Four Months of EqualPlay: An Update
Dr. Jada E Watson, May 22nd, 2020
Ten percent is a key statistic for women in country music by the end of the last decade. Their songs received 10% of the spins within the Top 150 of the Yearend Airplay Reports (Mediabase), 10% of the daily spins on the Weekly Airplay Reports (Mediabase), 10% of the Top 20 and Top 10 songs on both Mediabase and Billboard Country Airplay charts, and 10% of the songs on Billboard’s Yearend Airplay Chart. In fact, depending on the time of day a listener tuned-in to their local station, it would have been possible in 2019 not to hear a female voice during daytime hours. As a result of a programming practice that limits space for their songs or programs them in the evening and overnight, women’s voices have become increasingly invisible and unfamiliar to radio’s listeners.
Tuesday, May 12 marked 4 months of CMT’s EqualPlay pledge. Over the last 4 months, 3 songs by women have reached the #1 spot of the chart, including Maren Morris’ “The Bones” for a two-week stint in February, and Gabby Barrett’s “I Hope” and Ingrid Andress’s “More Hearts Than Mine” with back-to-back #1s. Each of these achievements were particularly notable: Morris’s marked the first multi-week #1 on the Airplay Chart in 7 years since Carrie Underwood with “Blown Away” in 2012 – it was also named the longest leading #1 ever by a solo female country artist on the Hot Country Songs chart (surpassing Taylor Swift’s 10-week reign in 2012 with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”), and was the singer’s first multi-format #1 when it hit #1 on both the Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs and Mediabase Hot A.C. charts. Barrett’s and Andress’ marked a historic first for back-to-back #1s for debut female artists. Their chart-topping success also marks the end to a dry spell for Warner Nashville, who hadn’t had a #1 with a female artist since Faith Hill with “Mississippi Girl” in 2005.
While we’ve celebrated more songs in the top of the chart over the last few months, many have raised concerned (SongData included) over the decreasing number of songs by women in the bottom positions of the chart. As the handful of songs by women at the top of the chart reach their peak and exit the chart, there are fewer songs in the bottom to climb the chart and take their place. There situation is, if this continues, on the verge of returning to summer 2019 numbers when women represented just 6% of the top positions of the charts.
Click here to read the full May 22, 2020 update at songdata.ca