Issue #84: Meet the 6 Solo Women Artists on the Country Charts
A window into the homogeneity at the upper echelons of the country music industry
By Natalie
We talk a lot over here at DRTI about the striking lack of diversity among country artists, especially on Music Row, and especially especially towards the tops of the various country charts, in the biggest type at country festivals, and making the most money off of the genre's current vogue. That lack of diversity runs across the board — white, straight, cisgender, Christian men hold nearly all the cards, as much or more than they ever did. It's easy to take for granted, to not consider just how stark the numbers are on a week-to-week basis — also so much of the music is plainly unpleasant to listen to that I've found myself trying to ignore it. But we dig pop country! There is wheat among the chaff (by the same old white guys and everybody else alike)!
So this week, I thought I'd do a little snapshot version of the kind of work Jada Watson does in a much more thorough and scientific way, and a little extension of the wonderful reporting and analysis in Marissa’s book Her Country.
Because it takes more to understand a person’s racial identity (and, of course, sexuality) than just looking at them (and it’s not like everyone on the country charts fills out a survey about how they identify when they enter them, although that might be useful), I focused on gender; most people on the country charts are cis, which makes that slightly more straightforward. Based on people who have spoken about their background, I count three — Shaboozey, Kane Brown and Wyatt Flores — who do not identify as white; I wouldn’t call that definitive, but I’d also hazard a guess that there aren’t too many other not-white people on the chart. As shameful as it ever was.
When it comes to the women on the charts, I looked at the 50 spots on Hot Country Songs (which measures all consumption — streaming, sales and radio) and the 60 spots on Country Airplay (which just measures radio) and scanned the rest. Out of those 110 available spots on the country singles charts, just nine of them were taken by solo women artists. Yes, solo women artists currently make up just 8% of the Billboard country charts. Just one, Lainey Wilson, is in the top 10 of any singles chart; Ella Langley and Megan Moroney join her in the top 20. We’re so far from parity it’s hard to believe — but there are some good songs in the mix.
Songs by solo women artists
Lainey Wilson, "4X4XU" (No. 7 on Country Airplay, among many others)
Another truck love song that is, at least, aesthetically divergent from the prevailing sounds of radio at the moment. It's much more of a kind of Southern rock-soul inflected vibe than it is angsty or stomp-clap-ish; not Lainey's best, but compared to the competition it sounds considerably better. And, praise be: a major key!! Note, though, that Lainey — arguably the top Lady of the moment — only gets to have one song on the charts, unlike basically all of her male peers.
Megan Moroney, "Am I Okay?" (No. 19 on Country Airplay and No. 17 on Hot Country Songs)
Country radio moves extremely slowly, so somehow this song is still climbing on Airplay after like six months on the chart. I am not a huge Moroney head, but this song is alright — again, especially when we're considering the competition, it could be so much worse. Moroney is trying to crack the top 10 of the airplay chart for just the second time, two years after her breakout hit "Tennessee Orange" had her in regular rotation. This is all just to reiterate: stacking those No. 1 songs that the white guys do as a matter of course is still so much harder for everybody else. (Moroney is one of just three women on the country albums chart, also — she's joined by Ella Langley and — naturally — Taylor Swift.)
Kelsea Ballerini, "Baggage" (No. 42 on Hot Country Songs)
Fun, bouncy, catchy — this is the vintage Ballerini I love! Of course it's just scraping the bottom of the charts. (To be fair, I don't think it's been pushed to radio — seems like it might just be charting off streams.)
Carly Pearce, "Truck On Fire" (No. 27 on Country Airplay)
Pearce is looking for her first top ten solo song on the Airplay chart since 2022. To my ear, this danceable revenge anthem (which is, of course, truck-centric) would have as good of odds as any of making it there — but, famously, I don't know how the big brains at radio work.
Ella Langley, "Weren't For The Wind" (No. 19 on Hot Country Songs, No. 31 on Country Airplay)
Will Langley get her first solo No. 1 with this? It's a solid song, certainly in a Miranda vein which I am definitely for. It is so depressing that the strategy was to introduce Langley with a duet (with Riley Green, more on that later), and more depressing that it worked.
Meghan Patrick, "Golden Child" (No. 53 on Country Airplay)
One of our country radio in a better world artists on country radio!! Imagine that!
Duets (with men, naturally)
"High Road," Koe Wetzel and Jessie Murph (No. 5 on Hot Country Songs, No. 2 on Country Airplay)
Dull, redundant, blandly rockish.
"I'm Gonna Love You," Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood (No. 11 on Hot Country Songs, No. 12 on Country Airplay)
Two people with good voices who could not have picked a snoozier song. "Steady and true as a Bible verse" — nope. (The politics of it all…well I think you can do that math.)
"Cowboys Cry Too," Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan (No. 26 on Country Airplay, No. 38 on Hot Country songs)
We love a song about how everybody cries! This is not exactly the kind of sound that I go back to again and again, but the twanginess is so welcome and refreshing in the context of listening through the chart.
"Over When We're Sober," Brantley Gilbert and Ashley Cooke (No. 47 on Country Airplay)
This one's on its way back down, and not a moment too soon — extremely post-Wallen in the worst way. (Unrelated, this Brantley Gilbert album cover is…something else.)
"Better Than You," Joe Nichols and Annie Bosko (No. 50 on Country Airplay)
I like Annie Bosko; there's not much that sets this power ballad apart, though.
"Indigo," Sam Barber and Avery Anna (No. 10 on Hot Country Songs)
The wannabe Zach Bryan thing does not do much for me, but calling a song "Indigo" in the era of Spotify playlisting is pretty (seemingly unintentionally) funny.
"You Look Like You Love Me" (charting on Country Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales) and "Don't Mind If I Do" (No. 26 on Hot Country Songs), Riley Green and Ella Langley
Why does it take a basic bro like Riley Green to get a talent like Ella Langley heard? Of course we all know the answer — "You Look Like You Love Me" is a nice radio anomaly in its lightheartedness, and "Don't Mind If I Do," being the Green-led of the two duets, is unsurprisingly not quite as compelling.