sums up her musical legacy perfectly. (Photo: Courtesy Geffen Records)