With the 2022 Billboard Women in Music Awards set for Wednesday (March 2), let’s scroll back through a small sampling of women who have made a difference in the music industry over the past 75 years.
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1947: Miriam Abramson
Image Credit: Gems/Redferns/Getty Images Miriam Abramson (later Bienstock) co-founds Atlantic Records with her husband, Herb Abramson, and Ahmet Ertegun in 1947. She handles the company’s finances and production. In 1949, Ruth Brown, who grew up in segregated Virginia, signs to the label, bolstering it with hits and prompting the label’s moniker, “The House That Ruth Built.”
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1959: Ella Fitzgerald
Image Credit: Gilles Petard/Redferns Ella Fitzgerald wins two Grammy Awards in the inaugural year of the competition (best vocal performance, female and best jazz performance, individual), in 1959. The only other women recognized that year were opera star Renata Tebaldi and pop singer Keely Smith, who each won one award.
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1960: Connie Francis
Image Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images In 1960, Connie Francis becomes the first solo woman to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” Then, beginning in 1964, The Supremes set a record (which still holds today) as the female group with the most Hot 100 No. 1s, racking up 12 in the 1960s.
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1973: Suzi Quatro
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Suzi Quatro releases her self-titled debut album in 1973, helping women make their mark on ’70s rock. It went to No. 32 on the Official U.K. Albums chart, but it would be five years before she cracked the top 40 of the Billboard 200 with 1979’s If You Knew Suzi, which reached No. 37.
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1975: The Runaways
Image Credit: GAB Archive/Redferns Joan Jett takes Quatro’s baton and runs with it, fronting The Runaways, one of the first all-female rock groups (and the most iconic of the era), forming in 1975. Jett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
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1984: Madonna
Image Credit: Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com Madonna delivers a now-iconic performance of “Like a Virgin” at the first MTV Video Music Awards, in 1984. The song was the first of seven Hot 100 No. 1 hits she scored during the decade, tying her with Whitney Houston for the most No. 1s in the ’80s among all female acts.
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1986: Frances Preston
Image Credit: Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect Frances Preston, who started her career as a radio station receptionist, is appointed president/CEO of BMI in 1986, becoming the first woman in the music industry to achieve the top executive rank. She leads the organization until 2004, nurturing the careers of thousands of songwriters, performers and music publishers.
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1987: Aretha Franklin
Image Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images Aretha Franklin is the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. That April, she scores her second Hot 100 No. 1 — and first since “Respect” in 1967, with “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with George Michael.
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1994: Sylvia Rhone
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sylvia Rhone Sylvia Rhone is appointed chairman /CEO of Elektra Entertainment Group in 1994, becoming the first woman, and first African-American in the industry, to hold the title at a major label.
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1997: Mariah Carey
Image Credit: Erik C Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock In 1997, Mariah Carey notches her 12th Hot 100 No. 1 hit with “Honey,” passing Madonna and Whitney Houston (11 each at the time). By the end of the 1990s, Carey will up that total to 14, and in the 2010s to 19, becoming the solo artist with the most Hot 100 No. 1s, and the second-most of any act, next to The Beatles (20). The ’90s, meanwhile, are the high-water mark for female acts, who account for 49 percent of Hot 100 No. 1s that decade.
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2000: Shania Twain
Image Credit: Getty Images In 2000, Shania Twain’s Come on Over becomes the first album to top Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart for 50 weeks. (Luke Combs’ This One’s for You has since equaled the feat.)
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2002: Julie Greenwald
Image Credit: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage for Universal Music Group Julie Greenwald is promoted to president of Island Records in 2002. Since, she was named president of Atlantic Records in 2004 and promoted to chairman/COO in 2006. Greenwald was named Billboard’s Women in Music Executive of the Year in 2017.
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2010: Beyoncé
Image Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles Beyoncé takes home six Grammy Awards in 2010 — the most won by a female artist in a single night. (Adele will tie the record in 2012.) In 2021, Beyoncé surpassed Alison Krauss to become Grammy’s winningest woman. Bey has taken home 28 statuettes and is tied with Quincy Jones as the second-biggest Grammy winner, period. Classical conductor Georg Solti is on top (for now!) with 31 wins.
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2011: Katy Perry
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo In 2011, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream ties Michael Jackson’s Bad as the only album to generate five Hot 100 No. 1 hits.
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2013: Carole King
Image Credit: Samir Hussein/Redferns In 2013, Carole King becomes the first woman to win the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
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2014: Taylor Swift
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage Taylor Swift becomes the first woman to replace herself at No. 1 on the Hot 100 when “Blank Space” dethrones “Shake It Off,” in 2014.
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2019: Stevie Nicks
Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/GI For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame In 2019, Stevie Nicks becomes the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — as part of a group and as a solo artist. Carole King and Tina Turner have since also been inducted twice.
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2020: Billie Eilish
Image Credit: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello In 2020, Billie Eilish becomes the first woman to sweep Grammys in each of the “Big Four” categories – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist. Only Christopher Cross had previously achieved that sweep.