As the music industry prepares to celebrate at the Grammy Awards this Sunday, is there anything to applaud when it comes to progress for women? The latest report from Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative suggests that the gains made by women in the music industry have held, but not accelerated.
The report, sponsored by Spotify, examines 13 years and 1,300 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts. The latest in an annual series released by the groups, the study examines artists, songwriters, and producers on the most popular songs of the year and in six major categories at the Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Producer of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year.
Although last year’s study documented a significant change for women, the latest study finds little forward progress made by the music industry in 2024. Women comprised 37.7% of artists across the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart last year, which is only slightly higher than in 2023 (35%) — though it represents a significant improvement from 2012 (22.7%). There were no duos or bands with women in 2024. Additionally, more than a third (38.9%) of individual artists were women, compared to 40.6% in 2023 and 35.8% in 2012.
“Women artists in 2024 saw little change,” Smith said. “In fact, it is the number of men that has declined while the number of women in 2024 was consistent with prior years. This suggests that it is fluctuations in the number of men, not gains for women, that is driving these findings. For those interested in seeing change in the music industry, this is not a sign of progress.”
Behind the scenes, there was also little movement for women. The percentage of women songwriters in 2024 was 18.9%, similar to the percentage in 2023 (19.5%) and significantly higher than the 11% in 2012. Just over half (54%) of songs in 2024 featured at least one woman songwriter, on par with 2023 and significantly higher than 2012. Additionally, women of color were largely responsible for the gains seen in 2023, but not in 2024: Last year, the number of women of color working as songwriters dipped while white women increased.
“The music industry is a mirror to the film industry — there is a lot of fanfare about supporting women, but little actual change among the most popular songs,” Smith said. “While there may be movement in the independent space, the songs and charts evaluated represent the agenda-setting music that has the greatest opportunity to launch and grow a career. Until the people in the executive ranks and A&R roles take seriously the lack of women in the industry, we will continue to see little change.”
The amount of women popular music producers also saw no significant increase in 2024. A total of 5.9% of producing credits were held by women, compared to 6.5% in 2023 and 2.4% in 2012. Of the 14 women producers in 2024, only two were women of color. Across all 13 years, 93.3% of songs were made without women producers.
“Behind the scenes, women have not lost ground since the gains we saw last year,” Smith said. “However, the numbers are not growing. Programs like Be The Change, Keychange, She Is The Music, Spotify’s EQUAL, Women’s Audio Mission, and others are supporting talented women who are ready to take on opportunities. These numbers can continue to grow if the industry looks to these organizations and the many qualified women ready to work as songwriters and producers.”
The race and ethnicity of artists were also assessed in the report. The percentage of underrepresented artists in 2024 (44.6%) fell significantly from 2023 (61%). Despite the decline, the percentage of underrepresented artists remained on par with the proportion of the U.S. population that is underrepresented. Additionally, it was still meaningfully greater than 2012 (38.4%).
The drop in underrepresented artists affected both men and women of color, though the decline for women was steeper. In 2024, 40.8% of all women artists were women of color, while 46.9% of men were men of color. In 2023, nearly two-thirds of women on the popular charts were women of color (64.9%) as were more than half of men (59.4%).
The report also assessed Grammy nominations in six major categories. Just under a quarter (22.7%) of all nominees in these categories in 2025 were women, similar to 2024 (24%) and significantly greater than 2013 (7.9%). While there were no major gains from last year, women have also not lost ground overall.
In the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist categories, women saw a drop in representation from last year’s nominations. However, the one nomination for a woman in the Producer of the Year category was a significant jump and reflects only the second woman to be nominated in this category since the study began tracking nominations. Nominees in the Songwriter of the Year category were also majority women this year.
“The Recording Academy has demonstrated that it can recognize the contributions of women to the music industry — this is clear through the increase we observed last year and that it has continued into this year,” Smith said. “The challenge now is to continue that growth and to see more women receiving acknowledgement of their talent and effort through awards like the Grammy’s, particularly for women in producing roles.”
This is the latest report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and can be found here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source annenberg.usc.edu ’
