Stacey L. Smith, an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the study's lead author, cautiously celebrated the discovery. Although the latest numbers have increased, she noted that since 2012, women still only account for about 23% of performing credits on all songs surveyed (though that number has increased to 17%). In some years, it has even dropped to .)
“For the second year in a row, the proportion of female artists on the popular charts has increased,” Dr. Smith said in a statement. “This is a notable milestone and deserves to be celebrated. However, it is still important to recognize that there is room for growth. Across the 12 years studied, women in artistic roles At less than a quarter, these figures are still far from representing 50 percent of the population and music audience.
In some ways, the study, funded by Spotify, reflects a special year for women in pop music. Artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and SZA dominated the charts and news media, and Greta Gerwig's movie Barbie became a pop culture touchstone with a hit-packed soundtrack that debuted at No. 2.
At the 66th Grammy Awards on Sunday, female artists dominated the nominations in major categories. SZA leads the way with nine responses, joining a nearly all-female competition that includes Swift, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, and the band Voygenious. (Jon Batiste is the only performer to be nominated in the three most prestigious categories: Album, Record and Song of the Year.)
Among the study's other findings, the increase in credits for female songwriters last year was “almost exclusively” due to an increase in the number of songwriters who are women of color, compared to 33 the previous year and 14 in 2012. In 2023, there will be 55 people. Among them were SZA, Beyoncé, Pink Pantherless and Ice Spice.