We’ve been talking a lot about how 2024 was a fantastic year for country music, with the independent and independent adjacent scenes leading the way for sweeping improvements to much of the mainstream compared to the aggregate of years past. However, in at least one way, country music was the same old same this year.
It’s no secret that few women have truly reached stardom throughout country music’s history. Sure, there’s the iconic names such as Dolly, Reba, Shania, Martina, and Patsy (just to name a few) and you will never hear me say that there’s a lack of good female country music artists, there’s a ton, but when it comes to seeing that talent repaid as commercial success, country music has not been too kind to ladies on the whole.
Maybe one day I’ll do a deep dive and see what this actually looks like data-wise but the self-evident nature of the male dominated industry was once again on full display in 2024.
2024 Country Music Radio Charts
Every year I’m always surprised (and I don’t know why) at the sheer lack of songs that go number one during a given year. Sure, there’s a million different charts you can look at to find an answer that better serves your end, but at the end of the day, you have to go with what Billboard says.
In particular, we’re looking at Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, which tracks how popular singles are on the ever important (though less so these days) country radio machine. Admittedly, there’s much more variety on the Country Airplay chart (28 total singles, including repeats) than the standard Hot Country Songs chart (7, including repeats) which factors in streaming and sales but the Country Airplay chart is honestly the best way to look directly at the ideology of the Nashville industry and understand exactly what the suits on Broadway and 16th Ave believe “Today’s Country” looks like.
For as much as we give country credit for turning things around, there’s no denying that radio is lagging behind the trend…
Country Airplay #1s
Date – Artist – Song
1.6 – 2.24 – Nate Smith – “World On Fire”
3.2 – Warren Weiders “Pretty Little Poison”
3.9 – Cody Johnson “The Painter”
3.16 – Kane Brown “I Can Feel It”
3.23 – Thomas Rhett feat. Morgan Wallen “Mamaw’s House”
3.30 – Hardy “Truck Bed”
4.6 – Chayce Beckham “23”
4.13 – Parker McCollum “Burn It Down”
4.20 – Morgan Wallen feat. Eric Church “Man Made A Bar”
4.27 – 5.11 – Sam Hunt “Outskirts”
5.18 – Jordan Davis “Tucson Too Late”
5.25 – Tyler Hubbard “Back Then Right Now”
6.1 – 6.8 – Bailey Zimmerman “Where It Ends”
6.15 – Jelly Roll “Halfway to Hell”
6.22 – Kenny Chesney “Take Her Home”
6.29 – 7.20 – Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen “I Had Some Help”
7.27 – Morgan Wallen feat. Ernest “Cowgirls”
8.3 – 9.14 – Shaboozey “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
9.21 – Dustin Lynch feat. Jelly Roll “Chevrolet”
9.28 – 10.5 – Luke Combs “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”
10.12 – 10.26 – Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton “Pour Me a Drink”
11.2 – Marshmello and Kane Brown “Miles on It”
11.9 – 11.16 – Jelly Roll “I Am Not Okay”
11.23 – Morgan Wallen “Lies Lies Lies”
11.30 – Jelly Roll “I Am Not Okay”
12.7 – Parmalee “Gonna Love You”
12.14 – Ella Langley feat. Riley Green “You Look Like You Love Me”
12.21 – George Birge “Cowboy Songs”
Did you happen to notice anything?
For starters, it definitely doesn’t back up the theory that mainstream country actually improved this year. Kane Brown, Tyler Hubbard, heck Parmalee had a number one this year? I didn’t even know they were still making music…
But the one thing that immediately jumped off the page was the shocking lack of female artists. In fact, there’s only one female name on the entire list, and she’s one of the country artists who made the biggest statement in 2024.
Ella Langley
Ella Langley was the only female artist to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2024. The more prominent Hot Country Songs chart wasn’t any better, with only Kacey Musgraves (as part of her duet with Zach Bryan on “I Remember Everything”) and Beyonce (despite the whole “is it country, is it not country” debacle) making an appearance.
It’s also worth noting that Ella is joined by Riley Green (a man, for those playing along at home), which does somewhat cheapen the honor, but it really shows in black and white the issue we’ve long talked about here. No matter how good a record is, it just doesn’t get the same treatment and radio play as objectively worse music by vanilla dudes who couldn’t play their high school, as Eric Church put it.
Did Miranda Lambert not release a stellar project with Postcards From Texas? Did Lainey Wilson drop off the face of the planet after releasing Whirlwind? Has Megan Moroney not been praised by insiders and outsiders alike for the quality of songwriting and focus on country instrumentation on Am I Okay? Does the industry no longer love Carly Pearce or even Kelsea Ballerini (whose album Patterns was actually pretty good)?
While I recognize just how big of a moment the whole “You Look Like You Love Me” duet was, it’s a shame that Ella’s sophomore album Hungover is viewed as nothing more than the vehicle holding that song with Riley Green. It’s a great project that shows Ella finding her voice and blooming into the artist she’s destined to become, clocking in at 23 on Whiskey Riff’s Top 40 Country Albums Of 2024.
A few years back I did a piece questioning who would become the next big female star as Carrie Underwood and Miranda’s career start to wind down a bit (though Miranda proved this year that she’s still as good as ever).
Then, I put my money on Ashley McBryde, who (sadly) continues to be the single most undervalued artist in the entire genre, and floated Lainey Wilson, Carly Pearce, and Morgan Wade as other potential contenders. The Lainey pick proved to be a good one but while Carly and Morgan’s careers have been great, they’re unfortunately, but without question, still held in a lower tier than the true megastars of the industry (think Carrie, Miranda, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan), despite deserving more.
But the prompt itself brought up a deeper point.
Why is there always only one or two women country music stars at any given time? We can look at a Top 10 list of all dudes and not blink an eye but a Top 10 list of all women is truly nothing more than a pipe-dream at this point. And look, I’m not some equitable inclusion person that’s demanding 100% equal chart representation between men and women at all times. I don’t want to start seeing bad song chart just because they’re performed by women, but I do want to see truly incredible art made by women get a fair shake at success. It’s hard to argue that there’s not some sort of barrier for women to reach the very top in country music. Not saying they can’t make a great living out of playing songs and earn themselves a loyal fanbase, but I am saying that there’s just something that slows many female artists down as they near the upper echelon.
Big shoutout to Ella Langley for representing women on country radio this year. There’s lots of big things in store for her just a short while down the road and I’m excited to see where she takes us next.
