Gender and theBillboardTop 40 Charts between 1997 and 2007

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the gender-related trends on the Billboard Top 40 charts between 1997 and 2007. Building on similar statistical studies (Wells, "Women in Popular Music," "Women on the Pop Charts," "Nationality") our study aims to answer two questions: first, does the number of hit songs by male artists continue to exceed the number of hit songs by female artists as we move from the late 1990s into the early postmillennium; and, second, are women's chart success rates in the late 1990s and the early post-millennium as precarious as they were in the 1980s and the early to mid-1990s? 1 Taking frequency and success score distributions as our indicators, we conclude that the Top 40 charts continue to be characterized by considerable gender inequality.

Popular music lyrics and musicians’ gender over time: A computational approach

“…By contrast, the presence of all-male bands and male singers decreased significantly: from an initial prevalence of 84.35% (male bands) and 83.92% (male singers) to 54.95% and 49.97% in 2006-2015, respectively. These findings concerning the United Kingdom's singles sales charts are consistent with previous American research on the role of female artists in popular music (Dukes et al, 2003;Hesbacher et al, 1977;Lafrance et al, 2011;Wells, 1986Wells, , 1991Wells, , 2001.…”

“…Since the beginning of the modern music industry, top artists in the singles sales charts have been predominantly male (Dukes, Bisel, Borega, Lobato, & Owens, 2003;Hesbacher, Clasby, Clasby, & Berger, 1977;Lafrance, Worcester, & Burns, 2011;Wells, 1986Wells, , 1991Wells, , 2001. For example, Wells (1986) found that female artists were significantly underrepresented in US popular music from 1955 to 1984, accounting for approximately 10 of Billboard's top 50 singles per year since 1955, and Lafrance et al (2011) showed that artists in the Billboard top 40 charts between 1997 and 2007 continued to be predominantly male. In addition to American sales charts, Wells (1991) examined the success of female artists in the United Kingdom specifically.…”

“…The first aim was to investigate how the gender distribution of the United Kingdom's most popular musicians has changed over time. Based on previous literature on the role of female artists in popular music (e.g., Dukes et al, 2003;Lafrance et al, 2011;Wells, 1986Wells, , 1991Wells, , 2001, it was hypothesized that popular music in the United Kingdom would be characterized by a considerable gender inequality, although we expected a significant increase in the presence of female artists in more recent years. We also expected to find critical inflection points in which the prevalence of females increased considerably compared to earlier periods, although we could not hypothesize when these would occur.…”

Origins of music in credible signaling

“…The pervasiveness of music across the sexes is evident in daily life: both males and females seek out and enjoy the performances of both male and female musicians (Hagen & Bryant, 2003), and some evidence suggests that musical preferences are biased toward performers of the same sex as the listener (Greenberg, Matz, Schwartz, & Fricke, 2020). Male and female performers are both well-represented, historically, on the Billboard Top 100, albeit with an advantage toward males (Lafrance, Worcester, & Burns, 2011). While many of the highest-grossing musical artists of all time are male, sex differences in success as a musician likely have little to do with biology – a half-century ago, virtually all professional orchestral musicians were male, for example, whereas now the world's top orchestras are approaching gender parity (Sergeant & Himonides, 2019).…”

Content and Correlational Analysis of a Corpus of MTV-Promoted Music Videos Aired Between 1990 and 1999

“… 4. Lafrance et al (2018) have applied a similar statistical analysis to the success of music made by women as measured in Billboard chart data. …”