Ed's Topping The Charts, But So Are a Lot of Guys

When I heard Ed Sheeran has officially been named the most streamed artist of 2014, I wasn't surprised. I've known he was a musical genius since I first discovered his music a few years ago, shortly after his first single ever, "A Team," hit radio airwaves. He's both sweet and adorable, an incredibly talented lyricist and musician, and he's BFF with my fictional BFF, Taylor Swift, so it was a match made in heaven. After seeing him open for Swift on the "Red" Tour in 2013, I was sold. This is an honor he definitely deserves, and how he didn't snag the Grammy he was nominated for is far beyond my understanding.

Speaking of my taste in music, I try not to discriminate. Although I'm naturally drawn toward Top 40 songs like the Starbucks drinking basic bitch that I am, I generally listen to male and female artists in equal measure. Unfortunately, it just doesn't appear that's the case for the rest of the country. After finding out about Sheeran's Spotify standing, I was a little curious about who else is taking the cake.

Because here's something shocking: Out of the top 10 most streamed albums in America as of right now, only two of them are from female artists. Two — three, if you count the sole female member of Pentatonix. And if we stretch it to the top 20, only one more female, Lana Del Rey, joins the list. What gives?

Don't get it twisted — I'm not trying to say that the men who are charting aren't talented and deserving of their rank. Hozier's album is incredible, and so is Sam Smith's. But it's incredibly interesting that Americans are choosing, consciously or not, to listen to male artists over female artists. It's not because there aren't plenty of talented women making music out there, because there are. It's just that our listening habits haven't evolved quite that far yet.

Unfortunately, the music industry (like many other industries) is still undeniably male dominated, and it shouldn't take a powerhouse as impossibly successful as Beyonce to beat a man in the charts if her music is just as good, if not better, than his. It may seem crazy that we as women still have to prove ourselves in so many areas and still have so far to go before men and women are on equal footing, but it's reality.

Artists like Taylor Swift need to keep calling out sexism in music and keep refusing to stand for it. And I have faith that, in my lifetime, I will get to see these sexist standards change.

Image: Spotify