With 2024 coming to an end, it is important to look back on the year and impacts made in pop culture. One of the biggest impacts stems from the groundbreaking albums and record breaking accomplishments made by female music artists. Many A-List artists cemented their place, as well as smaller stars who rose to fame.
Popular 2024 Album Releases:
- BRAT – Charli XCX
- Short n’ Sweet – Sabrina Carpenter
- Cowboy Carter – Beyoncé
- The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift
- Eternal Sunshine – Ariana Grande
- HIT ME HARD AND SOFT – Billie Eilish
- Tyla – Tyla
- Prelude to Ecstacy – The Last Dinner Party
- This is How Tomorrow Moves – Beabadoobee
- The Secret of Us – Gracie Abrams
Many of these women went on tours to accompany their new releases, along with a few others who released music in 2023 such as Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRae and Chappell Roan. In addition to these women, there are countless other examples that extend past these lists.
With the 2025 Grammy nominations, we see exactly how much impact these women had on our pop culture this year. Beyoncé scored 11 nominations, being the most nominated this year along with totaling 99 career nominations. This makes her the most Grammy nominated artist ever. Taylor Swift also became the first female artist to have seven album of the year nominations, and Billie Eilish the first artist to have their first three albums nominated.
Women also dominate the nominations for the four main categories: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist.
One particular Best New Artist nominee rapidly rose to stardom with her song “HOT TO GO!” Chappell Roan’s song and dance blew up on TikTok, causing her popularity to sky-rocket, seemingly overnight. Roan made herself a household name, despite only having one album. Also, being a lesbian, she is bringing queer pop music into mainstream media.
Not only did we see Roan emerge as an artist this year, we also saw ex-Disney star Sabrina Carpenter. In April when she released “Espresso,” it became a contender for song of the summer. Now she is on her Short n’ Sweet Tour, inspiring Tik Tok trends and breaking records with her streams.
Carpenter and Roan also opened for two of the highest grossing tours this year: Carpenter for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and Roan for Olivia Rodirgo’s Guts World Tour. After opening for the the tours, they were both invited back for guest appearances. In the midst of her Short n’ Sweet Tour, Carpenter appeared at a New Orleans Eras Tour show, where she and Swift sang a mashup of their songs. Roan came back to the Guts Tour in Los Angeles where she and Rodrigo sang “HOT TO GO!” This shows the impact mainstream music artists can have and how these women uplift one anothers voices.
Another notable artist this year is Charli XCX, who’s album “BRAT” took over the summer. Her song “Apple” blew up on Tik Tok, after influencer Kelley Heyer created a dance for it. It spiraled from that point until summer of 2024 was known as BRAT summer. Then in October, Charli XCX released an alternate version of the album with features from Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and more versatile artists.
Since this year was so plentiful in music, there has been discourse about a 2025 pop music drought. However, many female artists have been teasing music and others have already announced 2025 album releases such as Tate McRae and Lana Del Rey. Many of these women who released music this year will still be on tour next year, so we will continue to see the impacts they make on pop culture.
