# Male music lovers...how much of your playlist is female artists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 20, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011 "2020-11-20T03:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/21 "2020-11-20T17:29:22Z")
100% of my favorite singers are Billie Holiday, so “yes.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/22 "2020-11-20T18:00:55Z")
I don’t have a preference for male or female voices, I just listen to what I like., so my collection is statistically rather representative of the numbers for the gender distribution of artists In popular music quoted above. But I really adore some female artists such as: Aretha Franklin (IMHO the greatest singer in the history of recorded music, in any genre) Joni Mitchell (one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and also an outstanding singer and multi-instrumentalist) Emmylou Harris Dusty Springfield Chrissie Hynde (and definitely a few more I don’t think of at the moment) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/23 "2020-11-20T18:25:26Z")
I don’t know if I really have anything to add to the discussion by way of my playlist (I don’t really have anything like that to refer to), but one thing I’ve noticed (sorta off-topic) is that Sirius/XM’s artist-focused stations are overwhelmingly dominated by male artists: Beatles Elvis Springsteen/E Street Band Little Steven Phish Tom Petty Dave Matthews Band Billy Joel Grateful Dead Eminem Willie Nelson Garth Brooks Jimmy Buffet Kenny Chesney Pitbull LL Cool J Sway Pearl Jam U2 Ozzy Osbourne Frank Sinatra BB King Diplo In fact, after typing the list out, I see there’s not one woman in the bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/24 "2020-11-20T18:44:46Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > my playlist (I don’t really have anything like that to refer to) Some of us are old enough to mentally replace “your playlist” with “your record collection.” 🙂 Actually, I interpreted “your playlist” to mean “all the music you choose to listen to,” including music you actually own (in some physical or digital format) and music you select to play from some streaming service. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/25 "2020-11-20T18:59:27Z")
Mine’s definitely mostly male. I’m estimating maybe 20% female although even that might be generous. Some examples from my playlist: She & Him Joan Armatrading Imogen Heap Feist Laura Veirs ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/26 "2020-11-20T19:06:47Z")
What on earth is a “male music lover”? I never counted up percentages, but I’ve got a fair amount of rock/progressivoid stuff featuring female singers, including such artists as Joan Jett, Renaissance, Girlschool and even the Cocktail Slippers. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/27 "2020-11-20T19:40:11Z")
I think I’m about 50/50 too. I love rock and metal but I really like metal bands with female singers like Witch Mountain. And singers like Princess Chelsea, Lauren Hoffman, and Lana Del Rey are great to listen to and chill out. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/28 "2020-11-20T19:46:37Z")
I think I’m like most people in that I listen to music for different reasons. In some cases, I’m listening for the music or the performance or the lyrics. And in some cases I’m listening for the vocals. And I find that I tend to enjoy female vocalists more than male ones. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/29 "2020-11-20T19:49:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Actually, I interpreted “your playlist” to mean “all the music you choose to listen to,” including music you actually own (in some physical or digital format) and music you select to play from some streaming service. But that’s the thing, I don’t have CDs or a streaming service or digital music. I really only listen to Sirius/XM, and while they play plenty of female artists, their artist-focused channels are reserved for men and male groups. Which, imo, sucks. I’d like to see an Aretha or Dolly or Madonna or Supremes/girl group station pop up. The closest thing we do to a playlist in our house is put together a holiday playlist on Youtube. We’ve got plenty of Bing, Dean, Michael Buble, the Temptations, Ray Charles and Dwight Yoakam, but just as much female representation with Sia, Connie Francis, Kacey Musgraves, Gwen Stefani, Mariah Carey, Sugarland, Lauren Daigle, Brenda Lee and Sheryl Crow. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/30 "2020-11-20T19:50:50Z")
