(Credits: Far Out / Ben Collins)
Mon 4 November 2024 19:05, UK
The music industry has always been a boys club. The Misogyny in Music report, which was released earlier this year by the Women and Equalities Committee, proved that this is unfortunately still the case, with women in the industry still being subjected to misogyny, sexual harassment, and comparatively fewer opportunities than their male counterparts. But this certainly doesn’t reflect a lack of trying or talent from women within the industry.
For decades now, women on-stage and off-stage have been making strides in the industry, fighting for our place within it, pushing for our voices to be heard on the radio and in conference rooms. Aretha Franklin used her powerful vocals to demand respect, Bikini Kill infused their sound with feminist rebellion, and Chappell Roan is still fighting for the privacy of women in the industry.
As the industry slowly moves in the right direction, more and more “firsts” have been collected by the women within it. In 1963, Lita Roza became the first woman to hit number one in the United Kingdom. Just over a decade later, Kate Bush achieved the same feat with a self-penned song, taking the country by storm with her wavering vocals and literary lyrics on ‘Wuthering Heights’.
In the same year that Roza was making history in the United Kingdom, another female artist was taking the charts by storm across the Atlantic. 1963 marked the first time that a woman reached topped the album chart in the United States, but which artist attained this first?
So, who was the first woman to have a number one album?
According to the Guinness World Records, it was the French folk artist Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, also known as The Singing Nun, who became the first woman to hit number one on the album chart in the States. Sourire released her first album under the name The Singing Nun in the summer of 1963, but it wasn’t an immediate success with audiences.
The debut record experienced a slow-burning rise in popularity, and by the end of 1963 it sat at the top of the charts. The Singing Nun hit number one in the album chart for the first time on December 7th, 1963, a position it then maintained for ten weeks running. The record was only knocked off the top-spot by the power of Beatlemania in the following year. Meet the Beatles replaced The Singing Nun at number one in the album chart in February 1964.
Although The Singing Nun holds the record for the first album by a woman to hit number one on the album charts, it didn’t debut at number one. It would be more than two decades before a female artist hit number one on the album chart upon entry, and it was a much more familiar name who broke the record.
In 1987, pop legend Whitney Houston released her self-titled second album, Whitneywhich immediately took the charts by storm. It wasn’t a slow-burner like The Singing Nun. It immediately captivated audiences who sent it straight to the top spot. The album spawned some of Houston’s most well-known and well-loved pop hits, including ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ and ‘So Emotional’.
There is still a long way to go to overcome the boys club that is the music industry, and many more “first”s to come, but there are also so many women who have achieved huge wins and should be celebrated.
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