Most songs on Irish radio are still by white, male artists

Almost 60 per cent of the top-100 most played songs on Irish radio last year were by white, male artists, a new study has found.

A total of 71 per cent of most played songs were by white artists, while 14 per cent were by people of colour. However, no Irish artist of colour featured in the top 100.

Just 26 per cent of the top-100 songs were by women, with men accounting for 59 per cent, while the remainder included collaborations between men and women (14 per cent) and non-binary artists (1 per cent).

It is five times more likely that a white Irish male artist will make the top 100 than an Irish woman artist, the report says.

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Irish artists accounted for 18 per cent of the top-100, with Irish women accounting for 3 per cent of that total.

The most played song overall was Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran while the most played song by an Irish artist was Giants by Dermot Kennedy.

The report on gender disparity on Irish radio was put together by the Why Not Her? collective.

Data based on gender disparity on the top-20 most played artists on Today FM found that only one woman artist made the list (Aimée) while no artists of colour were featured. It was not alone, with seven regional stations featuring just one woman in their top 20. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta fared best, with women representing 80 per cent of the artists in its list.

RTÉ Pulse fared best in terms of diversity, featuring eight artists of colour. RTÉ 2FM also featured more artists of colour compared with other stations, including Soulé whose hit Queenish made it to number two on its list. Spin Southwest, Spin 103.8 and WLR FM also had 4 artists of colour in their top-20 list.

The report names 16 stations “game changers and equalisers” for reaching over 25 per cent of gender parity. The five stations that reached 50 per cent gender parity or above were: Spin 103.8, Spin South West, Midwest Radio, RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltacht.

The Why Not Her? team are set to meet Ministers on July 7th to put forward an amended Broadcasting Bill (Gender, Cultures & Other Diversities) which “aims to retune Irish radio” towards gender parity and diversity.