Probably 75% of the music I listen to is female artists. If you consider recent music, anything from the last ten year or so, it’s more like 90%. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/31 "2020-11-21T00:08:06Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > But that’s the thing, I don’t have CDs or a streaming service or digital music. I really only listen to Sirius/XM, and while they play plenty of female artists, their artist-focused channels are reserved for men and male groups. Which, imo, sucks. I’d like to see an Aretha or Dolly or Madonna or Supremes/girl group station pop up. I don’t get Sirius. Do they really have a Kenny Rogers or John Lee Hooker channel? They have something like that on Youtube music but it’s basically “music that is kinda like that guy’s”. Eta: I leave on hits stations often nd it’s not far off 50-50 male-female. My old library is probably about 25% female but Alicia Keys, Cranberries, Lauryn Hill get played often enough. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/32 "2020-11-21T00:15:14Z")
> [@FigNorton](#): > > I don’t get Sirius. Do they really have a Kenny Rogers or John Lee Hooker channel? They have something like that on Youtube music but it’s basically “music that is kinda like that guy’s”. Some of the artist-specific channels are primarily, if not exclusively, just songs by that artist – I think that, for example, the Elvis channel is like that. Others (particularly the ones that are associated with a living artist) feature that artist’s music, as well as other songs and artists that he likes, especially if they fit in the genre – Ozzy’s Boneyard is like that. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/33 "2020-11-21T00:35:35Z")
A male that likes music and listens to it on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/34 "2020-11-21T00:51:01Z")
This thread was inspired by me remembering a former co-worker. We drive around on electric forklifts, we have wi-fi and we can’t wear headphones or earbuds but we can have bluetooth speakers. Therefore we hear what each other are listening to. This former co-worker listened (almost\*) exclusively to what is known as “bro-country” and in the 2+ years I worked with him I never heard a female voice on his speaker until one day I heard a woman singing on his speaker! It was so noteworthy I mentioned it to him and he replied that it was a duet. Right on cue, the country bro kicked in. \*His other music genre was a type of hip hop where the male vocalist raps very fast in a very high voice, to the point where an old geezer like me couldn’t make heads or tails out of the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/35 "2020-11-21T01:15:37Z")
Without going though every track, I’d say that about 50% of the music I listen to has a male singer, 20% has a female singer, and 30% is purely instrumental. While there’s a huge distinction between male and female vocals, there’s less of one between male and female instrumentalists (I don’t want to get into a debate over whether Meg White plays drums “like a girl”). Item 4 on Chrissie Hynde’s Advice for Chick Rockers is “Do not insist in [sic] working with ‘females.’ That’s just more b.s. Get the best man for the job. If it happens to a woman, great – you’ll have someone to go to department stores with on tour instead of making one of the road crew go with you,” It is a mistake to ghettoize female musicians. Who would you rather tour with, Sheryl Crow or Dickey Betts? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/36 "2020-11-21T01:35:25Z")
OK - I thought it meant someone who liked “male music”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/37 "2020-11-21T03:42:26Z")
Allow me to introduce you to progressive rock. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/38 "2020-11-21T14:54:08Z")
I’d say around 75-80% of what I listen to nowadays are solo female acts, entirely female groups, or female-fronted groups. I’m including groups that have part-female vocals in that, like, say, My Bloody Valentine or Sonic Youth. Checking out just my _current_ playlist, I see: Lush The Big Moon Skating Polly Aurora Cocteau Twins Siouxsie and the Banshees Shelleyan Orphan Ruby Gaelynn Lea Meg Myers Caroline Polachek Garbage Cranes Taylor Swift BLΛƆKPIИK Sigrid Kælan Mikla Kate Nash ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/39 "2020-11-21T15:11:30Z")
I have way too much music to catalog all of it, but a quick glace at my Top 25 Most Played on iTunes shows 6 female vocalists/bands with female vocalists. 2 of those groups are **all** female (Go-Gos, Haim). 5 of the 25 are instrumentals, but I should note 1 of _those_ groups has a female bass player **and** drummer (Incendio). Overall I’d say I favor female vocals but the sheer number of males in the industry will always give them the higher percentages. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011/40 "2020-11-22T13:45:51Z")
I made 69 playlists. There are 18 female (including groups like Heart). There are two groups where females are significant - B52’s and ABBA. So, it’s a little over 1/4. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-music-lovers-how-much-of-your-playlist-is-female-artists/926011.md?page=3)