People.com Entertainment Music Women Changing the Music Industry Today: 'I Deserve the Spotlight' These 15 women are rewriting what it means to succeed in the music world, on their own terms By Janine Henni Janine Henni Morning Staff Writer, PEOPLE.com People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 16, 2022 09:00 AM Share Tweet Pin Email 01 of 10 Dolly Parton Dolly Parton. Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty The queen of country music has racked up 11 Grammys and 25 no. 1 hits on Billboard's Hot Country chart (the most for a female artist, per Billboard) throughout her seven-decade career, and now she's sharing some of that magic with the next generation. In a few recent examples, Parton, 76, has collaborated with younger artists like Kelsea Ballerini, given advice to Gabby Barrett, and voiced her pride in her goddaughter Miley Cyrus. "I'm kind of addicted to the feeling of giving," Parton told PEOPLE in December 2021 for the People of the Year issue. "Knowing that I'm doing something good for someone else." Beyond the music world, the legendary singer-songwriter is incredibly philanthropic. In 2020, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, which helped fund research that led to the Moderna COVID vaccine, and raised over $700,000 for flood victims in her native Tennessee last year. Her long-running Imagination Library project has also donated over 165 million books to children around the globe since 1995. 02 of 10 Taylor Swift Taylor Swift. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty The 11-time Grammy winner shot to stardom as a teenager and grew into adulthood in the spotlight. From pop culture to politics, Swift, 32, has begun to share thoughts on hot topics she previously avoided, whether that's being infamously interrupted by Kanye West at the 2009 VMAs, taking a stand against workplace sexual assault in a lawsuit or endorsing President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. A champion for artists' rights, Swift got the green light in 2020 to re-record her first five albums, after Scooter Braun gained ownership of her older music in a $330 million deal with Big Machine Label Group the year before. Sharing her side of the story on Twitter at the time, Swift said she had attempted to "enter into negotiations" to buy her music back, but walked away when asked to sign an "ironclad NDA" stating she would only speak positively about Braun during the process. Her first re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor's Version), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in April 2021, and her second, Red (Taylor's Version), topped the charts in November, making them the only re-recorded albums in history to ever reach the top spot. 03 of 10 Mickey Guyton Mickey Guyton. Kevin Mazur/Getty/Roc Nation When Guyton signed to Universal Music Group in 2011, she was the only Black woman backed by a major country music label, The New Yorker reported. Speaking her truth in a genre long lacking diversity, the 38-year-old singer gained more fame in June 2020 with the track "Black Like Me," a reflection of her own experiences and a response to the police killings of Botham Jean, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The song rocketed to the top of Spotify's Hot Country List, and scored Guyton her first Grammy nomination – making her the first Black female solo artist to earn a Grammy nomination in a country category. The "Better Than You Left Me" singer made history again at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2021, becoming the first Black woman to ever host the show. Guyton's red-hot star continues to rise in the new year, and she sang the national anthem at Super Bowl LVI last month. Speaking with PEOPLE about her historic Grammy nomination last year, Guyton said she was determined to ensure she was "not the last" Black woman to receive the honor. "I have a responsibility to hold the door open for other women of color," Guyton said. "Another 40 years can't pass without change." 04 of 10 Lizzo Kevin Mazur/Getty The singer splashed onto the scene in 2019 with the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping "Truth Hurts," a full two years after the empowering bop was released. Lizzo, 33, has since earned three Grammys, two Soul Train Awards and millions of fans for her honest lyrics about body image, Black beauty and putting yourself first. "I deserve the spotlight," Lizzo told PEOPLE of her success so far in her Women Changing the World cover story. "I deserve the attention. I'm talented, I'm young, I'm hot. You know? And I've worked hard." And she's determined to make that "big break" easier for those looking to follow in her footsteps. "Girls that look like me don't get representation. Time to pull up my sleeves and find them myself," Lizzo said in the trailer for Big Grrrls, her upcoming reality series about the search for her backup dancers. 05 of 10 Ariana Grande Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Like she sang in "7 Rings," Grande gets what she wants! The 28-year-old pop star has been one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify in recent years and currently commands a following of 53 million monthly listeners. With two Grammys on her mantle and the enviable accolade of most songs to debut at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a female artist (she's tied at five with Drake), Grande's ascent has always been on her own terms. The "God is a Woman" singer dropped her three most recent albums in rapid succession (Sweetener in 2018, Thank U, Next in 2019 and Positions in 2020), eschewing pop's traditional rules around music releases because she wanted to reach her fans at those moments in her life. In conversation with Billboard in 2018 for her Woman of the Year cover, Grande declared that any pushback she experienced about her career decisions was sexist. "My dream has always been to be — obviously not a rapper, but to put out music in the way that a rapper does. I feel like there are certain standards that pop women are held to that men aren't," she explained. "It's just like, 'Bruh, I just want to f---ng talk to my fans and sing and write music and drop it the way these boys do. Why do they get to make records like that and I don't?' " Grande said. "So I do and I did and I am, and I will continue to." 06 of 10 Cardi B Cardi B. Kevin Winter/Getty It's Cardi's party! The former stripper catapulted into the spotlight with her rap "Bodak Yellow" in 2017, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts that