Despite public demand for increased diversity on country radio, female artists still got the short end of the stick in 2014. According to Billboard’s end-of-year Country Airplay chart, which measures total radio impressions, the top 13 most-played songs of the year were exclusively by male stars, with Brett Eldredge’s Beat Of The Music topping the list. That track was one of 37 released by a male artist (not counting groups or duos like Florida Georgia Line) that reached the top 50 on the chart. Miranda Lambert’s Automatic was the highest ranked song by a female artist, coming in at 14, while her other single, Somethin’ Bad, a duet with Carrie Underwood, was the only other song by a solo female that made the top 50 (there are leading women in bands like Lady Antebellum and Little Big Town, but I’m talking about individual artists).  This result continues a worrisome trend of women being wildly under-represented in the format, and it marks the second straight year that no solo woman has cracked the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart. Making matters worse is the fact that country music’s former shining star, Taylor Swift, has officially left Nashville behind for New York, and her move to pop music has made country radio’s female situation all the more dire. In 2013, only five songs by female artists made the top 50 of the Country Airplay chart, and two were by Swift.  Perhaps the most stunning piece of research about this trend has come from Deb Bose (AKA Windmills), who published a thoroughly researched piece in July stating that there has not been a single female artist on a major label to have her first two singles reach the top 20 at country radio since 2007. The sad truth is that now Swift has exited the format, country is left with Lambert and Underwood as its only true female superstars, while male newcomers like Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell and the aforementioned Eldredge have accomplished this same feat with ease.  To be clear, women do sell – even when they’re not given a radio platform. Kacey Musgraves’s Grammy-winning album Same Trailer Different Park, which debuted in 2013, has been certified gold, thanks in part to strong sales of 194,000 copies this year. Remarkably, the album achieved those sales despite the fact that Musgraves’s last two singles have failed to crack the top 30 radio list. Jennifer Nettles’s album, That Girl, sold over 182,000 copies this year, although its lead single only reached number 37 on the airplay chart.  Meanwhile, many of country music’s biggest male radio stars don’t even come close to those sorts of sales. Lee Brice has seen four of his last five singles hit No 1 at radio, but his newest album, I Don’t Dance, has sold just 122,000 copies so far. Frankie Ballard has scored back-to-back No 1 singles in 2014, but his latest release Sunshine and Whiskey dropped off the chart in July, having sold about 37,000 copies in its first six months. Granted, there are male stars posting impressive album sales (Eric Church’s The Outsiders sold over 800,000 copies in 2014, making it the biggest country album of the year), but it appears that consumers are increasingly viewing many of country’s males as singles artists. At the same time, female country singers are quickly building strong reputations because their albums, free from the lofty expectations of radio success, are made with real substance. Angaleena Presley’s American Middle Class and Ashley Monroe’s Like A Rose may not have garnered radio support, but they’ve quietly earned the respect of the Nashville establishment.  Nashville’s biggest labels are well aware of a huge gap in the market, and they are filling out their rosters with female talent that will impact airwaves in 2015. Scott Borchetta’s newly launched Nash Icons has signed both Reba McEntire and Martina McBride, and buzzy newcomers such as Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley Monroe and Brandy Clark all have the potential to match the success of chart-topping duo Maddie and Tae, whose single Girl In A Country Song served as a potent reminder of country music’s current female problem. Still, labels can sign as many women as they want, but it won’t mean much unless the radio programmers across America choose to play them.
Female country acts are managing to build large followings despite snubs from radio stations, but is their lack of airtime leading to more interesting albums?