Aussie music gender gap narrows but men still dominate radio airplay

Former Assistant Editor

Men continue to dominate radio airplay in Australia, despite the overall gender gap in the Aussie music industry narrowing slowly.

These were some of the findings of triple j‘s Hack in the fourth edition of its ‘By The Numbers’ report into Australian music’s gender gap.

While most measures of gender diversity analysed in the report shows signs of greater diversity, Hack also found that men continue to dominate the Australian music scene at “almost every level”.

Looking at radio airplay from 2018, Hack found that only 21% of the 100 most-played tracks on Australian radio were by solo female acts or all-female groups.

Taking into account groups with at least one woman saw the number climb slightly, to 27%.

By contrast, 52% of the top 100 most-played songs were by male acts.

It was a similar story with triple j’s annual Hottest 100 countdown.

63 songs in the Hottest 100 of 2018 were by solo male artists or all-male acts.

Hack also looked at triple j, Double J and triple j Unearthed overall and found that the three stations had the best balance in the last four years.

40% of all albums featured and artists played were women (or acts with at least one woman) for the first time.

The report also looked at festivals, Year 12 and university students studying music, women in leadership positions, artist and label managers, awards and the pay gap.

The full report can be viewed here.


triple j and Double J are today celebrating International Women’s Day with a ‘Girls To The Front’ spin on its presenter lineups.

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