Music

No Black Artists Were Awarded ‘Woman Of The Year’ This Decade, And People Are Pissed

"Beyoncé did not change the industry in 2013 to be disrespected."

by Michelle Rennex  27 November 2019

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Billie Eilish was just announced as Billboard’s ‘Woman of the Year’ for 2019.

With that appointment, it officially marks an entire decade where not a single black woman has been awarded the title.

Twitter page Pop Crave tweeted out the final list yesterday following the 2019 award recipient being announced. The controversial list spanning from 2010 to 2019 features Fergie, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, P!nk, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and now, Billie Eilish.

People were quick to notice the significant lack of diversity over the past ten years, with only one woman of colour being awarded the title.

The list of past winners fails to reflect the major cultural impact that black artists have had on the music industry in the last decade. The complete absence of any black women was concerning because of the obvious influence that these woman had in the image and sound of artists on the list.

The biggest omissions that people noticed were Beyoncé and Rihanna, two wildly successful artists from the past decade. Despite their impact on the music industry, particularly with the release of Beyoncé, Lemonade and ANTI, neither were awarded the title of ‘Woman of the Year’ this decade.

People were particularly angered by Beyoncé and Rihanna being snubbed in 2016 when they released Lemonade and Anti. Despite both Anti and Lemonade debuting at number one on the Billboard Charts — and with Beyonce having the year’s top-selling album globally – the pair somehow lost to Madonna.

The biggest issue with this was that Madonna didn’t actually release any music in 2016. Madonna took out the 2016 ‘Woman of the Year’ title off the back of her 2015 album tour, Rebel Heart, which was the highest-grossing female tour at the time.

Some highlighted that Beyoncé didn’t win the title in 2016 because she had been ‘Woman of the Year’ in the decade prior. The Billboard ‘Women of the Year’ award, which started in 2007 with Reba McEntire, previously honoured Ciara and Beyoncé in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

However, there are no rules against an artist winning the award more than once, as demonstrated by Taylor Swift’s win in both 2011 and 2014.

Beyond the release of Lemonade in 2016, Beyoncé’s self-titled album shook up the industry in more ways than one. The surprise release of Beyoncé changed the standard release day for all albums in the US – shifting to a Friday release over the original Tuesday.

As with Lemonade, Beyoncé debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and became the fastest-selling album in the history of iTunes at the time. However, Beyoncé lost the 2013 title to P!nk after she scored her first-ever number one album despite Beyoncé having five.

Taylor Swift’s recent win of the newly-formed ‘Woman of the Decade’ award just further reinforces the issues with the list of past winners of the ‘Woman of the Year’ title. And begs the question: How much more do black women need to do to start getting the recognition they deserve?