The College of California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has crunched the numbers for 2023 to disclose its annual findings on inclusion and variety within the recording studio. The outcomes this yr are strikingly extra optimistic than what has been a constant results of earlier years: ladies producers and singer-songwriters are drastically underrepresented.

Although features are all the time to be made, “these findings are trending in a method that’s extra women-centric,” a abstract of the outcomes for 2023 reads. The report is compiled by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, in partnership with Spotify.

In commentary of the final 12 years, and 1,200 songs from the Billboard Scorching 100 12 months-Finish Charts, the research assesses the variety of ladies artists, songwriters, and producers along with inspecting six main classes on the Grammy Awards: file of the yr, album of the yr, tune of the yr, finest new artist, producer of the yr, and songwriter of the yr.

In 2023, there was a major uptick for girls artists, notably ladies solo performers. Although little has modified for girls in bands or duos, particular person ladies artists stuffed 40.6% of spots on the Billboard Scorching 100 12 months-Finish Chart in 2023, a rise of over 5% since 2022.

“For the second yr in a row, the share of ladies artists on the favored charts has elevated,” commented Dr. Smith. “It is a notable milestone and worthy of celebration. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless necessary to acknowledge that there’s room to develop. Ladies stuffed lower than one-quarter of artist roles throughout all 12 years examined, and these figures are nonetheless removed from representing the 50% of ladies within the inhabitants and the music viewers.”

Though solely 19.5% of ladies had been credited on a tune that appeared on the Billboard Scorching 100 12 months-Finish Charts in 2023, it was the primary yr the share rose above 15%. Taking into account the race and ethnicity of those ladies, 55 ladies of colour labored as songwriters in 2023. This represents a major improve within the variety of ladies of colour songwriters from 2022 (33) to 2023 (55) and a 12-year excessive.

The report additionally notes that 56% of songs in 2023 included a minimum of one girl songwriter — a rise from 2022 and the best proportion in 12 years.

“The modifications for songwriters are doubtlessly because of the work of quite a few teams working to assist ladies in music,” stated Dr. Smith. “This advocacy and activism is propelling change within the business. Whereas there’s work to be achieved, these teams are well-positioned to maintain combating for change.”

Much less is to be stated about ladies in producer roles since there have been 217 producers credited on the 2023 Scorching 100 12 months-Finish Charts and of these, 6.5% had been ladies and 93.5% had been males. In truth, the ratio of male producers to underrepresented ladies producers is 100.4 to 1.

With the Grammys simply across the nook, the report assessed the intersectionality of gender, race and ethnicity throughout 12 years of nominations and located that 52% of ladies nominees had been white and 47% had been from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. In comparison with 2023 (61.7%) and 2022 (58.8%), there was a lower in nominations for girls of colour in 2024 (36.6%). 2024 was on par with 2013 (33.3%) when it comes to the share of nominations for girls of colour.

On a extra cheerful word, practically one-quarter (24%) of nominations throughout the foremost classes went to ladies in 2024 —a major improve from 2023 (15.5%). This yr, probably the most nominated act of the night is a girl of colour, R&B singer and songwriter SZA, who leads the record with 9 nominations together with nods within the night time’s greatest classes like tune and album of the yr. Victoria Monét, who has gained Grammys in earlier years as a songwriter for Grande, additionally earned a formidable seven nominations for her solo work. In every of those classes, the share of ladies nominees elevated considerably from 2023 to 2024 and from the primary yr the awards had been evaluated (2013).