By: Hannah Wiley, Assistant Features Editor
Just two months into 2024, several strong women have made history in the music industry, from the Grammy Awards to the Billboard Charts.
There is no argument that Taylor Swift is one of the most influential female artists in the music industry currently; most recently, at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Swift won her fourth Album of the Year Award for “Midnights.” That night she became the second artist in history to win the award four times. Swift has been on “The Eras Tour” for over a year, and the tour quickly became incredibly sought after and by no surprise started to break records. In December 2023, the tour surpassed $1 billion in revenue, becoming the highest-grossing music tour in history.
On Feb. 11, 2024, Beyonce released her new song “Texas Hold ‘Em” which climbed to the top of the Billboard charts in just two weeks. This is her ninth number-one song on the charts and her first since the release of “Break my Soul” in 2022. She also announced the release of her eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter,” set to hit streaming platforms on Mar. 29, 2024. This album has been highly anticipated by both fans and especially by critics since her last studio album “Renaissance.”
Another female artist who broke into the industry and took it by storm back in 2021 just started her first world tour in late February. Olivia Rodrigo topped the Billboard charts and broke records with the release of her debut single “Drivers License” and debut album “Sour.” The release of her second studio album, “Guts,” was no different. Guts ended 2023 being number one on “The 50 Best Albums of 2023: Staff List” for Billboard, number one on “Top 10 Albums of 2023” for People and number two for “The Best Albums of 2023” for NME. Just recently, at the end of February, Rodrigo started her world tour consisting of 77 dates across North America, Europe and Asia. On the first night of her tour, Rodrigo announced that a portion of the proceeds made during the tour would be donated to the “Fund 4 Good” initiative, an organization which sets out to support reproductive rights, education and prevention of gender-based violence.
The women of the music industry’s past, present and future, all deserve to be celebrated for their contributions to the music industry and the influence they have, not only on young girls but also for how they encourage those same young girls to feel that they can make a difference and make their dreams come true.
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