summer. Her first studio album, Invasion of Privacy, debuted in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart the following year, and she would become the first woman to have five singles in the top 10 simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts, per her website. Cardi made music history again at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, as the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a solo artist – a record she still holds today. "Bodak Yellow" would also go on to earn the RIAA diamond certification (10x platinum), making her the first female rapper to achieve the feat. Continuing to slay in 2020, Cardi became the first female rapper with the most songs with a billion Spotify streams, for "I Like It" and "Girls Like You" with Maroon 5, per Forbes. The hip-hop queen and Billboard's 2020 Woman of the Year has also collaborated with other women making names for themselves in music, including Megan Thee Stallion and Normani, and has continued to be an entrepreneur and savvy businesswoman. 07 of 10 Selena Gomez Image Group LA via Getty Images The former Disney Channel star has enchanted fans since launching a music career in 2009. Gomez, 29, dropped three albums with her former band, Selena Gomez & The Scene, all of which hit the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, per Billboard. Striking out solo a few years later, Gomez's three albums that followed – Stars Dance (2013), Revival (2015) and Rare (2020) — all debuted at No. 1. Gomez is the most-followed artist and actress on Instagram with a whopping 302 million followers; on Spotify, she has drawn a following of nearly 35 million monthly listeners. In a celebration of her Latin heritage, Gomez dropped her first Spanish-language project with the EP Revelación in March 2021. The record netted her a Latin Music Award for favorite video and a Grammy nomination (her first!) for best Latin pop album at the 2022 ceremony. As someone in the spotlight since she was a teenager, Gomez has been open about her struggles with depression and powerfully uses her platform to shed light on the importance of caring for one's mental health. While launching her inclusive makeup line, Rare Beauty, in September 2021, she committed to raising $100 million in the next 10 years to provide mental health resources for underserved communities. "It can take a toll on you, for sure. We're not all a certain way, and we're not meant to be," Gomez told PEOPLE in December 2020 of the pressure to be perfect. "It's fair to say that I am 1000 percent on the journey with the consumers. It's not easy for everybody, and I want people to know they're not alone." 08 of 10 The Chicks Frank Micelotta/Getty The superstar country trio comprised of Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire have never shied from speaking their minds on politics. The band infamously became blacklisted from the country music scene in 2003 after Maines, 47, denounced President George W. Bush during a London concert, voicing her disapproval of the Iraq war and the then-president. Taking a hiatus from making music for a few years, their 2007 record Taking the Long Way won five trophies at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, including album of the year. The Chicks have sold 27 million albums in the U.S. to date, making them the largest-selling country group of the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991 – present), per Billboard, and won 13 Grammys. In 2020, the trio formerly known as the Dixie Chicks met the moment again when they dropped the nickname for the Civil War-era South from their band name. After the rebrand, the Chicks released the anthem "March March," and with it, a powerful music video featuring footage of protests supporting Black Lives Matter, women's rights, gay rights and the environment. In conversation with Allure in 2020, Maines told the magazine that no matter what, "the politics of this band is inseparable from the music." 09 of 10 Brandi Carlile Kevin Winter/Getty The folk-rock singer-songwriter sailed onto the scene with her self-titled album in 2005, and has never looked back. Her star continued to rise with her second record, The Story, which hit the Billboard 200 in 2007. Carlile, 40, hit a career high with her sixth album, By the Way, I Forgive You in 2018. She scored six nominations for the record at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards – the most for a female artist that year – took home three Grammys that evening. Carlile has continued to dominate at the biggest night in music in the years since, winning best country song and best country album in 2020, and best country song with her all-female quartet The Highwomen in 2021. Ever honest with fans, Carlile reflected on her childhood in poverty, sexuality, faith and journey to success in her memoir Broken Horses, which topped The New York Times bestseller list when it was released last spring. Speaking to PEOPLE at the time, Carlile opened up about what it meant to be a parent who is part of the LGBTQ+ community. The star shares daughters Evangeline, 6, and Elijah, 3, with wife Catherine Shepherd. "I'm hoping people see through my story that there's no right or wrong way to evolve into a parenting role in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships," Carlile said. "There are different, complicated dynamics, and there are many ways to feel. The more we talk about it and normalize it, the easier it is to understand that your parenting journey is custom. It really is your own." 10 of 10 Blackpink Scott Dudelson/Getty Watch out, world! The four-woman South Korean girl band, comprised of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, is arguably the hottest K-pop girl group in the world. The fearsome foursome has smashed multiple records since getting together in 2016, setting Guinness World Records for the most-watched music videos within 24 hour of release on YouTube with their videos for "Kill This Love" in 2019 and "How You Like That" in 2020, per the organization. Blackpink is also the highest-charting Korean girl group on the Billboard Hot 100, shooting to no. 13 in 2020 for their song "Ice Cream" with Selena Gomez, Billboard reported. Commanding a loyal fanbase across the internet, Blackpink boasts nearly 14 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 72 million subscribers on YouTube.The band has also collaborated with Cardi B and Dua Lipa. In 2021, South Korea's then-President Moon Jae-in thanked the girl band for helping elevate K-pop to the world stage.