“Being a woman in the music market means constantly fighting,” says Dani Ribas, coordinator of the Brazilian Association of Music and Arts (Abramus), when asked about the absence of women in the ranking of the most listened to artists on Spotify Wrapped, an annual retrospective carried out by the music platform that showcases the consumption habits of listeners in Brazil and around the world.
This is the first time in eight years, since 2016, that no woman has been ranked among the five most listened to artists in Brazil during the year. This includes country singers, who have dominated the list since 2017 and dominated a space that was previously mostly male, with a focus on Marilia Mendonça and Ana Castilla.
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Top ten for 2025
- Henry and Giuliano
- Less is more group
- MC Rayan SP
- Jorge and Matthews
- MC AG
- Like Neto and Cristiano
- Matthews and Cowan
- MC Tutu
- Natanzinho Lima
- Felipe Rhett
By comparison, Marilia Mendonça ranked first on the list for two years in a row. Ana Castilla in turn has displaced Henrique & Juliano, MC Ryan SP and Jorge & Mateus in the 2023 roster.
There is a clear predominance of males. If in other years we saw women in the top ten, this year the top ten was dominated by men. Ana Castilla came in 11th place, Simone Mendes in 12th place, and Marilia Mendonça in 13th place.
Carolina El Zaghir, Head of Music at Spotify
See the top 5 from the last 11 years:
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But after all, why are women excluded?
For experts in the music world, the absence of women from this year’s list is due to a series of factors, including historical issues of a sexist society that continues to belittle women’s work.
“Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) as of 2022 show that women devote 10 hours more to home care than men. This actually removes women from the labor market in terms of potential. Historically, this has always been a barrier to entering the labor market. And in music it is no different,” says Dani Ribas.
Ribas, an expert on music industry trends, explains that a platform’s algorithm recommendation can also influence the final list.
“Algorithms collect data to understand each listener’s musical taste. Algorithms always recommend the most popular catalog according to their criteria of taste. If what is available on the platforms – and we know there is more male content specifically because, historically, women have never had that position of dominance – then what will be statistically recommended as the most popular songs are songs composed by men.”
“Even with very famous women, like Marilia Mendonça, the natural tendency is for them to be increasingly pushed down in this ranking due to the algorithmic biases of the platforms,” he adds.
“In addition to all the cultural and social factors in which women are placed, the financial issue of being independent as an artist, as a composer, and not being independent, also affects their appearance, and their way of communicating in their work,” concludes Fernanda Audi, COO of Abramus.
The world behind country and funk music
Music producer Maboh, in turn, points out that the country music market, when viewed in a female context, may be feeling the effects of Marilia Mendonça’s death. The eternal “Queen of Suffering” died on November 5, 2021, at the age of 26.
“Marilia Mendonça was country music’s greatest composer. She composed not only for herself but for other artists as well, and her lack of work output could be one factor why the names of women in country music disappear from the list,” she says.
She also recalls that in addition to country and funk, the music industry valued women from other genres. This is the case, for example, for Lineker, winner of three awards at this year’s Latin Grammy Awards.
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He concludes: “The list is very focused on country and funk. They are two genres in which, I don’t think it’s a coincidence, there are many words that degrade a female character. We are in a year where Lineker and Luigi Luna have just won the Latin Grammys, which are also industry awards. Last year we had Iza at the Latin Grammys. These famous names in the industry are not on the list. It’s very shocking.”
