The music video for Mary J. Blige’s 2001 single “Family Affair” has officially reached one billion views on YouTube.
The video, which was directed by Dave Meyers, features Mary and a number of friends enjoying the song at the club. The track is widely considered to be the biggest hit in Blige’s monumental discography. She performed the song at the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime show and it peaked at No.1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 upon its release. Produced by Dr. Dre, the track was included on Blige’s fifth studio LP, 2001’s No More Drama.
The song also marked Blige’s first Top 10 since 1996’s “Not Gon’ Cry.” Additionally, Blige scored two Grammy nominations: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for “Family Affair” and Best R&B Album for No More Drama.
“I don’t think I realized I was successful in music until [‘Family Affair’]. I was on tour and the bus driver was a white boy who was listening to his country music radio station,” Blige recalled during a June 2021 interview with BackstageOL. “I’m sitting at the front of the bus and ‘Family Affair’ came on. I got really nervous and said, ‘Something different happened, why is my song on the country station?’ ‘That’s when I realized that I was huge, because country is a big deal. The bus driver said, ‘This is the best thing in the world. This is our song!’”
Blige has continued to serve as a trailblazer, having been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 alongside Peter Frampton, A Tribe Called Quest, Foreigner, Kool & The Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, and posthumous recognition for Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Alexis Korner, John Mayall, Norman Whitfield, and Big Mama Thornton.
In November of 2025, Mary J. Blige: For My Fans, a concert film highlighting her historic sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden, hit the big screen for limited theater showings.
Shop May J Blige’s music on limited edition vinyl and CDs here.
