9 In 10 Grammy Nominees Are Male, Study Finds

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The success of superstars like Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Adele appears to be masking a major issue for the music industry.

A staggering new report has found that, over the past six years, less than one in 10 Grammy nominees was female.

The report released Thursday by the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism's Inclusion Initiative discovered that only 9.3 percent of the 899 people nominated for Grammys between 2013 and 2018 were female.

During that period, only 7.9 percent of nominees for record of the year and 6.1 percent of nominees for album of the year were women.

Of the 600 popular songs on the Billboard end-of-year charts analyzed over that period, only 22.4 percent were credited to female artists and 12.3 percent to female songwriters.

The study also found the ratio of female producers in the industry severely lacking. Of 300 Billboard songs released in 2012, 2015 and 2017, 98 percent of the 651 producers credited on them were male, while only two percent were female. In fact, only 13 of the 300 songs featured a female producer, the study determined. From 2013 to 2018, not a single woman was nominated for producer of the year.

"The lack of women in these roles is surprising, given that women are a powerful market for music consumption: women comprised 53 percent of digital music buyers in 2014," the report concludes.

The conversation surrounding both the lack of female representation and the treatment of women in the entertainment industry has been spotlighted during the film awards season, and in the wake of the fallout surrounding the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

While presenting the best director award at the Golden Globes this month, actress Natalie Portman noted the nominees were all "male."

On Tuesday, the Academy nominated just its first ever female cinematographer, Rachel Morrison for "Mudbound." Greta Gerwig received a best director nomination for "Lady Bird," only the fifth time a woman has been nominated in that category.

The 60th annual Grammy Awards -- hosted by James Corden – will air live this Sunday from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on CBS2.

For the first time since 2003, the show will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. For the past 14 years it has been held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.