Good observation.

This is an agenda that is being reinforced by the industry.

I think the music industry is trying to push this female hypersexual image. It is trying to captilize off the sex market by using female pop stars. The female pop stars either lack self esteem or just want the easy $$$.

MotownSubdivision said:

Most of today's pop stars are female it seems.

So was the early 1960's when there were a lot of girl groups. The Shirelles was the most popular of them

MotownSubdivision said:

Sex has been a proven hot commodity since Before Christ so I wouldn't be surprise if that is the case here. The VMAs this year, rather an article that was posted on them really brought it to my attention when they said that the VMAs used to have variety but now have shown that female pop vocalists are the only ones that matter in today's music scene. This wouldn't be a problem if most of them weren't manufactured industry products or at least didn't come off as such. You can say that for many of the male acts too but they are shockingly in the minority right now (not including rappers). [Edited 9/13/14 18:06pm] [Edited 9/13/14 18:11pm] [Edited 9/13/14 18:11pm]

Very true. I think that in previous eras sex was used more in an artistic and creative way versus how it is used now. I don't have a problem with sexuality or sex being used in music as long as it is used in an artistic way and not just blantant "look at my ass and buy my records." It is always easier to exploit a woman sexually than it is for a man because we live in a very male dominate society. It is just sad that none of the female pop stars dare to take a stand in how they want to be portray. Then again, maybe the women don't mind being used as sexual objects. This is clearly an agenda by the industry which is mostly ran by men.

mjscarousal said:

MickyDolenz said:

mjscarousal said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Sex has been a proven hot commodity since Before Christ so I wouldn't be surprise if that is the case here. The VMAs this year, rather an article that was posted on them really brought it to my attention when they said that the VMAs used to have variety but now have shown that female pop vocalists are the only ones that matter in today's music scene. This wouldn't be a problem if most of them weren't manufactured industry products or at least didn't come off as such. You can say that for many of the male acts too but they are shockingly in the minority right now (not including rappers). [Edited 9/13/14 18:06pm] [Edited 9/13/14 18:11pm] [Edited 9/13/14 18:11pm]

Very true. I think that in previous eras sex was used more in an artistic and creative way versus how it is used now. I don't have a problem with sexuality or sex being used in music as long as it is used in an artistic way and not just blantant "look at my ass and buy my records." It is always easier to exploit a woman sexually than it is for a man because we live in a very male dominate society. It is just sad that none of the female pop stars dare to take a stand in how they want to be portray. Then again, maybe the women don't mind being used as sexual objects. This is clearly an agenda by the industry which is mostly ran by men.

This is right on point and I totally agree.

it's been like that since the mid 90s except if you count the past 10-15 years males in pop have been even stronger - Justin T, Justin B, Usher, Sam Smith, Adam Lambert, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, NeYo, Miguel, Adam Levine as the frontman of Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Calvin Harris, R Kelly (still), ... countless others if you include more r&b and country solo male acts...

[Edited 9/13/14 21:49pm]

.

I just did a run-down of this week's Dutch Top 40, and counting every single artist/group that is featured on it, the male-to-female ratio is 38:15, meaning that there are about 2.5 male artists/male-fronted groups for every female artist.

The Dutch Top 40 generally doesn't differ significantly from the American pop charts.

.

Also, I find that of the female artists mentioned in the OP, Taylor Swift, Adele, and Lorde tend to avoid sexualization of their image, while Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande play around with it in less conventional ways.

.

ginusher said:

I just did a run-down of this week's Dutch Top 40, and counting every single artist/group that is featured on it, the male-to-female ratio is 38:15, meaning that there are about 2.5 male artists/male-fronted groups for every female artist.

On the first 100 albums of this week's Billboard Top 200 there's:

.

72 male (including Bob Marley at #5 with an album that came out in 1984 and a 90's era band Counting Crows at #6)
12 female

4 mixed gender groups
9 various artists (soundtracks, Now!, Kidz Bop)
3 tribute albums

MickyDolenz said:

ginusher said:

I just did a run-down of this week's Dutch Top 40, and counting every single artist/group that is featured on it, the male-to-female ratio is 38:15, meaning that there are about 2.5 male artists/male-fronted groups for every female artist.

On the first 100 albums of this week's Billboard Top 200 there's:

.

72 male (including Bob Marley at #5 with an album that came out in 1984 and a 90's era band Counting Crows at #6)
12 female

4 mixed gender groups
9 various artists (soundtracks, Now!, Kidz Bop)
3 tribute albums

How's the Billboard single chart break down? Because the top albums are going to include artists outside the mainstream (by which I assume was meant "pop")(Yes, I could look and I might later, but if anyone else gets to it sooner, thanks).

EddieC said:

How's the Billboard single chart break down? Because the top albums are going to include artists outside the mainstream (by which I assume was meant "pop") (Yes, I could look and I might later, but if anyone else gets to it sooner, thanks).

Top 100 songs

male - 65 (20 in the top 40)
female - 24 (16)
mixed {including feature guests & duets} - 11 (3)

.

Top 25 R&B/Hip Hop songs

male - 17

female - 5

mixed - 3

.

Top 25 Country songs

male - 20

female - 2

mixed - 3

MickyDolenz said:

I think a lot of guys like to be in bands, rather than solo artists for whatever reason. It just seems there are less men in mainstream music now because rock is not the popular genre of music that it used to be. They may not be played on the radio but a lot of the top grossing touring acts like U2 are male bands.

[Edited 9/17/14 15:51pm]

Glindathegood said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Most of today's pop stars are female it seems. Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Adele, Lorde, and Miley are the ones that come to mind first and there are other ones lower on the food chain. Rap provides most if not all of the male pop stars but otherwise, pop music is female dominated... weird. Anybody else notice this?

You forgot Justin Bieber and One Direction

kpowers said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Most of today's pop stars are female it seems. Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Adele, Lorde, and Miley are the ones that come to mind first and there are other ones lower on the food chain. Rap provides most if not all of the male pop stars but otherwise, pop music is female dominated... weird. Anybody else notice this?

You forgot Justin Bieber and One Direction

Isn't Bieber done? And I get the sense from my daughter that One Direction is finished too. Now, Ariana Grande is apparently the greatest thing ever...

EddieC said:

kpowers said:

You forgot Justin Bieber and One Direction

Isn't Bieber done? And I get the sense from my daughter that One Direction is finished too. Now, Ariana Grande is apparently the greatest thing ever...

I'm not sure, I just thought we were listing mainstream female acts.