Excerpt from:
“Black women voices are automatically categorized as being part of R&B, and therefore get marked as outdated and irrelevant, even though many of them eschew traditional contemporary R&B. Labels don’t know how to maximize these artists’ value to all audiences, not just listeners who enjoy urban radio.”- Mosi Reeves (Journalist) 2017 has been an amazing year for the music lovers. With breakout artist such has Cardi B breaking into the Billboard 100, Taylor Swif t sold 1.2 million in the first week with her debut album Reputation , and new artist such as SZA, Zara Larrsson , and Kehlani even with breakout singles; these artists have not charted. There have been many reasons as to why women have not been charting as they usually do such as some of the female heavy hitters that we depend on to dominate the charts have been taking a break (ex: Beyonce , Adele , and Rihanna with the exception with NERD’s single Lemon ). According to Fader.com female big acts such as Katy Perry who has been chart-topping since the mid-2000s has not been able to break the glass ceiling in the Billboard 100s despite her latest effort with her album Witness released in June made a much smaller dent that she has done in the past. There has been a lack of new women artist breaking through with chart-topping power. Ben Mawson from Tap Management which is the management team that is very hard to launch new female talent due to streaming in which one has to appeal to a global audience right away. Another factor that is stopping women from breaking the glass ceiling regarding topping the charts is a race. Women of color, especially in the genre of rap/ hip-hop, have a higher bar to prove regarding their commercial visibility. Furthermore, when black women embrace other genres that society is not used to (ex: Beyonce singing country with Daddy Lessons ) they are unfairly held back. Fader.com goes on to list variables that have stopped women for continually charing such as the negative aspect of streaming, artist priorities have moved away from charting, etc. Here are a few females that have had a successful 2017 thus far! Stay up-to-date by following us on Facebook , Twitter and on Instagram at @hiphopdetroit.
Why Is It So Hard For Women To Break Through The Pop Chart Ceiling?
