Women in Music Industry Held On to Gains in 2024, Still Underrepresented, Study Finds

Women in Music Industry Held On to Gains in 2024, Still Underrepresented, Study Finds

Women in the music industry held on to their gains in climbing the charts towards equality in 2024 but made little new ground, according to a new study by USC‘s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

Women made up 37.7 percent of artists across the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart last year, but that was little changed from 35 percent in 2023, which in turn marked a significant improvement from 22.7 percent in 2012.

Ahead of the 2025 Grammys, the new report from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative underlined how gains made by women have only held, and not accelerated. For example, there was no major ground made by women producers in 2024 as they only accounted for 5.9 percent of producing credits.

The percentage of underrepresented artists in 2024, at 44.6 percent, fell markedly from 61 percent in 2023. And only 22.7 percent of all nominees in six major Grammy categories for this Sunday’s awards show are women, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report concluded after surveying the record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist, producer of the year and songwriter of the year competitions.

“Women artists in 2024 saw little change. 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,” Dr. Stacy L. Smith said in a statement.

Her report examined 13 years and 1,300 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts. The percentage of women songwriters in 2024 was 18.9 percent, just down from 19.5 percent in 2023, though well up from 11 percent of songwriters in 2012.

And where women of color accounted for the gains seen in 2023, that wasn’t the case in 2024. Last year, the number of women of color working as songwriters dipped, while the number of white women songwriters increased.

Just over half, or 54 percent, of songs in 2024 featured at least one woman songwriter, little changed from 2023. “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,” Dr. Smith added.

“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,” she argued.