In a study released by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, data shows that significant progress has not been made for inclusion for women in music. Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups have seen an uptick in inclusion.

The report assessed gender and race/ethnicity of artists, songwriters, and producers across the 900 most popular songs from 2012 to 2020, based on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Chart. Grammy nominations were also evaluated by gender and race/ethnicity across five categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Producer of the Year.

The study was conducted by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Dr. Katherine Pieper, Marc Choueiti, Karla Hernandez and Kevin Yao. Read the full report here.

Below are some of the key findings:

According to the study, 173 artists appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart in 2020. Of those, 79.8% were men and 20.2% were women, making 2020 not meaningfully different than the percentage of female artists on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart in recent years. The highest percentage of women artists represented on the chart was in 2016, when 28.1% of artists were women.

Women artists were most prevalent in the pop genre (32%) over the last nine years, and least prevalent in hip-hop/rap (12.3%), where 7.1 men charted for every one woman artist.

The top-performing artist of the last nine years was Drake, with 41 songs. On the women’s list, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna prevailed with 21 songs each. Ten of the top 13 artists of the past nine years are from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

Of 173 artists in 2020, 59% were underrepresented and 41% were white. 2020 was the fourth consecutive year where the percentage of underrepresented artists increased. Underrepresented artists were most likely to appear on the charts in the genres of R&B/soul (92.1%), hip-hop/rap (87.3%), and pop (36.3%).

Songwriters:

Of the total of 449 songwriters that were credited in 2020, 87.1% were men and 12.9% were women. Across all nine years, 12.6% of songwriters were women, a ratio of seven male songwriters to every one female songwriter.

According to the study, women songwriters were most likely to work on dance/electronic songs (20.5%) and pop (18.7%) music, and least likely to work in hip-hop/rap (6.3%), R&B (9.1%) or country (10.6%).

Producers:

Of the 198 producers credited in 2020, 98% were men and 2% were women. Across a six-year sample (2012, 2015, 2017, and 2018-2020), a total of 1,291 producers were credited. Of these, 97.4% of producers were men and 2.6% were women. This is a ratio of 38 men to every one woman producer.

Out of the 33 women credited as a producer across the six years studied, nine were women of color. Only one woman of color was credited as a producer in 2020—Mariah Carey received a producing credit for “All I Want for Christmas is You,” a song first released in 1994.

Grammy Nominations: 2013 to 2021:

Of the 1,359 individuals that were nominated for a Grammy Award between 2013 and 2021, 13.4% were women and 86.6% were men. This is a ratio of 6.5 men nominated for every one woman nominee.

Women were most likely to be nominated for the Best New Artist award, followed by Song of the Year. Across nine years, roughly 10% or less of the nominees for Record of the Year or Album of the Year have been women. Only one woman has been nominated for Producer of the Year across the entire sample.

From 2020 to 2021, the percentage of women Grammy nominees increased significantly and reached a nine-year high as 28.1% of nominees were women. There were nearly four times as many women nominated for a Grammy Award in 2021 in the five major categories evaluated as there were in 2013.

Miranda Lambert, Mickey Guyton, Brandi Carlile and Maren Morris are set to perform at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (March 14).

The four performers are all nominated for awards throughout the night, with Lambert being nominated three separate times.

Both Lambert (“Bluebird”) and Guyton (“Black Like Me”) are nominated for Best Country Solo Performance.

Morris, Lambert and Carlile are all nominated Best Country Song. Lambert co-wrote “Bluebird” with Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby. Morris’ hit song “The Bones” was co-written by Morris, Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz. Carlile is nominated alongside writers Hemby and Lori McKenna for The Highwomen‘s “Crowded Table.”

Lambert is the only performer to be nominated for Best Country Album for her hit record Wildcard.

Taylor Swift is also performing and is nominated for five awards, including Song Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Song Written For Visual Media.

The Grammy Awards will pay tribute to independent venues, which have been greatly impacted by the pandemic. From bartenders to box office managers, those who work day-to-day at the Station Inn (Nashville), Troubadour (Los Angeles), the Hotel Café (Los Angeles), and the Apollo Theater (New York City) will present various categories throughout the night.

Hosted by Trevor Noah, CBS and the Recording Academy will present the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, airing live on Sunday (March 14) at 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS Television Network. The telecast will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

For a complete list of Grammy performers click here.

Breakout country artist Niko Moon earns his first No. 1 single as an artist with his Platinum-selling smash “Good Time.” Moon’s debut single topped the Mediabase/Country Aircheck, Billboard Country Airplay and Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The song also hit No. 1 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart in February.

“I want to give a BIG, BIG thank you to everyone who has believed in me and believed in ‘Good Time,’” says Moon. “I also want to thank country radio and streaming platforms for allowing me to connect with all of their amazing country music fans. This has been a dream of mine for a really long time, and y’all have made it possible.”

“Good Time” is the first debut single to simultaneously peak on Billboard’s Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts since Sam Hunt’s “Leave The Night On” in 2014.  The hit single, which has more than 197 million on-demand audio streams, is co-written by Moon, his wife Anna Moon, Jordan Minton, Joshua Murty and Mark Trussell. 

Moon is currently self-producing his debut full-length project alongside Murty, a longtime collaborator and friend.

Reba McEntire is premiering her All The Women I Am concert special exclusively on YouTube this Friday, March 12, marking the first time the concert has been available digitally and in its entirety.

The concert was filmed in 2011 at the Cajundome in Layfayette, Louisiana and features the country legend performing some of her greatest hits including “Is There Life Out There,” “Turn On The Radio” and more. The special will premiere at 7:30 p.m. CT and Reba will celebrate with fans through a chat on her YouTube channel. Last year, Reba released two additional concert specials with YouTube, 1990’s Reba In Concert and 1994’s Reba: Live, which were a huge success with over 100,000 fans viewing in just the first three days. The Country Music Hall of Fame member also re-released her legendary album, Rumor Has It, last year in celebration of the 30th Anniversary.

“2011 was the last time we got to go out and play a big arena tour, and I’m so glad we captured this show on film. I know it’s not the same as being there in person, but I hope this gives my fans something to enjoy until we can get back out there on the road safely,” says Reba.

Reba recently reprised her guest starring role on CBS’ hit comedy Young Sheldon as the fiery character June, Dale’s ex-wife. She’ll make her third appearance on the sitcom this Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m. CT.