The National Union of Phonographic Publishing has released its assessment of the recorded music market in 2024. The presence of female artists is progressing surely but slowly.
Like every year, the National Phonographic Publishing Union (SNEP) released its study on the music market in 2024. If the music industry is doing well, the association notes that the sector is still largely dominated by male artists.
In its report, Snep reviews, in particular, the 100 most listened to titles in 2024, among which seventeen are performed by women, and only three are entirely created by a female artist. The two titles of Santa: Salty PopCorn et Start me againthe single Hypé, of the duo Aya Nayakamura and Ayra Starr. The author-composer Zaho de Sagazan also stands out by positioning herself at 26e position in the ranking, after having achieved real success at the Victoires de la Musique. The study also highlights that female artists top radio performances with Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter and Houdini by Dua Lipa. But the dynamic remains weak with 41 albums out of 200 carried by female artists.
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The National Music Center (CNM) recently released a study in which it explains that only one woman for every nine men receives royalties from the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (SACEM), between 2019 and 2023.
Very masculine rap
This observation is explained, in particular, by the large dominance of rap in the ranking, of which only 13% of the titles are recorded by female artists, according to a CNM study. The only female artist who managed to distinguish herself in this category is the singer Shay, who arrived in 98e position. But the entire music industry is affected by the over-representation of men. Asked by The WorldChloé Thibaud, journalist and author of Neither muses nor groupies. A feminist history of music (2025) explains: “An artist is often more likely to obtain visibility or funding if she joins these networks dominated by men, because they are the ones who control access to all that”. Billie Eilish’s success has been attributed to her brother, also a singer, rather than to her talent.
Some artists take their autonomy from the music industry by self-producing to counter this “virilism”. As a singer, producer, manager and artistic director, Yseult is a perfect example. She remains the most listened to French-speaking artist in the world. Just like the singer Aya Nakamura, who was able to impose her codes and her language thanks to her audience, through streaming and social networks.